Commander 147

[Commander 147]

The piece of wood that was under "Destiny's" mast when I got her was in pretty sad shape and needed replacing. I contemplated a lot of options and the one I contemplated the most other than the decision I finally made was the route Rico took. But in the end since I'm doing a major refit anyway I decided to make a permanent solid fiberglass mast step that has become a part of the deck.

I started out by making a wood plug the size and shape of the step I wanted to end up with.



Then I had to build a piece that recreated the curvature of the deck that I could set on my workbench so I could attach the plug to it and build a framework around it that would hold the casting resin I was using to make a mold for the fiberglass step.



After that I poured in the casting resin, let it set up and I had a female mold that would allow me to make a solid fiberglass mast step. Then I popped out the wood plug and started cutting pieces of fiberglass that would allow me to fill the mold with solid glass. I must have cut between 30 and 40 pieces to get enough to fill the mold. I painted the mold with release wax and started laying up my mast step. After all the glass was wet out I covered the assembly with visquene and then clamped the piece that matched the curvature of the deck to the top of it. After the epoxy cured I dissasembled everything and took out the fiberglass mast step. I used a special solvent that removed any traces of the release wax and then sanded everything smooth.

While I was waiting for the epoxy to cure on the mast step I recored the deck where the new mast step would go with solid glass. And as long as I was at it I made the areas where the forward hatch hinges go through the deck solid glass also.



Then when all the parts were ready I mixed up some thickened epoxy and spread an even layer on the bottom of the new step and pushed it down on the deck. I used the squeeze out to make a fillet around the step. Once that had set up I glassed the entire thing down to the deck. This picture shows it at that stage. The only thing still needing to be done is to sand it then fair it out with some epoxy thickened with cabosil and mircoballons.

[Commander 147]

The little piece of wood trim that came on "Destiny's main companionway hatch did not allow for an easy way to grasp the hatch and slide it back and forth. So I decided to make somethiing for it that was more accomodating to my fat fingers.

This was not a real easy task as I found out when trying to make the new hand hold. The curvature of the hatch is not a smooth radius so I found I had to first cut and shape the bottom of the new piece to match the shape of the hatch. Then 2-1/4" above that point I had to draw and cut a true radius that would allow me to use the top as an indexing point for the 4 router bits it would take me to make the profile I wanted to make.

This first picture is the profile of the new hand hold.



This second picture is the view showing how it looks on the hatch.

[Ariel 109]

Nice work Jerry, I'm impressed!

[Commander 147]

Thanks Ben

You do nice work also. I appreciate the complement.

[Tony G]

Nice work Jerry, I'm impressed!

I'll second that without hesitation.

I never thought about Commanders having core where the hatch hinges attach. I guess you could accuse me of being 'hullcentric'.

[Commander 147]

Thanks Tony

Lord knows I've seen some nice work from your posts also. Hope your cabin comes out the way you want it to this time. Your new chain locker bulkhead is looking good too. Certainly an improvement from the original version. Fiberglass boats have come a long way since ours were built. Some of it good and some not so good.

[Commander 147]

Today I received the electric inboard drive for Destiny. It is really nice to finally see this thing in person and get a feel for what is in front of me for the install. It is also nice to see the apparent high quality of the parts and pieces that came. For me (I am NOT an electrical engineer) it was really good that I could find a vendor that supplies a complete package that is all designed to work together. I know Mike saved money by doing his piecemeal on C227 but I was willing to pay the extra for a complete packagee.

Here is the link to Electric Yacht's website.

http://www.electricyacht.com/