3531Hrs – Wind Behind Me

It blew hard all night and for most of the morning but at least it changed direction so it was no longer gusting through the barn like yesterday.

To be honest I hadn’t planned a long work session today but it ended up being one of those days where things just flowed and so I made the most of it.

I spent a good chunk of time on the underside of the deck pod roof, filling, shaping, sanding, routing and then getting a good first coat of primer applied.

As always it’s the finishing that takes time and I haven’t even started on the top yet. It’s coming together nicely though and I know it’ll be a great addition to the boat.

Once I’d got the primer on I moved back to the gaffs and the technical challenge of drilling holes to take the stainless steel rods that hold the halyard rollers and mast blocks.

The curved shape of the gaff jaws made it difficult to drill the holes square and true, it took me quite a while to set up supports next to the bench drill and to get everything lined up ready to drill. It was another heart in mouth job drilling holes in pieces of timber that have taken so much work, but with care I got the job done.

I then made the two halyard rollers from some nylon dowel found in the workshop and some spacer washers for the mast block.

After that I was able to knock through the stainless steel pins and cut them to length with the angle grinder. The plans call for 6mm rod but I’ve upgraded to 12mm as I already had some in stock. When I do the final assembly I’m going to drill the ends to take stainless split pins and washers rather than pean them over as the plans suggest. That way they’ll be far easier to disassemble if I ever need to replace anything.

Now I know it all fits together I’ll take everything apart for painting before final assembly.