Sunday, April 20, 2014

The Bee's Knees

Had to make a quick post about something I'm psyched out of my mind about.

For the past few weeks I have been dreading the thought of mounting the transom knee to the keel/transom. Unlike most other components, the pre-drilled holes will not help me in lining up the knee with the keel and transom. In other words, the knee is glued on when it is relatively free floating. This makes clamping very difficult because the wet epoxy creates a slip-and-slide for the pieces to be joined.

On other components that require gluing, I have been using a strategy that allows me to line up the pieces as desired even after they are coated with thickened epoxy. I first line up the dry components and pre-drill holes for screws or nails (whichever is needed). I then sink the screws through the first components until it protrudes about 1/8" through the side that contacts the other mating surface. Once the epoxy is applied, the protruding screw easily finds the hole on the adjacent part (this is depicted in the picture of the stem assembly below). This is not possible on the transom knee because I am using 1/4" carriage bolts placed within 1/2" holes. The excess space will be filled with epoxy to create a very strong, and very water-tight seal.


Here is what I am excited about. To ensure that the bolts are centered, I drilled 3/4" holes about 1/16" deep into the inboard side of the knee. The washers fit perfectly into this space, and ensure that the bolt remains centered. Once the bolts are under pressure, everything is pulled perfectly center. Meanwhile, it looks very appealing!



The bronze washer sits just below the surface of the knee. I intend to establish a water-tight seal around and under it prior to completion. Water in this knee would be a bad thing!

I borrowed this drill and bit from my neighbor, Wayne. It makes perfectly round holes and allows me to select the size hole I want. This made finding the right size hole for the washer very simple. 

The bolt will be perfectly centered in the knee. The head of the bold will be squeezed into center when pressure from the nut is applied. This is not the actual bolt I will be using.
I have other work to do today, so work on the boat will be light. The chines are currently soaking in PCV pipes to enable the bend and twist to the stem. If I have time, I will fit these to the stem and allow them to set for 48 hours. I will also have to sculpt the blocks that will be used to mount them to the stem.

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