Companion Way Blues

While most of my companionway work was done between other work, I thought it best to present this as a category unto itself.  Much like the age-old corporate argument of whether or not to organize your minions by geography (North America vs. Europe), product (Widgets vs. Bludgets), or functional group (Marketing vs. Finance), I've decided to pull all of my companionway work together -- until next week when we can fire Mark from Marketing.

Last left, the companionway had just been cut from patterns supplied by CLC*.  This went swimmingly, and before long I had all 10 sides plus a couple handles cut from random bits of padauk, marine plywood, and pine.

One thing I'll share is that I really had no idea how this was going to work.  The plans didn't make this out to be a big deal, but being unfamiliar with the carpentry involved, I thought this was way more complicated than it turned out to be.  So like anything that's a bit of a challenge, I procrastinated as long as possible.  I think the manual has this done before the first flip.  Out of excuses, it was time to buckle down and do this.

Before assembly, I put in a couple blocks towards the forward part of the side planks.  I'm not sure what the use of this is as the slide still goes pretty far forward so this little bit doesn't really stop it from going anywhere.  Nevertheless, blocked up they are. This was allowed to cure and then sanded back smooth.

 

I then scored the forward part of the companionway hood.  This is a much larger piece than it looked with just an eyeball.  It crosses 2/3 of the entire cabin and stops just as few inches from the dorade cowls.  The rake, too, wasn't easy to get right.  All four sides angle in some way.  The method here was similar to what I did for the floorboards: a rough cut, then small shaves with the sander until it fit.  Getting this to fit right took the longest of any part of the companionway build.  Eventually I was satisfied with it.  The long, thin board here is holding it in place.

With all four sides cut, it was then time for the assembly.  It was a bit of a pain to be sure everything was square.  Other bloggers and I believe even CLC screwed the companionway sides onto board to keep things square.  I think that works if you're going to fill the holes and paint over them, but I was (and still am) planning to keep the sides bright so holes would not do.

To solve that, I built a small brace out of scrap wood and then clamped this between the two long ends of the hood.  (While the photo below is much later, you can see the brace to the left of the photo.)  This worked really well to stabilize the wobble but still allowed adjustments if needed, unlike a couple screws.  Most importantly, there are no holes in the hood so I can keep that smooth finish.

It's a little hard to see in the photo but it's basically just a stick screwed onto two flat boards, each about the size of a playing card.  This little contraption was then clamped onto the aft ends of the hood.

While the hood cured, I put together the slide.  Small 90 degree blocks were used in each corner to stay square.  Note the marine plywood forward and aft.  While this is definitely thinner than the 1/4" it calls for in the plans, there aren't any structural issues, and as I find out later, it's good to have a small profile here just in case things don't quite fit.

Before fitting the cover, I brought the slide over to the boat for a test.  Worked well enough.

And then brought the hood over with the slide between.  For the first time, I saw how it all fit together.  It was snug but workable.  To help with the action, I ordered some graphite to mix in with the epoxy for the slides, especially the sills.

 

In thinking about the "roof" of the cabin, I always thought it would be neat to have some art 'glassed into companionway slide. Lying down right before sleep, this is one of the last things I'd see. I spent too long online looking for the right design.  Nothing really caught my eye.  I finally settled on one of those olde thyme maps, and in fact I ordered a small poster, but it wasn't going to get to the house for another few weeks, so that wasn't going to work.  That afternoon, while going fabric shopping with my wife -- I'd spent so much time in the garage lately I felt a little guilty -- I found it:  a southern sky star chart.

It's not a perfect fit, and I later learned that the white fabric picks up the red of the padauk too much, turning the southern sky into a decided shade of pink, but it's good enough. I give myself an A for the idea and a B for execution, which is a high water mark.

The legs of each of these (hood and slide) need to be angled to accept the rake of the "ceiling."  This was short work with the belt sander, though utmost care is needed so as not to take too much off.  The hoods for both pieces are part of the kit and overhang the sides on purpose.  This is to allow for some tolerance in the build.  This tops went on pretty easily with some careful pre-drilling and then wood screws which were removed once cured.  You need to epoxy the handle on at the same time as this helps set the curve, though it wasn't until much later that I discovered I put the handle facing the wrong way.  I get that this is one of those things no one is going to notice but me, but I'll notice this every single time I open the hood.  Sigh.

