Slowly, slowly - chainplates started and some final little bits

Starting on a sad note, Mr Charlie Wipple the original client that resulted in the plans for the Sundowner being drawn has passed away.  If you click on the link on the page to the top right you can see his build.  He was kind enough to email compliments to me once on my progress, which was kind


I am juggling work on the house with the build, but it still continues slowly towards a this year launch hopefully.

Since the last update (how quick time flies) I have finished the engine surround box and the door for the storage above it/under the exit into the cockpit.  I also painted the main cabin seats/berth and around the edge of the cabin floor which I think I will Kiwigrip.  None of which is overly interesting in photo so I will save them for when the engine installation is done soon.

With photos I have purchased and mounted a transom ladder, shown below folded up:

And in the down position:

I have purchased two winches, but looks like I will have to mount them on a steel plate and then screw it into the coamings to get the correct alignment angle for the sheets and also be able to securely fix it down. 

I have spent a while working on chainplates.  I corresponded with John Welsford, and marked out the locations with string, plumb bob and crossed fingers.

Once I marked the locations I had to notch in the chainplates slightly.  I put an extra thickness on the rubbing strake where the chainplates go, with the intention getting them in slightly to prevent them catching on anything.  Below shows  the aft most one, with the notches filled with epoxy to seal.

This is after it was sanded back and cleaned up on the stb side.  The top hole and bottom one are to position it down the track, you will see.

Once I had six notches, I then had to shape a backing plate in the space between the chainplate and the hull which was around 25mm.  Below is sitting in place, there will be a 12mm spacer between the top two holes and the gunwale.

I was looking around the shed for some hardwood, and found some kwila hardwood from a door we had removed in the house.  Perfect.  Holding up a level and a bevel gauge I ended up with angles all over the place but cut it to fit against the hull.

Then I ran a pencil along the hull and using an angle grinder with wood disk shaped it to fit against the hull curve.

This is against the hull showing the curve in place, which will have sika between them:

Now of course the wood was too far out, so I marked it for the chainplates, took some measurements for depth and sawed/chiseled and angle grinder/orbital sanded it down.

And with the chainplate in place:

Making six of those kept me out of trouble for a while, here is the port side with the most aft chainplate sitting there.  The chainplates and blocking are vertical, the sides of the chainplate get wider as you go up which makes the forward one look off as the hull curves up.

Next is the inside with backing plates, then sand and finish paint.  After that buy stainless bolts and mount them I guess.  Getting closer slowly.