All keel bolts are driven in from the top, far enough through the keel so their threads are seen. Their shaft is the full diameter of the bored hole; a 1¼-inch bung hole is counter-bored into the keel. A nut and washer are installed on the bottom end; a dollop of tar and a length of cotton wicking are wrapped around the shaft. Then the bolt is driven back up until the upper threads are visible, and the upper nut and washer are installed. The bung hole is filled with a half-and-half mixture of paint and tar, and the bung is inserted.
Status summary:
- The bronze mast step has been attached to the keel. These carriage bolts were driven in from the bottom, but they were otherwise installed the same way.
- The original white-oak wedges which supported the mast step and its attached bronze frames between the keel and the intermediate stem were deteriorated from inadequate drainage. We replace them with machined phenolic ones.
- The centerboard trunk is nearly finished. It has been simplified even more; its sides are parallel, not tapered at all from top to bottom. I cut and threaded six two-foot seven-sixteenth-inch-diameter bolts to pass through its walls, and ten half-inch bolts pass through the floors on both sides of the trunk. All its lateral bolt holes have been cut, and the vertical holes through the centerboard trunk have been successfully bored. The holes through the floors are quite exacting in their required alignment, because they have to pass through a small rectangle where the floor meets the keel. Roger is boring them on the bench; he will then use the frame holes to guide the holes through the keel. The corresponding holes in the previous keel were not so precisely located; some of the bolts went into the keel rabbet and others went into the limber holes.
- The stern post dutchman is nearly done. Luke’s brass tube is no longer available, so far as Dave can tell. We will replace it with a G-10 one, to protect the horn timber from water and worm damage, and build a separate brass sheet to shield the aft end of the stern post. The dutchman will be glued in after the G-10 tube has arrived and been machined to insert into the bored rudder hole
- After some debate, I am replacing the rudder stock. It is very difficult to remove from the boat, so it came in for careful scrutiny. Where it lay in the water, it had some loss of zinc, and I could not argue that we can still rely on it. The replacement rod, of naval brass, needs some machining, to cut its taper and its keyways, but it should arrive in the middle of the week.
- The cut-less bearing has arrived, and the stern tube is ready for installation; we decided to wait until the engine is in place to bore its upper hanger-bolt into place.
- The engine paint is complete.
- Bilge paint has been applied to the area aft of the centerboard trunk.
- The cabin ladder has been removed to facilitate trunk construction.
- Snediker pulled plank 3 on the port side to simplify the centerboard installation, and has replaced the splined-in bottom sections of three more floors under the engine, which were badly deteriorated.
- The keel bolts aft of frame 33, and in frames 33, 32, 31, 22, 20, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13 and 12 have been installed. On the after two bolts, oversize washers were fabricated out of ¼-inch bronze. Pending are those next to the centerboard trunk and those that hold the ballast.
- After being unable to locate grown crooks for the frame ends, we have decided to replace the mid-ship frame ends with ones cut from manufactured linen-reinforced phenolic plastic sheet, 1¾ inch thick. This is free of short-grain problems, certified void-free, reasonably water-resistant, and its cost will be less than laminating the ends ourselves. We can easily bevel the frames with band saws to meet the planks. Snediker’s measurements indicate we need one 4-foot x 4-foot sheet.
- The centerboard clamp will be reshaped slightly to accommodate keel bolts more widely spaced than they were originally. The new pattern will avoid having the keel bolts exposed in the bilge, because they will pass through the centers of the floors.
Now pending:
- Complete fitting of the port centerboard floors
- Fabricate the centerboard clamps
- Notch floors 30—24 for the centerboard clamps
- Install the wooden centerboard trunk.
- Install the metal centerboard trunk, with its sheave
- Attach the wooden centerboard trunk cap
- Bore holes for new head seacocks
- Build foundations for water heater and water pump
- Cut bronze crush shields for the ballast keel floors.
- Get plans for head floor pan.
- Change transmission oil, engine oil and oil filter.
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