Sunday, February 20, 2011

Mast step

I'm behind on updating this blog but the good news is that building is progressing.  I've done a fair bit of final epoxy coating and touchup sanding.  None of which makes for interesting pictures. 
In preparation for gluing the seat tops I had to make the mast step and partners.  These are simple bits of douglas fir with appropriately sized and located holes to receive the mast.   A while back, while browsing the isles of oddball "tools" at Harbor Fright I stumbled upon an adjustable hole drilling rig that would be perfect for drilling the mast holes.  It appears that this tool is made by drunk monkeys as I had to go through the whole stack to find a straightish one.  But it was something like $4.99 and if it worked it would save a ton of sanding the holes to size.  The tool is awful to set to the desired diameter and so that both arms are equidistant from the center but once set up it does a surprisingly good job. 

First I wrapped a couple layers of 2" glass tape around the mast base and at the partners to protect the mast from chafe.  The diameter of the wrapped and sanded areas was used to size the hole in the mast step and partners

The el cheapo but pretty functional rig drilling a slightly larger hole than the mast diameter..

Just because it looks cool on the Subie.

Total hrs to date: 260