3100Hrs – Half Ahead Port Engine

It’s amazing what a difference a nights sleep can make, within a few minutes of arriving at the barn this morning I’d got clear on where the engine box needed to sit and what I needed to do to get it there.

I jiggled it around and used clamps to hold it in the right place , I marked the new hole positions and a couple of places that needed easing, dropped the box down, drilled the new holes, used the belt sander to remove some timber where things fitted to tightly and then refitted it. This time the stainless pins slid through easily and after chopping off the excess with my angle grinder I was able to remove the polystyrene, door and trestles and then stand back to admire the box just hanging there.

While I was on a roll I decided to see about fitting the hinged engine well. That needed quite a bit of sanding due to my previous heavy handedness with epoxy and you may remember that I’d made an error when building them which meant they are made of more timber than standard and are consequently a bit heavier.

The plans call for 12mm diameter stainless steel rod to act as the hinge but I decided to stay with the 15mm that holds the engine boxes in place. Another example of strengthening anything that crosses my mind as potentially too weak.

Once again I used my polystyrene blocks and chair to support the engine well whilst I checked to ensure the hole positions were marked correctly. Once I was happy I drilled them, slid in the stainless rod and I had a hinged engine well.

I decided to quit whilst I was ahead at this point but I’ve decided to dry assemble the starboard engine box and well in exactly the same way so that I can ensure they line up with each other. Once I’m happy I can drop the whole lot down and crack on with full epoxy assembly, glassing and painting safe in the knowledge that they’ll fit nicely when assembled next time.

Here’s the well in its lowered position:

And in its raised (although with the engine fitted it won’t actually lift quite as high):