Attaching Things

The last few weeks have been all about attaching stuff to the newly painted hull, as well as painting decks.  I put my last coat (I hope) of topside paint on the decks, cabin top, and hatch covers -- all the places where one might need to step.  The paint is white, and I added non-skid additive.  That was a learning experience.  I figured out that the trick of applying non-skid is to, first of all, use much more paint than normal, and second, don't try to use a roller; use a brush. Once I had experimented a few times on a hatch cover in the basement, I was ready to tackle the decks. Ultimately, the job came out pretty nicely.

Non-skid finish on the after deck.  The final coat has been applied to the cockpit coaming as well.

The cabin bulkhead and cockpit coaming are done (I think.)

I fastened my chainplates -- two slightly aft of the mast location, and two more (for the running backstays) at an angle, per the plan, aft of the cabin bulkhead. I made the chainplates out of 1/4 inch by 1 1/4 inch bronze bar stock.  They were easy to make, and a lot cheaper than buying them ready made.

All four chainplates are backed by mahogany wedges that I glued to the planks and then shaped and faired. The forward chainplates are through-bolted through a frame.  For the aft ones, I constructed ash backer blocks that are glued to the inner surface of the planks under the side decks in the cockpit.

Chainplate for side stay.  Wood wedges behind.

Chainplate for running backstay.

The plans call for a forestay connection on the foredeck aft of the stem post. For several reasons, I decided to use a bronze bar chainplate bolted through the forward edge of the stem instead.  Reason number one was that I misread the plans, and made 6 chainplates instead of 4.  The Bermuda rig requires 6, (for double sidestays -- upper and lower) but the gunter rig, which I am building only requires 4.  I made 6.  Using one as a forestay chainplate means I only wasted half as much bronze bar -- a big factor given the current cost of bronze.  Second, also related to cost, is that the forestay fitting that Classic Marine makes for Grey Seal is about 4 times the cost of the 2 feet of bronze bar that went into my forestay chainplate. It is beautiful, but at a cost. Finally, I just like the look of a hefty hunk of bronze bar bolted at the very front of a traditional wooden sailboat. Therefore,  a bronze bar chainplate it is.

After the chainplates were in place, I was able to install the white oak rub rail.  The plan is not very clear on the dimensions of the rub rail, so I winged it -- 1 1/4 inches wide by an inch thick, rounded over top and bottom, and screwed every 10 inches.  I was working with 14 foot long stock, so the job required only a single scarph joint on each side.  Unfortunately, the aft section has a bend that is sufficiently severe that I needed to steam bend it.

Forward rub rail section fastened, scarph joint awaits aft section

My now defunct steaming setup.  

My trusty steam bending kit proved to be inadequate to handle the 14 foot length, so I will need to rethink the process.  Actually, I burned out my electric hotplate in the process.

My forestay chainplate solution and the attached rub rails.  I like the look.

Mornings, while I wait for the dew to evaporate so I can paint, I have been working in the basement, building up coats of varnish on the rudder, tiller, starboard cockpit bench slats, etc.  My goal is 7 coats of varnish on top of 2 coats of sealer on all exterior brightwork.  

A few weeks ago, I bought vinyl lettering for my nameboards, so I went ahead and made them. The vendor I used is doityourselflettering.com and they offer a wide range of fonts, sizes, colors, shading, and effects which you can design yourself on their website.  They must not have known this was for a boat, because it wasn't very expensive.  I applied the letters over 4 coats of varnish on the African mahogany board, and then applied another 3 coats over the whole thing.  It looks pretty good and was a lot easier than carving.

One of my two nameboards

The tiller is getting the varnish treatment as well.

My first shipment of hardware arrived from Classic Marine in the UK.  They are about the only place around that has patterns for Grey Seal parts, and they do a beautiful job of casting and grinding the parts.  I got the pintles and gudgeons as well as the gooseneck for attaching the boom to the mast, and a mast hinge as well.  I'll order more as I need/can afford it. I plan to paint the mast hinge, which is galvanized steel, white so it will blend in with the cabin top and the mast base, and not be as noticeable.  The rest of the hardware is beautiful bronze, but alas, the rudder hardware will be largely under water and will end up being painted with bottom paint, so no one will ever see it anyway. Well, at least the gooseneck will stand out.

I began to install the pintles on the rudder. The upper one required a mortise of about 1/16 inch on each side, which was fine.  I plan to bed it with 3M 5200 and rivet it in place with homemade bronze rod rivets.  The plan actually shows the upper pintle installed higher up on the rudder, beneath the cheeks, but every picture I have seen of a completed Grey Seal shows it where I am putting it (except for one builder who seems to have attached his pintles to the keel and his gudgeons to the rudder.)  Maybe the lower location is because none of us had the foresight to install the pintles before attaching the rudder cheeks?  However, if I had installed the upper pintle per plan, the arms would have to have been cut shorter, or else they would have extended beyond the aft end of the cheeks.

The upper pintle and its mortise.

 

The lower pintle, roughly in place. Alas, no one will ever see this beauty.