After a pleasant break visiting family on the north coast it was back to the cockpit coamings on Saturday and Monday. On Saturday I finished the third coat of varnish on the bunk tops and they are stored away for now.
In the coamings there are pockets for storage and also for access to the underside of the winch pads. I marked and cut these and then glued up the starboard coamings. Time was getting away so Elaine held the work light up for me as I finished gluing and screwing the panels together. Sunday is a church day but our prayers for wind for the afternoon winter race were unanswered. It was however a nice warm sunny day and the complimentary BBQ back on the deck at Greenwich Flying Squadron made it one of the best afternoon of the winter.
Today I laminated up the first winch base in a bucket and while it was curing removed the starboard coamings from the deck. To my relief they came away easily and the underside is very tidy and ready for glassing. Next task was to glue up the port side coamings making sure that there was enough kitchen paper under the cleats so that any surplus glue did not stick it to the deck. By this time the first winch base had cured in the warm sunny position I had placed it so I could remove it from the mould and start the second one. I had visions of doing a third winch base in a second mould but time, light and energy deserted me so best to leave it for the morning. With luck I can do the two in the morning and still have them cured by the afternoon. The plan is to cut out an oval section of the plywood on the coamings and insert the winch bases into the hole and laminate the base to the coaming from below. Eight layers of 450 gram glass will give 4 mm of cured laminate equivalent in strength to 12 mm plywood. By the time the base is glassed in it will have 16 layers around join. The winch base will have a 12 mm plywood backing piece bogged in and glassed over. Hopefully the forecast rain will not stop any of this activity. The location of the winches proved a bit of a mystery. Dudley had three versions of the deck for the Didi 38, the extended Didi 40 with the long racing cockpit and the Didi 40 Cr with the shorter cockpit and longer cabin. Each version has a different winch base position. Our version has slightly shorter coamings because they finish where the cockpit widens out. By luck or good design our winches seem happiest located right in the middle of the coaming pockets. At 700 mm from the cabin and 700 mm spacing we have excellent access to the bolts under the bases and it looks very symmetrical. Our rear winches will double as running back stay and occasional spinnaker sheet winches so being located a bit further aft is appropriate. It is very much in the fashion of the more modern cruisers where one winch is in easy reach of the helm position. With our wide cockpit the coamings are 125 mm further outboard and they line up very well with the genoa cars so I might see how we go without cheek blocks on the coamings.
Elaine inspecting the anchor locker hatch last week
Starboard cockpit coaming half way through being removed from the deck for fitting the winch pad.
The underside of the coaming ready for glassing of joins
Winch pad mouldings. One made, one curing and the mould for a third ready for the morning
Trial fit of the first winch pad. It will be 30 mm lower when recessed into a hole in the plywood.
Port side prepped with kitchen paper and ready to apply the glue to the cleats and plywood.