Evenings have been pretty busy this week! The old keel plates were warped and fatigued, so I had some new stronger ones made. After waiting a while for a shipment of 316 A4 stainless steel to arrive in the country, my new plates were finally fabricated this week.

To ensure as much bearing surface as possible, a bed of fibreglass was laid under each plate. Then the plates were coated in vaseline to stop them sticking to the resin, and gently squeezed to ensure contact across the whole plate.

It took two of us a lot of effort and a seriously big socket spanner (thanks Paul) to tighten each bolt up fuly. These bolts and plates hold the keel on to the boat. It’s really really important that these nuts never move again!

Eventually all the plates were in, and the long job of strengthening the keel support was finally over.

Just one thing left to do. Make the whole thing waterproof! About 2.5kgs of flowcoat with bright white pigment was applied over any bare fibreglass. The result is a shiny waterproof surface that will resist anything that gets thrown at it and will easily clean and sponge dry.

The change is amazing. After weeks of dust, grime, and effort, the result is almost better than I could have hoped for. It’s almost a pity to cover it up with the actual floor! But the boat moves to its new home in Dun Laoighre tomorrow, where that floor will be fitted soon enough. I just can’t wait to bea in open water on the boat again for the first time since bringing it down from Scotland.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 4th, 2008 at 10:22 pm and is filed under Interior.