Day 140

Before the deck at the bow is welded in, the chainplate for the fore and solent stay must be put in. The welding is crucial so best not crowd Gena! The two being integral will likely make it stronger overall, and the thicknes, 5/8", is probably a bit of overkill. We just want to feel confident about it. If this plate ever failed, it would mean a dismasting for certain!

The plate is going to be welded on to the hull via the stembar. Gena wanted also two 1/2" x 3/4" x 12" peices of mild steel to put on each side of the stembar to allow for a "step" to weld on each side of the stembar. This will also strengthen the join.

Lastly, the section between the two visible plates will be welded on to the deck, which is slightly thicker at 3/16" instead of 1/8". Again, this may be overkill but better safe than sorry. A lot of other heavy duty items must go on this plate. The windlass, the anchor roller assembly, the large cleats, all need to be mounted on a stable surface.

After I finished cutting out the chain plate, I began work on the front window. We have to take all the chainplates in to have them drilled precisely. Doing it ourselves without the proper equipment would not be a good idea. Even 1/8" stainless is a challenge ,ie. not ruining a bit after every second hole! 5/8" is unimaginably thick without out a big drillpress.

In the blueprints, the window is indicated to have a 4" bow forward. It doesn't seem like much, but it is a good looking curve and wouldn't be logical to be more.

I got a hunch, after placing a piece of flatbar across it, that the cabintop camber, layed in at this angle, may be about right.

Amazing!! It was really close. ( We still have the master from the pilot house roof ) I needed slight modification with the old bender and voila, 4 1/4" forward. Because the pilot house is the same camber, a reverse piece can be used for it.
The plate won't be anywhere near the hieght shown here, but the larger size allows stability during welding. We are using 3/16" here as well. This shouldn't be too hard to do!

I cut out a piece of plate and served it up monitoring the angle, 22º.. Nice fit!
Meanwhile down below, Gena was doing the final touches to the waste tank and dropping it in, working on the cooling system, cleaning up the huge mess down below ( Funny, she does the same thing in the house too! ) that I ( we ) made last weekend.
We also moved the engine back into position, mostly top get it out of the way, and also to get some more measurements for the shaft assembly etc. Osborn Propellers will send the prop to the company that is machining the shaft, so they can fit it out.

Day 140:
6 hours - Made forestay chainplate, layed in some plate for the front window.