Across the weekend, I covered multiple items on Biscuit's restoration work, including the last piece of hardware, the motor mount bracket, the roller furling fairleads along the starboard deck, and some bilge work. I got started with removing the patina from the top portion of the motor mount using a small finger sander with 120-grit paper and also by hand. Some additional work with higher grit paper to come, but this got me close to presentable. I cleaned up the motor mount and laid it out for the purpose of locating the bracket to mount on the aft deck. The simple and elegant design of the motor mount - motor mount bracket system is undeniable, and very expensive to replace! This system using a bracket that is deck-mounted and captures the bracket that rests on the taff rail and using a block of wood that the outboard engine is mounted to. When not in use, the motor mount can be folded upward and removed from the bracket, to be stored below. A roughly 3/8" thick neoprene pad will be given to the owner to protect the bronze surface of the motor mount from marring the taff rail. After finding a good location for the motor mount bracket on the aft deck, I applied a protective surface of tape and then transferred the fastener holes to the tape itself. I over-drilled the six fastener holes with a 1/2" forstner bit, removing the top skin of fiberglass and balsa core, leaving the bottom skin of fiberglass. I cleaned out the over-drilled holes and coated with neat epoxy (West System), followed by filling them up with epoxy thickened with 404 high-density filler. I finished this task by placing patches of peel ply on the epoxy-filled holes.

At this point, I moved on to laying out the roller furling fairleads along the starboard deck - just inset to the toe rail. These three fairleads are meant to manage the roller furling line, used to wrap the headsail to a "closed" position on its foil. The fairleads bring the roller furling line back to the cockpit, where the captain can manage the take-up of the line onto the drum of the roller furler (tack of the headsail) when deploying the headsail by winching in one of the sail's sheets, but also to pull out the roller furler line when wrapping the sail onto its foil - dousing or reefing the headsail. I arranged the three fairleads in a manner to avoid chaff on the side stay chainplate and to promote an easy path back to the cockpit. After checking below for any obstructions to the fasteners, I adjusted the fairleads locations as necessary and then applied tape to the deck for prep of installation. After transferring the fastener hole dimensions to a small jig made of cardboard and tape, I then transferred the fastener locations to the protective deck tape. Using a center punch, I made a starting point for the smallest of three drill bits, and then progressed through those three to open up the holes to accept a tapping tool. I used a small wood block to drill through in order to keep my angle of attack at 90-degrees to the deck surface. After tapping the two fastener holes per fairlead to accept #10 machine screws, I then used a countersink bit to create room for bedding compound at each of the fastener holes. After removal of the tape, I applied a spot of white Sitkaflex 291-lot to each of the fastener holes, I mounted the fairleads and secured the #10 stainless steel machine screws. From below, I mounted washers and snug up the nylon locking nuts - completing the installation.

The mast was calling me for sure, but I wanted to get started on the installation of the bilge pump and so pivoted to this task. I first cut the bilge hose at a point near its access hole into the bilge, and mounted a check valve secured with ring clamps. I secured the bilge pump end of the cut hose to the check valve and then threaded the hose through the floor pan and into the bilge, bringing this hose forward to the cabin sole's bilge access hole. Back in the shop, I began work on an angled piece of aluminum stock that would be used to mount the bilge pump onto, be removable with three screws, and allow the bilge pump to extend aft to the lower point of the bilge. I grabbed the aluminum piece and a portable light, climbed back aboard, and measured the length needed for the removable bilge pump mounting bracket. In the shop, I used a cut-off wheel to reduce the length of the bracket, and then fabricated, with cuts and bends, arriving at a removable bilge pump bracket. The removable bilge pump bracket would be secured by three screws, with the screws securing the bracket to a block of purple heart hardwood - I located where these fasteners should land on the bracket and the wood and then pre-drilled these. I hand-sanded the interior of the hull surface, within the bilge and then generally cleaned out of the loose detritus from the bilge, finishing with an acetone wash. I also acetone wiped the wood's surface before painting it and the hull surface out with neat epoxy. I mixed some thickened epoxy, buttered up the wood block and placed it onto the hull's surface to allow it to cure. The squeeze out was shaped into a fillet around three edges of the purple heart wood mounting block.

This would close out the two days worth of work, and of course....more to come!

Total Hrs: 7.75