Odds and End(ings) - Centerboard sheave and inspection ports

The third trip to the Big Box store finally yielded the prize. It was a quest like finding the rare white rhino: a bolt that would fit the sheave pendant that also came with a fitted acorn nut. And of course, stainless steel they must be. Zinc, chrome, and chrome plated weren't going to work. It was a quest I've been on for the better part of two months. Finally, the quest came to an end and I'm the proud owner of an installed sheave pendant!

View of pendant sheave installed with new hole, too. Too cold to epoxy this yet.

Pretty much all of Big Box's nut sizes. Gave up trying to be precise, so I bought.. a few.

Deck plate and pendant installed. The white-white contrasts nicely with the Choice Cream.

Nice little acorn nut. This is sealed in silicon.

Of course, nothing's quite that easy. I began the evening "simply" going to install the deck plates on either side of the centerboard trunk, the deck plates that are used to push down the centerboard in case it gets jammed, which kinda happens a lot, and unfortunately, sometimes happens somewhat permanently. I knew I'd have to trim the top part as the deck plate bumps up against the cleat. I didn't know I'd have trim the entire circumference around as it protruded into the centerboard trunk itself a good 1/4". With both of them installed, I'd lose 1/2" of clearance for the centerboard. Sure enough, when I tested the opening with the 2/3 done centerboard, it wouldn't fit.

Halfway through sanding this down. It stuck out much more at first. The writing is "CTBD Port" for "centerboard trunk port side" -- seems like ages ago that I put this on!

For the protrusion, I debated looking for "low profile" deck plates but resigned myself to just sanding the darn things down, and that I did. I turned my random orbital into a stationary sander. Three discs of 60 grit later, 12 #8 1/2" stainless screws, and a few dabs of silicon, and I've got pretty good fitting deck plates. But that wasn't until I also had to sand out the opening itself as the 6" deck plates seemed to be 6 1/8". That was frustrating. Some of that is due to the epoxy and paint that gummed it up a bit, but I swear the holes in the centerboard trunk were a little small. I left these a little proud (in other words, still protruding maybe 1/16" into the centerboard trunk) but there should be plenty of clearance now for the centerboard itself.

Bulkhead 7 doubles as a workbench to clamp the sander.

It's nice getting stuff out of boxes and onto the boat. I special ordered the sheave from the Marine store back in April and bought the deck plates in the summer. You can see where I thought I'd be in the build. It's a minor miracle I didn't lose them with all the box moving I've done over the last couple months, but there they are, installed on my boat. I have to repaint some spots where I scuffed the finish but it was worth it.

I also drilled out the hole where the pendant enters the footwell. I had to buy a 5/8" drill bit for this and frankly overpaid for the privilege, but I must say the Irwin bit I got is a very, very sweet bit. Highly recommended as it chomped through the trunk blocking straight and true. It's pretty cool to see this little feat of engineering come together: the pendant runs from a cleat on the footwell, into this hole, across the pendant sheave, and through a hole in the centerboard to raise and lower it. Simple but effective. Like most holes on the boat, this will be completely filled with epoxy, then redrilled slightly smaller so the wood is never exposed to water. The trick here is to ensure that the second drilling is exactly in line with the first. It does no good if the angles are off and part of the wood is protected and part of it isn't.

View down the hole to the pendant sheave.

Finally, the speaker boxes are done. I should say speaker corners. I decided against boxes because I didn't want this sticking too far into the cabin, plus wanted to direct the sound to meet in the middle. I had to return the original 6.5" Boss Marine speakers for a set of 6.5" Pyles. The Pyles were a little more money but were "low profile" with a 2.5" mounting depth. The Boss speakers wouldn't fit into the corners I created for them, but the Pyle ones do. They're grey, not white, but it won't be too bad. They supposedly sound better than the Boss ones but I haven't heard them so the jury's out on that.

View of speaker 'boxes' from above.

I've decided to let go of my wiring obsession in the forward locker. Yes, I could build runners and hide them all but there are going to be a lot of wires back here and to hide them would just not be efficient. Perhaps some day when all is said and done and I have free time (ha!) I'll rework the wiring, but I'm comfortable with that decision. And really, unless someone sticks his head through bulkhead 2 and strains, it's really hard to see anything back there, anyway.

I'm pleased with the way this section turned out, but I'm going to wait until I get a break in the weather (looks like tomorrow might be 55 degrees) to do a final pass with some thickened epoxy to shape the fillets. It's totally about aesthetics and I'm in no rush to get these done until I like the way they look. Only then will I paint this part, which might be next year.

One thing I noticed while working with my cell phone running Pandora is how the forward locker seems to amplify sound. The phone was sitting on the xylophone/battery box holder, maybe 3/4 volume, and it was so loud I had to turn it down. Granted, I'm in an enclosed space in my garage, but just a few feet away sit two 200 watt marine speakers coupled with another set of 100 watters that will go in the rear of the boat. That boat's gonna be jumpin'.