Blog

Forecastle Bulwarks and Hull Fittings

Now for the good bits! This is part of a build which I really enjoy, when the boat starts to take shape. With 750 white metal parts there should be plenty of detail. With the main sub decks in place, I fitted the bulkhead facias, together with the extended bulkhead. The parts are pre cut to take the white metal portholes and watertight doors, which I glued in with superglue. The holes needed enlarging to allow the portholes to fit correctly. (Irritating). Using the screen printed sub foredeck overlay as a guide, I drew around the curve to give the position of the breakwater. The breakwater is made of ply and to achieve the curve, I soaked it in water for 10 minutes which made it supple enough to follow the line I had drawn. To get a quick and secure fix I used superglue. Cutting the gaps in the forecastle bulkhead down to deck level was straightforward, but if you use a , don't get over enthusiastic and cut into things you shouldn't! The last bit of this section is fitting the portholes, ash shute doors, hawse lips and and mooring port lips. All these are white metal and the hole centres are marked on the hull. Having used a small drill to start the holes off, I enlarge them with a reamer to prevent the gel coat cracking. The portholes on the hull have rigoles (eyebrows) and when I have fitted these in the past, I have always got some of them on the scunt (aka crooked). Having taken great care to get the first one correctly orientated, I drew a line through the rest of the holes, which helped aligning the remainder. I found that the hole centre for the hawse lip was close to the waterline and to maintain the correct distance I had to enlarge the hole upwards (if that makes sense). The fitting of the mooring port lips was straightforward and for extra detail they are both inside and outside.

5 years ago by cormorant