 Once cured, a quick run with the router cleaned up the edges.

  

There was a lot of squeeze out on the inside of this, so much so that I put it aside for a couple days as I couldn't bear to sand any more.  I'd exhausted all of the other side projects I could think of (at least the ones I was willing to do, as cleaning up this squeeze out ranked still-higher than sanding the paint off the cockpit decking -- more on that later.)

Finally it was time for some 'glass.  The 'glass lays evenly across the top and then down about an inch off the bottom of the side.  There are a couple darts cut into this so it also lays forward (the rear of the hood) and in front.  I was able to get this over the handle and down, so I feel pretty good about the strength here.

 

Something told me I should only do the top of the hood so that's all I did at first, and I'm glad I listened to my intuition.  While everything seemed to be measured well, each additional layer of epoxy under the hood meant a wider and wider diameter for the part.  When this finished curing, I found I wasn't able to slide anymore as the top of the slide was hitting up against the forward port corner of the hood.

The only way I was able to fix it was to sand through a couple layers of plywood in the hood to free up enough material so the slide could slide.  I also took off a layer on the slide itself.  Finally, after a LOT of wrangling, I was able to get the slide to slide under the hood with very little resistance.

None of this will be visible and there is definitely a small structural component lost by the thinner plywood.  However, a set of solar panels will be here and no one should be stepping on this so I think it'll be OK.

You can also see the black of the graphite + epoxy on the sills.  This is also in the area where the slide rests on the deck.  I didn't think it would be this dark; it throws off the aesthetic.  I'll have to clean this up before final presentation and I'm not exactly sure what this will look like yet.

 

 

* I eventually found those patterns I thought I'd lost long ago.  At hole 14 on a golf course here in Muscat, I couldn't wedge my pitching wedge back in my golf bag.  I looked in and there were the rolled up, slightly musty plans.  These must've been here since I packed for Nigeria in late 2014, and let's just say there wasn't much golf to be had in Nigeria.  I've no idea why I thought that was a good place for them, and who knows why I thought I'd remember where I put them.

Companionway and Grab Rails

I made a lot of sawdust today.  Most of my millwork gets done in the backyard where I've converted a 6-foot party table into my main workbench.  My wife let me borrow this because there aren't any parties during these "special times" unless you count the wildlife which occasionally stops by to criticize my work.

Some work gets done in the driveway, too.  In fact, most of the table saw work gets done there in full view of the neighbors.  They already think I'm crazy from the days I was studying Arabic for fun so the image of a ~16' boat and its perky bowsprit doesn't faze them at all.  I try to keep a low profile but it's nearly impossible the way this boat has taken over my life lately.

Between bouts of sanding (which are visible in some of the photos below where the starboard side got some sanding love) I finally got around to working on the companionway.  This begins with a few 1" x 1/2" strings of lumber serving as the "sill" which the manual states will keep the cabin dry.  Makes sense.  One nice thing about this is most of it will be buried in the slide and then the hood so I didn't necessarily need to be perfect here, just neat enough.  More importantly, it needed to be watertight and flush with the entrance to the cabin.

 

This work was easier done while standing in the cabin, but I'd pulled the liftouts long ago so I was unnecessarily straddling the bilge and cleats.  I popped out of the boat, found the liftouts, and re-installed them.  Wow, they look great!  I then tossed some newspaper down to catch any epoxy drips.  That was the most use I've gotten out of a newspaper since I ran out of toilet paper on that road trip.

A dry fit of the milled pieces went well, but an interesting thing to mention in this photo is that the top (forward) strip and the left (port) one were milled before I set all this aside.  I found them a couple weeks ago but didn't know what they were for until I made the starboard strip.  This is why in the photo starboard is so much longer because I thought I was making two.  It turns out the one I made ~6 years ago was in good shape and a better angle so I kept it.  I then kept the better half of the new strip and now have all three pieces to form the sill.

A few weeks ago, I noted that the companionway opening sitting on the tire caused a bit of an inward bulge.  It's a half inch or so but noticeable.  With the forward sill in place with a clamp, the curve is once again true.  I'm not sure if it'll hold but stranger things have happened.

