Day 341

Aa already mentioned, all of the welds below the waterline have been left on, but only 1/8" sticks out as the rest is just a waste of weld and does little to add to the strength of the join. The base coat and supplemental coats at the seams were added to smooth the welds over some. Being Ceram-Kote, the paint was hard to remove and took most of the day. Eventually, the seams looked smooth enough to plan for painting tomorrow.

3/8" nut welded on

Rudder anode bolt

We couldn't just do the sanding today so I played around with the hatches and Gena welded on anode bolts for the rudder.

The 3/8" nuts are for the latches that will hold the hatches closed tight. I felt the need to do the entry hatch as there are several other things to consider. The gas shock and the the hatch lock rods included. Clearance is a real issue here as the latches must be on the sides. ( The door is on the "usual" latching edge )

Spacing the nut then tacking before the weld obverted any warping of the frame due to shrinkage.

The anode bolts were welded on midway down the rudder to have proximity to the prop and shaft. The photo below shows one anode in place, not too bad looking.

The anodes ( store bought ) are designed for use with a F.G. rudder and are drilled for a through bolt to mount one on each side.

Another advantage of steel... we can just weld bolts right on with out affecting the rudders' integrity.

The amount of anodes required seem excessive for a 45' hull, but we'll try to get close to the total weight, 110lbs. I always thought they were ugly, a drag under water, and a potential weed catcher, but all of that is better than rust I guess!

Near the end of the day, we decided to drill and tap the starboard rail track and get it in place. Gena had just mounted the forward deck track so it seemed appropriate to mount the last one.

The holes lined up well ( as the 2 flat bars are welded together ) and gave little resistance. The curve I bent lined up beautifully with virtually no effort to position. (yay!)

The final test, running a track slider up it, passed with flying colors.

If you're ever going to make a straight track, just make sure it doesn't sag during drilling and all will be fine. With a curved track, welding the two together with occasional tacks is a must!

Day 341:
8 hours - Smoothed weld bumps below water line and sanded. Welded nuts on entry hatch, anode bolts on rudder. Mounted SB rail track