Project Log: Sunday, February 16, 2014
I snipped away the excess plastic wire ties from the
battery boxes, then routed a 1/2" roundover on all the
edges, followed by a quick sanding, to ease all the
edges for future tabbing work.
|
 |
Up in the engine room, I test-fit the two boxes.
The tight starboard side fit as intended, but without
any room to spare. The modified fuel fitting
cleared the box easily, though I'd probably have to
accommodate it in the battery box top later. |
 |
I noted a couple ways to increase clearance for a better
fit. The forward leg of the original molded engine
foundation unit, on which the battery box rested,
featured an angled gusset at its upper edge, and this
was preventing the battery box from moving inboard
towards the engine, causing the angled orientation seen
in the photos. Also, the outboard edge of the box
came very close to the metal filter bowls, so I marked
these locations for a slight modification to the box,
which I took care of down on the bench. At each
place, I scalloped out the box to improve clearance,
which helped the fit of the box back in the boat. |
 |
The port box fit without issue. The angle of the
hull at the after end, coupled with the width of the
box, meant that I'd have to add some little feet, or
risers, beneath to raise the box just a touch, something
I'd expected all along. |
 |
For now, I set the boxes aside, hoping to fiberglass
then later in the day, but I ran out of time before I
got to it.
I spent the bulk of the day working on the exterior
trim, sanding the caprails to prepare for their next
coat of varnish before moving back to the bulwarks to
trim the bungs and prepare the planks for additional
varnish of their own. With a chisel, I pared the
bungs flush, then sanded as needed to smooth them before
lightly sanding all the bulwarks with fine sandpaper.
At the same time, I sanded the rubrail beneath, which
had received about four or five coats of varnish much
earlier in the project, but would need additional
buildup. I vacuumed up the spoils and
solvent-washed, but left masking for another time, as I
needed to focus on the caprails first, and the bung work
had been time-consuming. |
 |
Finally, it was time for more varnish on the caprails
and running light boards. |
 |
|
Total Time Today: 5 hours
|
<
Previous | Next > |
|
|