Three pumps of epoxy and some wood flour later, this is now curing with all of the clamps I could find in the house.  I had easily 4-5 times this many but they're all in storage.  Hopefully I won't need them in the next couple weeks.

 

Working backwards like Benjamin Button, I made the bigger companionway bits earlier in the afternoon, but this was not without drama.  In short, I have no idea where the patterns are for these bits.  I lost them in the move or thought they were scrap or thought they might burn well in my fire pit.  I posted on the forums and someone suggested I write CLC.  I thought about that but I felt like I was such a pain to them about the sailing hardware I didn't want to bother them.  After awhile, though, if I wanted to make progress, I had no choice but to reach out.

Within a day, John himself wrote me with a personalized, full size PDF for my missing pieces.  Wow!  Thanks, CLC.  I took it down to a print shop and a couple hours later was happily cutting out the patterns for my hood and slide.

 

I made the hood sides awhile back so they just needed some cleaning up with a little sanding jig before getting grooves with the table saw.

The forward facing bit of padauk has a fault in it.  I debated whether or not to show this or hide it.  In the end, I decided to show it; the hood sides and forward will stay bright.  It'll scream "real wood" and give the boat some character.  As I type that, it reminds me of a friend's grandmother who used to put little bits of shell in her crabcakes to prove they were made with real crab.  Some years from now when I've successfully sued her for half his inheritance I'll remind him that yes, Gramma made real crabcakes.

The slide itself is a simple bit of woodworking (especially with patterns -- thanks, CLC!).  The top piece is sanded down to its normal finish whereas the purple one is the darkened one.  Padauk is a reddish-brown in epoxy but more purple when exposed to air.

 

I'm also out of padauk or even pine that fit the specs so I used marine plywood for the aft and forward sides of the slide.  It'll still look good.

 

And then I decided to take a leap and try to make handrails.  The toerails on most PocketShips are minimalist, functional bits of timber that run along the outside edge of the cabin decking.  I think this would look good as padauk trim, but would look even better as grab rails.

I first scored the curve against a scrap bit of pine and transferred that to my last decent-sized bit of padauk.  A quick run with the jigsaw and I had two mirror strips of padauk.  These would be the tops.

After some discussion with myself, I decided that five, four-inch "feet" per rail would be functional and look good.  That meant cutting a third matching rail to create the 10 "feet' for the two rails.

 

A dry fit is promising.  This design has the added benefit of giving a place to hang things like fenders.  As an aside, I can't take credit for this idea.  I've seen it done on other boats but Jon's Solitude has the best photos so I'll give him the credit.

 

My plan is to get the hood and slide built and 'glassed today for an installation tomorrow.  I'm down to about 20 days left with very, very little time to spare.

Post-Flip Progress: Anchor Well and Portlights

The euphoria of the boat re-flip quickly gave way to the sound of epoxy mixing in my cup.  I've mixed up so much epoxy lately I had to make another run to the Marine Store to get another gallon or so to continue (and maybe finish) the build.  As an aside, I'm glad I don't have to worry about the MAS epoxy problem.  I liked MAS and got used to them, but I can't complain about the immediacy of the West System and the ability to use pumps again.

I've finished the spars -- here they are, from top to bottom: boom, gaff, bowsprit, and mast.  These each have a 2-3 coats of epoxy and will wait a few days before getting sanded then varnished. Notice the color of the bowsprit, carved out of Douglas fir.  I remember someone writing that Douglas fir would cure yellow but that's not the case here.  It's a beautiful tan that will go really well with the sails and white topsides.  It's going to look great!

 

One thing that won't look so great is the mast.  Awhile ago, I got some blue paint on my roller handle and replaced it with a new roller.  However, I couldn't find the new roller post-flip so I used to the old one.  Unbeknownst to me until I tried to turn the mast, some of the epoxy got into the blue paint on the handle and then onto my gloved hand.  My epoxy gloves are blue.  You see the problem here.  So now I have blue finger and hand prints in some places along the length of the mast.  The paint issues are officially into silly territory.

I also tried to find the patterns for the tabernacle and companionway.  After a long while of searching (really over several days) I've only come up with the tabernacle side and the already-cut companionway sides.  I wrote CLC and am at their mercy.  A test fit of the tabernacle clearly shows I'll need to make this removable.  I then measured up the gallows poles and that, too, must be removable.

