Monday, December 30, 2019

Portholes and other Hardware


Portholes
I have been delaying ordering some portholes, but I decided to give my self an early Christmas gift.
I looked around a lot to find something I would like and finally decided on the Vetus 52q which fits perfectly in a 6" hole.  I was able to get at a discount due to a black Friday sale.

The portholes come with screens that can be inserted, so I should be able to get some good ventilation. After marking the holes and drilling them out, I did a couple coats of epoxy using a pipe cleaner and then used 3m Sealant on all the holes and thoroughly coated the inside and outside to properly seal things.

I am very pleased with how they look!








Assorted Hardware

Harken #327 cam cleat for Jib sheets
I pre-drilled the holes and coated with epoxy. After curing I installed with bolts and 3M Sealant.







Chain Plates

I predrilled the holes after measuring location per the plans. Coated the holes with epoxy and then used bolts to install. 






Both the Chainplate and Jib Leads installed.





Below are pictures of the anchor cleats on both the port and starboard side. They are bolted through for strength.  Again I pre-drilled, coated the holes with epoxy and then used 3m Sealant when installing. 



Rudder Install 

I have sort of been putting this installation off, since it required me to drill into the boat. I know everything is repairable, but after spending so much time on making things look good it is tough for me.  So I finally decided to take the plunge.

I first drilled the hole in the keel, but first I sized up the bolts that came with the kit and did some test holes in a scrap piece to make sure I had the right size. After drilling the holes, I mixed up some sort of thickened epoxy. I didn't want it too thick since I had to use a syringe to squirt epoxy up into the hole and also on the eye bolts. I threaded the bolt into the hole applying epoxy as I went. I used this same method on the 2 eye bolt holes on the rudder. The upper bolt on the boat, I had to cut off to length and just used 3M Sealant to seal things up.

The bar shown in the picture below had to be cut off to length and two holes in each end to hold the key rings so the bar will not come out. Not sure that is the proper term, but thats what it looks like to me. I also may install a second one on each end for safety. Wouldn't want one breaking and coming off. That would not be a nice scene!!!


Below is a test fit of the rudder.  I inserted the tiller and looks like i have plenty of movement. I still need to finish up the painting once it gets warmer.



1 comment:

  1. I really like the look of your portholes! I've checked and they are available in the UK, so I might use them when I eventually get to installing hardware.

    ReplyDelete