I have filled all the holes in the deck which awaits sanding prior to a light layer of glass. The glass will go under the cockpit coamings to protect the deck from winch handles which are stored there during racing.
Not being in the mood for sanding I turned my attention to the cockpit coamings. Dudley has changed the arrangement of the lockers and coamings in a subtle way which made the forward openings too narrow for my chubby hands so I widened the openings a little and made them all equal height which is ever so slightly different but equally attractive.
Unlike Passion X where the coamings are parallel to the deck on the new one the coamings increase in height and are just a couple of millimetres away from level with the waterline. As a result the panels twist ever so slightly so great care was required to set them out precisely. As in the last build the coamings have been glued up and then removed to the workshop for the doublers and winch base mounting.
The 12 mm doublers had to be held against the slight twist of the panels and 160 kg of lead ingots did a fabulous job of keeping the glue joins nice and tight.
The next job was to cut out the 24 mm of ply where the prefabricated winch mounts will fit. A saber or reciprocating saw was ideal for the task.
The edges of the openings were then chamfered to allow for the epoxy glass which will bond on the top side.
Winch bases which I had made previously were then trimmed to equal dimensions and aligned on the coamings which were temporarily reunited with the hull.
The final task was to bog the bases to the 24 mm plywood and apply a layer of glass to keep everything stable while the coamings are returned to the workshop.
While it has taken a week to get to this stage I am happy with the progress considering I have had a cold which has slowed me down and we had one day of unworkable weather conditions. I did use that wet day to measure up all of the remaining doublers for the deck fittings and have marked up the ply ready for a spare fine day for cutting.
In other news the steel case for the keel bulb has arrived at the foundry and should have the 2000 kg of lead poured in tomorrow.
On the sailing front there is not much to report. For the past three weeks the wind had been from the South East which limits the course options. Small changes in the wind angles has made the three weeks slightly different and last Wednesday there were some incredible wind shifts where we were going in the same direction on opposite tacks. We had our share of luck but not so much in the last race where we languished in Humbug on the way out. It was a night for the back markers who had a long overdue return to the winners circle.