One thing I've been able to do is get the epoxy down in the cockpit except the footwell.  I still can't enter the boat because it's not fully secure but I can reach in and do what I can.  One area I can reach is the anchor well.  I noticed that I left the top half of the anchor well aft wall not well 'glassed.  I'm not sure why -- probably figured I'd get to it on the re-flip some day, which is now.  There's evidence of 6oz 'glass along the bottom and a single strand along the middle but nothing that goes top to bottom.  So I dug out the thicker 'glass and layered up three columns of 6oz 'glass in this highly loaded space.

This will cure and now be much stronger.

The never-ending epoxy application isn't picture worthy.  The topsides and the cockpit seating areas are done, but not an area about one foot wide that runs amidship from the cabin roof / deck to the back of the boat, including the footwell.  Once the last layer of epoxy cures, I'll be able to strap the boat onto the trailer as it's meant to be.  The straps plus the shims on the bunk will support my weight as I enter the boat and do what I need to do.

But one thing that doesn't need support are the portlights.  With all epoxy layers down and rubrails treated on the port side, I could cut these out and test fit the Vetus 51's I bought those many moons ago.  As a reminder, the portlights (really deadlights) that come with the kit are 6 inches wide.  The kit helpfully comes with these circles partly cut out.  I wanted something a bit more fancy and more importantly wanted to be able to "open the windows" so I upgraded to the Vetus system.  But since they are only 5 inches across, I had to epoxy the circles and cut out a smaller hole.  This was long-expected.

When I went to measure up 5 inches for the portlights within these circles, I found myself just a bit off in any random direction.  Thinking -- what do I have that's also 5 inches across and a circle?  Just the hundreds of sanding discs for my random orbital, that's all.

I fished out a new one and laid this across the circle and it was a perfect, perfect match.  I then found a small screw and centered that on the disc and punched a hole into the wood.  With the center marked, I drilled a small hole and followed up with the most evil piece of hardware I own:  the circular blade.

The garage smoked so much I had to open the door to let it out.  I also had to pause every now and then to let the very real fire risk subside but it eventually cut through to the other side.  When the circle fell away, I had my first view inside the cabin in several years.  This was a fun little moment.

And the whole point was to get these portlights cut -- great success!

There was some scarring damage to the wood and the last little bit for both circles tore away the 'glass from the other side.  That means a little cosmetic assistance when I get back in the cabin.  But these look great and I'm looking forward to installing them some day soon.

The Second Boat Flipping Party - But First a Keel Bunk

Tonight was the night.  I'd successfully bribed a few friends and family members to re-flip the boat, promising drinks and food of choice.  This had been put off twice before and a week in total because I simply wasn't ready.  I still wasn't ready, actually, as the trailer I got, though seemingly wonderful, does not have a keel bunk and doesn't have a kit to make one.  That meant a lot of reverse engineering, visits to the Marine Store, and discussions with sales people, which I so love the most.

 

This is also a good time to point out that had I kept the original cradle, I wouldn't have needed a trailer to continue working on the boat.  I forget what happened to the old one.  I might've been so happy to get the boat flipped I trashed the cradle in the process.  Other builders have successfully just rolled it over onto tires, and more enterprising ones have built rollover crates.  I figured I'd go the trailer route because I'd need one, anyway, and well, I have no idea where the original cradle is.

In summary, I bought a Karavan KKB-1800.  It's got all the right specs:  long enough, wide enough, with a swing tongue (insert giggle here) to reduce the 19 feet or so to 17 feet overall as the tongue gets tucked away.  That's a big selling point for those of us with small garages.  It runs about 450lbs so with a fully loaded PocketShip should be about a ton for the car to pull which is very manageable.  Other builders have gone with EZ Loaders, Kings, and custom made trailers.  I tried to get a price on one from West Coast Trailers but they just ignored my desperate need to give them money.  This one, all in, was about $1,000 less than the Trailex custom trailer pitched by CLC and was ready in a day instead of five weeks.  I didn't think the side bunks were high enough to actually reach the hull once the boat sits on the keel bunk but I was hopeful.

