Taking some time in the afternoon, I moved into the installation process for the taff rail hardware: the aft dock line chock, serving to manage the line serving the aft cleat, and the aft chainplate. To that end, I laid out the chock on the taff rail in order to locate final position, after which I placed a strip of tape to protect the surround varnish on the rail. The chock is secured with two bronze #10 machine screws, and so I fetched those from my inventory. With a 5/32" drill bit, I pre-drilled the fastener locations - previously marked by pencil while the chock was in place, and then punched a starting hole. After pre-drilling for the fasteners, I tapped the holes for the #10 machine screws. I finished the prep by dry-fitting the chock. An additional coat of varnish will be applied, and so I did not finalize the installation.

Next up, I grabbed the bronze aft chainplate from storage and located it onto the taff rail. Again with tape, I applied a protective layer to avoid marring the surface the taff rail. I found the centerline of the boat by using a small square that helped to transfer the stern's centerline up to the taff rail. I placed the chainplate on the centerline, and then transferred the four fastener holes to the taped surface. Using that same piloting punch, I marked the four locations for pre-drilling. The aft chainplate is secured by four bronze 1/4" machine screws, and so I grabbed these fasteners from my inventory. After pre-drilling the holes, I tapped for the 1/4" machine screws, which pass into a bronze plate mounted on the underside of the aft deck. Finally, I installed the chainplate in a dry-fit and then removed until the installation process.

In between the chock and chainplate work, I managed to sand the varnish surface with 320-grit paper in preparation for another coat of varnish. There may be one additional coat of varnish, though the taff rail now has six coats. I placed the taff rail hardware back into storage, along with their fasteners, and completed the afternoon's work with a coat of varnish to the taff rail and to the motor mount teak block.

Total Hrs: 3