Thanks and reflections

tomj

New Member
Just wanted to say thanks to those who gave me advice about my refurbishing project. Just got back from (frigid!) New England and am happy to report that everything went well--I managed to install 3 inspection plates, new rudder mount, hiking strap, bailer, ratchet block, mast cleat, and bent a new sail on the booms. I certainly wouldn't have been able to do it without the help and advice I received in here.

Just a few postmortem comments:

1) The rudder install was considerably more difficult than described in the instructions because I had to remove some wood backing and some kind of hard black plastic material behind the old gudgeon in order to make the new aluminum backing plate fit. Good thing I had a sharp wood chisel and some patience. Also, I bonded the Al backing plate with a good glob of superbond epoxy (http://www.fgci.com/; search on "superbond") because the fit was still pretty poor even after I cleaned up in there. I would strongly recommend this step instead of just counting on the fiberglass and polyester resin to hold the backing plate in place.

2) The installation of the inspection port on the after wall of the cockpit tub can be tricky because there's not a lot of room to work in there, especially for a jigsaw. I ended up using a dremel tool with a cutting blade attachment, then enlarging and smoothing the rough cutout with a sanding cylinder on the dremel tool. If I didn't have the dremel tool I don't know what I would have done--a 4" opening is too small to spin a coping saw.

3) By far the most difficult part of the project was removing the old, corroded, galled metal bailer. I didn't have a grinder but did have a Dremel tool. The thing heats up fast when working away with power tools, so I kept pouring water over it. There may be many disadvantages to the new plastic bailer, but getting it off and replacing it shouldn't be one of them, and that in itself is a HUGE plus in its favor.

4) I'm presently drying out the hull over the winter using a combination of a 40W lightbulb hanging in the forward port (behind the splashguard) and an inline vent fan sucking air out of the aft port, installed to give access for the rudder install. I'll report how it went in the spring.

Again, thanks to everyone, and this forum in general (I must have searched and read every previous thread on rudders, inspection ports, bailers, etc.) for your help. Happy Thanksgiving!
 

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