I'd looked for months for a used one I could modify and even drove out to visit some but none of the used ones were even close to showtime.  Rusted tires and axles, broken tongues and winches.  And for prices that didn't make a lot of sense.  It's a seller's market and I just couldn't justify spending $500 on something I'd have to drop another $1k to make usable and even then barely so.  I'd also learned a lesson the last time I tried to buy a cheap trailer.  That one was such a clunker I wound just donating it to the guy who was storing it for me in return for 3 months' storage or until he could sell it, losing about $50 overall.  So, to paraphrase another boatbuilder:  new boat, new trailer.

The biggest thing missing was the keel trunk.  I got an early start and picked up the supplies I needed.  Now, other builders have built keel bunks but they just write, "Hey, I built a keel bunk!" and leave it at that.  Not helpful, fellow builder.  An economy of words, yes, but why not just post, "Hey, I built a Pocketship!" when you're done and forgo the steps in between?  Because that's what you've done.

So, here are the materials I used:  Two Tiedown 5" roller brackets with U-bolts and nylon lock nuts for each.  The 5" bracket perfectly houses a 2x4x8 stick of treated lumber for the base and a 1x4x8 stick for the sides.  PocketShip's keel runs 103" from point to point.  This length does not include the transom overhang nor the bow, of course, but it's useful information as that means a few inches off the front and back yields a length of about 96" or 8 feet.  Better to buy a 10 foot length, though, to give some protection against knots or whatever else might show up on the edges.  My keel bunk is 8 feet long, starting at the same starting point as the hull bunks and ending somewhere north of that.

 

Using lag screws and framing brackets, I screwed the lumber together every couple feet and drilled a 3/8" hole through the 2x4 and 1x4's to pass a 7 inch, 1/4" hex screw with a locking nut on the other side.  This is the "axle" so to speak that runs through the holes in the trailer bracket.  Engineering specs on well-made bolts puts the working load of a 1/4" bolt at 4,600 lbs by itself, not including the bracket, keel bunk, and locking nut.  So I feel OK with this given it's 4x the weight of the boat and can accept some jolts without breaking.  I did want to put something more robust here but there wasn't much room in the bracket assembly.

I added a small 3/4" block at the nut end to take up some of the length (the entire assembly is about 5.5" across) and also spread the torque.  Finally, I also wanted to add a roller at the very back but the trailer for some reason has some wired lighting I couldn't remove and didn't want to mess with in case they were part of a circuit for the rest of the lights.

 

I covered the whole thing in marine carpet and stapled it down.  I got the last staples in as the first person showed up with a bag of White Castle.  Now that's a good friend!  An important bit is that none of the fasteners should be stainless steel as pretreated lumber will corrode stainless.  Galvanized fasteners are the way to go.  I wish I had a photo to share but I was working so quickly I forgot take a picture.

 

I still had to clear the garage so began pulling things out and moving them out of the way.  I'd been working on this off and on for about a week so there wasn't much stuff, but just enough to take a little bit of time.  And of course everything had to go back in that evening else the neighbors might call the trash cops on me.  I also hadn't moved the boat onto dollies as I wanted before people started showing up.  I tried but I was using a tire right by the companionway that I couldn't move without risking a Jenga finishing move.  That, too, waited for people to show.

  

Once they did I laid out the plan.  The boat was going to be placed onto dollies and wheeled out backwards.  It would then spin in the driveway to face forward, and then be unceremoniously dumped onto a bed of hostas.  We would regroup the dollies so that they'd line up and then we'd place the boat on the dollies right side up.  People would hold this position as I got the trailer lined up with the keel.  We would then put the boat on the trailer and someone would winch it (hence why I needed the bow eye installed as it was critical to the plan).  I assigned one person as emergency timber.  Her job was to throw down some timber in case the boat started making its way to the street.  I cringed when she emerged from the garage with my bowsprit.  I quickly handed her something else to use.

 

During the short break, I had a lot of questions about the build which I of course love to answer (really -- I could talk about PocketShip all day, and sometimes I do, says my wife).  Some people were there for the first flip seven years ago but some were there for the first time.

 

  

I got to look in the cabin for the first time since the first flip.  I was glad to see the floorboards and wiring were still in place, but did notice that I forgot to replace the flotation from the bow compartment when I was installing the bow eye.  Bits of purple foam were everywhere in side the cabin.

