Thursday 22 May 2014

Adding an inner forestay - Part 4

The yacht is slowly taking shape, as some of the long-standing projects near completion. We have finally installed the forward bulkhead (see here). After months of preparation work, we have mixed up the largest batch of glass-reinforced epoxy putty yet, and glued the bulkhead solidly to the hull and deck. Then, we added three strips of biaxial cloth of increasing thickness on each side of the bulkhead, continuing the layup down along the stem, as seen in the picture below.
Glassed in place
Flowcoat, sikaflex, bolts
Strongest eye on Auriga?

At the bottom of the bulkhead, we installed a drainage valve to allow removal of water from the anchor locker.
Next, the forepeak was sanded and painted white using durable polyester flowcoat. After some measuring and aligning, we drilled the holes and bolted the two stainless brackets and the U-bolt in place, using copious quantities of Sikaflex, as usual. Hopefully our new storm staysail can match the deck eye in strength and durability!



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