110 Cookson Lane | Whitefield, ME 04353 | 207-232-7600 | tim@lackeysailing.com
Blue Teal | Wednesday, June 19, 2013
To support the solar pole base off the deck, in keeping with the way other things on deck had been installed previously, I created a round fiberglass base, 1/2" thick and a little larger than the diameter of the solar pole base.
After assembling the various rail brackets onto the pole itself, I mocked up the installation on deck, adjusting things this way and that till I got the pole plumb in both directions. The angle and curvature of the pulpit, the type and length of the brackets, and the need to avoid interference with a nearby mooring cleat dictated the position as shown; in other words, there was pretty much only one right way to set it all up.
With some tape on the deck beneath the base, and with all components aligned and plumb as needed, I marked the outline of the base on the tape, and center-punched the three fastener holes for reference. Removing the pole and base, I overbored the three hole locations to remove the core in way of the fasteners, then filled the holes with thickened epoxy. Meanwhile, I took the fiberglass base to the paint room, but a picture I took of it washed out in the flash.
After lightly sanding the primed windlass riser base, I applied three sprayed coats of off-white paint.
Back in the boat, I applied a second coat of Bilgekote to those areas requiring it in the head and galley lockers, mainly plywood areas where the paint had soaked in during the first coat.
After some final surface preparations and masking, I applied a coat of primer to the fiberglass frames the owner had installed around the port openings; these frames, which surrounded and accommodated the original aluminum port frames, were designed to reinforce and accept bolts from a storm shutter system. Although these areas had been at least partially painted during earlier stages of their construction, I began anew with primer in order to achieve my desired finish. At the same time, I also primed the support arch in the center of the main cabin, plus additional areas of the galley and bridgedeck structure; all these areas would receive a semi-gloss white enamel finish once the primer cured, and needed to be done before I could think about applying the cork surface to the other areas (cork now on order).
Total Time on This Job Today: 5.25 hours