 

 

We then got it set on the keel bunk and winched up, but the bunks were about 6 inches or so short.  I thought this might happen so we stuffed tires on each side between the bunk and the hull to settle the boat for now.  That meant I would have to order some bunk extensions (which I found for about $12 each, times 4.  These are 16" long vs. the 8" that came with the trailer) and also need to shim up the hull if I wanted to work on the boat while waiting for the extensions to arrive.

 

Once the boat was on the trailer, I drew the short straw and backed it into the garage very slowly, praying I didn't damage the boat, garage, trailer, car, egos, people or any combination of those things.  I had about 6 inches from side to side and as it turns about about 4 inches from the top of the garage door.  Note to self:  I'll need some removable gallows and tabernacle.

 

After I got the wheels in the garage, I disconnected the trailer from the hitch and just moved the trailer around until I got into a position I liked.  The wheels on the trailer are really smooth and sensitive, which is great for moving.

And there she sits waiting for the next chapter in her life.  A friend timed us: 56 minutes from the time we gathered in the garage to first lift the boat to when we COVID high-fived after a job well done.  Drinks of choice were distributed to the crew and we ended the night several hours later by a bonfire in the backyard.  It was a good day.

Bow Eye and Centerboard Installation

After a day or so I finally stopped staring at the horrible boot stripe I laid down.  I could see it in my sleep:  the seeping dark blue running along the pure white, like blood on snow.  Yeah, that's dramatic, but at least that one's on me.  The next little bit of trouble I put at the foot of CLC.

Let's start with the bow eye.  I planned to use the bow eye right after it cured to haul onto the trailer after the flip and work on it there.  That meant I had to install this essentially upside down.  Nowhere in the manual does it say where to put this essential piece of hardware.  Why?  I'm not sure*.  From the photo, it appears just above the top white stripe, but that really could be anywhere depending on the depth of the paint.  Still troubled by this lack of clarity, off I went to find a bow eye.

 

The Marine Store, as mentioned, is more barren than a desert these days.  (I think the desert has more paint, but I can't be entirely sure.)  So the bow eye selection wasn't great.  There were small ones with about 1,500 lb capacity and big ones for 10,000 pounds and a couple in the middle.  More simply, CLC sells two types of bow eyes on its site: one for smaller boats and one for bigger boats.  The bigger one simply says to use something with 1.5" between the legs.  The prices are fair but I didn't have time to order and wait for it so I paid about double what CLC was charging for a 3,500 lb version with 3/8 legs and 1.5 inches between them.  I also picked up a bolt which would serve as the centerboard pivot.  On my way home, I stopped by the Big Box Store and cleaned them out of socket extensions.  I wasn't sure how many I needed so I bought a 24" and two 12" ones.  I figured four feet would be long enough.  To cut the bolt, I picked up a Dremel knock off, ensuring it had metal cutters.

 

Alas, like many others have said, the manual isn't exactly specific about where the bow eye goes, or how long of an extension you really need.  After some heavy research and queries, I decided to put the center of the bow eye 31.5" from the top of the breasthook using a "flexible ruler," which is what was suggested by the PocketShip forum.  Not having a measurement here is a serious issue, guys, especially for us kit builders and sailing kit orderers who are receiving pre-made shrouds to connect this stuff up.  I am fully expecting this to not be in the right spot, but there's nothing I can do about it.  So, in went the drill.

Then I had to crawl underneath the boat to get to the inspection port to saw away enough flotation to reach the bow eye.  This wasn't easy.  At one point, I considered cutting into the wall and just epoxying it back together.  Finally, I removed enough of a path to see and reach the legs, awkward as it was.  I also confirmed I could reach it with just the 24" extension.  In hindsight, I would've installed this when the bow was open.  There's no reason to install it so late in the process, so anyone thinking of building a PocketShip, do it before you close up the top unless you like being in cramped, dark quarters cursing life.

You can see the box cutter and handsaw I had to use to get to the bow eye.

 

 

After I confirmed I could reach it with my hands and a deep socket extension, I pulled the bow eye out, put some frog tape on the inside of the bow, and refilled the holes with thickened epoxy.  That cured overnight and then was re-drilled for the final installation. I was mostly accurate and just had to tweak the holes a bit to get a refit.  I removed the frog tape and it was time.  I found the 5200 and alternated filling the hole, putting some on the bow eye, filling the hole, etc.  I'm not sure how much 5200 I wound up using, but let's just say it was a lot. 

