Update:
The boat project has been in a holding pattern till this weekend
due to cold wet weather. (And the fact that I am headed to work
in the dark and get home in the dark) But I finally got something
done this weekend on the trailer.
Some time ago I had told you about the new stailess winch assembly
that I drew up and had made for me. Well I finally got around
to installing it on the trailer. The first step was to remove
the old one. Easier said than done. The bolts were stuck. I know
stailess is not supposed to rust but they were definitly stuck
hard. I could'nt turn the nuts with a 1/2" socket. I tried
spraying the with PB blaster and letting them sit but that didn't
help either. I finally used a sawzall to cut them off.
So the winch assembly came off, but....the bolts would still
not come out of the aluminum trailer or the aluminum straps. It
might have been a combination of electrolitics between the aluminum
and stainless, and heat expansion between them, but they just
would not come out.
I finally got the straps cleaned by using a vice, hammer, and
punch. But there was no way to get to the ones inside the trailer.
In the end I decided to move the darn thing an inch back and drill
new holes.
Speaking of drilling....The 1/4" stainless mounting plate
did not have any mounting holes yet. I simply put the old unit
on top of the new to transfer the hole pattern. But actually making
the holes...Now that was a pain. It took me four hours to make
four holes. I used a carbid center drill to make the initial hole
and then a TIN coated bit to finish them. With liberal use of
cuting oil it took 2 broken bits, one dulled bit, one broken center
drill, and 2 battery charges to get it done. But the results are
impressive.
Update:
I have been working on the house project pretty heavily so I
have not been moving forward on the boat. Now that the house is
pretty much done I will be putting more time in here.
So what I did this last weekend: Grind, Grind, Grind. I hate
it but I had to put in a full day to "get over the hump"
so to say. Now I don't dread getting back onto this project! I
also removed the molding that I had on the front deck. What I
thought was a good idea turned out to be perfect at holding water
on the deck. Taking it off did let me know that I did a good job
with the installation though....It was really hard to get off.
And the 5200 was a real bear!
Next I measured and cut out my rear bulkheads. I will be using
these to seperate the huge rear compartment into three smaller
ones. I made sure to leave a cut out at the rear to run cable
and wiring through and angled the back to match the transom. They
were also sized so that they will support the rear deck at the
stringer lines. One layer of glass on each side and a nice coating
of resin on the edges made the 3/16" penski board nice and
stiff, ready for installation.
On the grind subject....I ground about about 3 inches into the
front deck all the way around for the deck-hull attachment. Also
all areas where the rear bulkheads will be installed. The entire
interior was rough ground. (but will need sanding). And the holes
in the rear of the boat where the old livewells went through the
hull where ground on both sides in preperation for filling. Finally
the inserts for the rod lockers where ground flush.
Now I need to get glassing:)
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