All four of the inside frames were either cracked or crumbling. As we live in the middle of the country I don't have access to all of those chandlery and parts stores you 'coasters' do. I'm going to try something along the lines of the Morris Yachts daysailor. If it all turns to $#!^ I can always backtrack to the bolted on ports, even though its not my favorite. I suppose we could drop three grand and buy some shiney, big opening ports. Yeah, right...
Only Morris Yacht's Daysailer found is a 36' Sparkman and Stephens designed Scotch and Teak throwback what has windows that look like they are 'lined' perhaps within the thickness of the cabin sides, but have no discernable frames outside per se in what I found. It difinitely is a IGOTMONEY yacht, way cool, way expensive, with sitting room only below.
How you gonna proceed Capt? I did notice that the holes you have in the sides of the cabin are VERY nicely trimmed and clean. I couldn't clean up 338's because the frames ride on only about 1/4". And the guy who cut them out in 1964 musta had a liquid lunch. What's up?
First off, don't be fooled by these pics. Those port are four different shapes and sizes. You'd think they would have had a jig of some sort at Pearson. Hell, at least a pattern to trace!
We've concocted a little jig for the job. In theory, it should provide the female form for the epoxy blend that will become our port, provide the pattern for the lexan for the lite, and act as the placement jig for the holes to be drilled and tapped for the stainless bolts and, yes, be a cutting and drilling jig for the inside frames. And as an added bonus, it's made mostly from discarded material.
Ater the some grinding and sanding and surface prep the jig will be clamped to the cabin side through the six holes. Then fill the gap between the existing ports and the jig with the extra special epoxy blend. Then wait. Once she has an intial cure we can 'pop' off the jigs and take a look. Then the jigs go back on and we drill all of the holes. Once the hole are drilled then off comes the jig and in goes the tap. When the hole are tapped we'll drill a countersink for the bolt heads. Once the bolts are screwed in...well, it's all down hill from there A little fillin' and fairin' and we're ready for primer.
Well, that's one of them. We made matching fore and aft or port and starboard, whatever.
Here's a shot that shows the angle of the male mold for drainage. It's a fifteen degree cut. So, if you minus the five to seven degrees of the cabin top you still have around ten degrees to shed water. I hope that's enough.
Do I understand yer going to mold a frame in place !!! Holy Minnihaha! Brave Soul. Naw I think yer gonna do it flat ie horizontal. right?
I've run into some kevlar paste - is that the secret ingredient? Probably better than carbon in this ap. There's a bunch of metal-filled epoxies around - can't wait til ya spill the beans. NO! Yer NOT using hog feed in the mix, are you???
I'm sure I'll end up throwin some swear words in the mix too. Somewhere I've got a link to a site that shows how to make a vacuum pump from a refrigerator compressor. That's the next stage here.
After this Ariel is done we've got this beat-up Ensign that is going to be, well, redone. This won't be your classic daysailor. Nowadays, I think the kids say, "pimp my ride, beeotch!"
Anyways, here's what we're aiming for in the scupper.
The quart of PVA (releasing agent) finally showed up. I guess I'd better get started on the ports soon enough or we'll run out of summer. I've been going through the 'plan' over and over and I won't really know what happens until I'm in it up to my arm pits.
But first I had to fill a couple of other holes and tackle the chainplate areas.
A little fillin' and fairin' and we're ready for primer.
Molded Frames
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