 

 

 The end product came out OK.  Time will tell if this can 1) be used to winch the boat, and 2) is in the right spot. 

 

The last bit of work I had to do before the flip was install the centerboard.  I remember building this in my cold basement that first spring and really looking forward to get this into the boat.  Of course, I ran into a problem.

As many times as I told myself not to, I'd painted over the epoxy circles on the keel which represented where the pivot goes, so I had to find these again.  I could see it from the top and so tried to get everything measured and aligned but it still seemed off.

Then I had an idea to drill a hole in a piece of clear plastic, put that in the slot, and mark off on the plastic and the trunk where the center was.  While it would've been better to remember NOT to paint over important things, this worked.

 

I then drilled out a small hole using one of my smallest bits to see where on the circle it hit.  I was just a little bit off but still within the epoxy, I drilled out the full width.  A (risky) test fit of the bolt with the centerboard in place was in order.  This also fit.  Maybe this wouldn't be too bad?

 

 

The Dremel knock off kit came with 31 metal cutters.  I used 30 of them.  I was sweating, swearing; it wasn't pretty.  But the bolt got cut and set aside.

Now, I had to run the centerboard pendant.  This is the line that raises and lowers the centerboard from the cockpit.  I bought this line years ago and stored it with the other lines, carefully labeled exactly for this moment.  Good job, younger self!

 

The manual says installing this could be tricky and so it was.  I didn't have any cable or wire hangers or whatever else would've made this easier.  I just taped some 12g wire to one end and started from the footwell opening, pushing it through and around, but I couldn't get this to reach a height where I could grab it.  

After awhile, I realized I could just go the other way.  So I lowered it into the trunk and made a little pushing tool out of scrap wood and frog tape bundled on the end.  Basically, the tool was long enough to reach the bottom of the centerboard trunk as I was sitting on the hull, and I could "walk" the line over to the inspection ports of the centerboard trunk.  Once it reached there, I could remove the ports and, using my hands, I could feed the line into the cockpit much more easily.  This worked a lot better. 

 

After this got fed into the cockpit, I knotted it up a few times so it wouldn't pull back out and hopped back onto the hull, emboldened.  However, my emboldened-ness would be short lived as I could not get the board to accept the knot without jamming.  What was I doing wrong?

Apparently, I didn't notice I had to drill out a top hole first.  So, that pushed everything back a day as I had to drill this out, fill it, and re-drill it.  I rescheduled my boat flipping party for another day and sadly drilled yet another hold in my centerboard.  This all happened fairly late which meant everything would be later the next day.

And indeed the next day arrived. This time, I fished the line through the top of the newly-epoxyd hole in the centerboard and into the second hole just fine.  I tied a knot and... the knot wouldn't fit in the hole.  This happened the other day, too, but I thought I could figure out how to make it fit.  Not so.  I tried many, many many different ways of abusing my line to no avail (burned the end, crimped it, used pliers).  This would knot sit in the hole.

The manual makes this look easy, even elegant. I can only think they used a thinner line and not the 1/4" called for on the line list, had a more pliable line, and/or had a bigger hole to work with.

That pretty much set up my options: drill out a larger hole which would require yet another delay; fish a different, thinner line which I didn't have; or -- like any good boatbuilder -- reach for the epoxy.  So, epoxy it was.

I mixed up some epoxy, dipped the last inch of line in it, folded the line over itself (which is all that would fit) stuffed it in the hole, and filled the hole with thickened epoxy with the line in it.  The next day, I cleaned this up and pulled on it with a lot of force.  It wasn't going anywhere.  More importantly, the centerboard dropped cleanly into the slot, and I was done with this phase of the build.

Three months after restarting the project, she was finally ready to flip.

* I have thought a lot about this question as this omission really stands out in an otherwise decent manual.  It is just pages from, for example, "exactly 28 inches" for the centerboard pendant.  My guess is that Geoff Kerr, who built PocketShip #1, simply eyeballed a good spot for the bow eye and then the bobstay was cut later. Unfortunately, from that day forward, the bobstay has been cut to the original spec despite wherever the bow eye might be on our garage boats.  It hasn't been addressed in 12 years so chances are low it'll be fixed any time soon.