Weekend 1:
Craig decided to replace Bungholio's keel with a new C-Tech centreboard, replacing the leaking casette in the process. After a last: "You are sure Rob is okay with this?", Antje got stuck in with drill, jigsaw and grinder to expose the outer centrecase:
The cassette came out in one piece:
A
kiss with a sandbank in Tauranga had squashed bits of glue and
glass into the hull foam behind the centrecase, but other than that
there was a clean outer edge.
The fillets for top and bottom of the cassette have been fitted.
In the bottom, it will be (from the inside): Carbon, 8mm 80gsm foam, glue, 8mm 100gsm foam, glass, and for the top Carbon, 8mm 80gsm foam, glue, 8mm 80 gsm foam, glass.
In two weeks time, we will have the sleeve (molded to the centreboard) to build the cassette and glass it in.
Weekend
2:
With the indespensible help and supervision of David Lee, the new centrecase has been successfully fitted!
Over the 'downtime' between exposing the case (see below) and fitting the new sleeve, Antje has been glueing the respective foam pieces for top and bottom together, and glassed them with two layers of e200 glass each.
On Saturday, David and Craig made their way to Northland with the new centrecase sleeve - and a sheet of mylar to fit inside the case, as the sleeve was supposed to be too large for the centreboard.
It turned out the opposite was the case. Off came a few millimetres off the trailing edge over the top quarter of the centreboard - and what had looked like an impossibility was quickly turned into a very functional sleeve and centreboard.
To fit the bottom and top foam pieces in the right place, David drew a centreline and then the sleeve shape on the pieces, and Antje got to get her go again with drill and jigsaw.
A bit more shaping with files and sandpaper was needed, then the centreboard with the sleeve on it and the foam pieces on the sleeve was fitted into the outer centrecase.
The boat was balanced upright on the cradle so that the decks were vertical and the centreboard horizontal.
Once David has applied is eyecrometer and decided that all the angles were right, the position and angle of the foam pieces was drawn on the sleeve.
The next step was to use the hot glue gun (courtesy of David Brown) to temporarily fix the foam pieces in place from the 'outside' so Antje could get her hands covered in epoxy and cove the inside. After a coat of resin on the sleeve, the whole assembly was put into the bathroom together with a fan heater and we went for dinner.
When we came back, the workshop owner had been meanwhile and was not impressed with a heater going while no-one was there...
The casette assembly had set nicely, and the wax on the centreboard had worked as well so that a little dollop of resin that had dropped on the beautiful new plate could just be flicked off.
For the final fitting into the boat, the rudder was put on the transom as another point of reference.
Antje got another batch of glue ready and generously spread it around the top and bottom of the outer case as well as on the outer edges of the foam pieces. David and Craig gingerly inserted the centrecase with the casette on it into the hole, and a chair was used to balance the plate level.
After a final check with David's eyecrometer and removing most of the excess glue, we left the new centrecase to set overnight.
Just in case you were wondering: no, nobody remembered to take pictures of any of this!
The next morning, David himself laid hands on the grinder and removed the excess length of the centrecase sleeve at the top and bottom:
The Gentlemen attended to the sanding while Antje took the opportunity to pick David's brains about how to progress with the new hull.
David not only provided advice but also hands-on support:
After some more sanding and fairing on Bungholio, Craig was let loose with a paint brush:
And here is the final result:
A bit more sanding and fairing needed on the bottom - and she will be put to the test on Saturday at Murray's Bay!