I managed to grab a couple hours of work over the week to finalize the deck fittings and to progress the bilge pump system. The motor mount bracket, which supports the removable motor mount, had been located to its mounting position, the fastener holes drilled and filled, and now was the time to pre-drill and tap for the 1/4"-20 bronze machine screws. I grabbed my tools (block jig, drill bits, and the sort), and the bracket and headed to Biscuit's hind quarters. With the protective tape in place, I used the wooden block (jig) to drill a pilot hole for the fastener. That accomplished, I continued to drill out the fastener holes, using progressively larger drill bits, until I was I was ready to tap the holes. I tapped the fasteners holes for 1/4"-20 screws one at a time, cleaned up the tailings, and then removed the protective tape. Next, I cleaned the area with acetone and applied a generous amount of bedding compound (Sitkaflex 291-lot) to the underside of the bracket and the deck. Carefully placing the bracket into position, I inserted the screws and drove them home. I backed the bracket with fiberglass backing plates and secured those with washers and nuts, tightening down on the motor mount bracket to complete the installation.

On a following evening I continued the work on the bilge pump. The removable extension was complete, and so now I focused on wiring the pump. The bilge pump will be controlled by a three-way switch within the cabin, and so I prepped adequate lengths of wire for the positive and negative leads. I chose a white wire, which will be labeled yellow (negative) and red (positive), and butt connected them to the short leads coming off of the pump itself. Needing an inline 7.5amp fuse, I choose to stop at this point and mounted the first portion of wiring to the extension - secured with small mounting plates and zip-ties. I had to stop at this point until I secured the inline fuse.

Total Hrs: 2.5