Today I used a 13/64" bit to drill two oversized holes in the transom and through the backing blocks that I epoxied in yesterday. Be very careful drilling! You want the bottom of the hole to be near or even slightly into the bottom of the hull, but you do NOT want to drill through the bottom!! I almost did. You can see that the holes both dig into the bottom planking. As it is it'll work great, but if I had gone any further then I would have had to do some repair work. Yikes!
In the picture below you can see the two 3/4" 10-24 SS hex screws just sitting in the holes. They are very loose and can slip right out.
The holes are oversized so that there is still room for thickened epoxy.
Then I waxed the screws well with candle wax and set them aside.
I mixed up a small batch of epoxy and clear coated the insides of the holes so that epoxy would soak into the bare wood. With the remaining epoxy I mixed in thickener to about the peanut butter stage and with a mixing stick worked it into the holes. The screws were coated as well and I carefully inserted them into the holes and gave them a little twist to work the epoxy in well.
A lot of thickened epoxy squeezed out the bottom and I cleaned that up. The idea is that you can barely see the threads on the inside of the hole. You can sort of see them in the picture below. Compare the two pictures and you can just barely see little bits of the thread.
Tomorrow after the epoxy has thoroughly hardened I will take my Allen wrench (I'm using hex screws) and will sharply snap the screws loose. They should come right out... fingers crossed!!
A little cleanup and chiseling will be needed to open up the holes on the inside but that should be easy.
Then I can use clean 1/2" 10-24 SS hex screws and a small neoprene washer to make the actual drain plugs. The sacrificial screws are 3/4" to make sure that they stick all the way through the holes. I had some 1" screws but they were too long. I'll hang onto the sacrificial ones though as you must keep something in the holes when you paint or varnish to keep the threads clear.
This is what the transom looks like with the screws set in place. There will be some cleanup required, mostly sanding, on the transom tomorrow when the screws come out.
More tomorrow!
Peace! _/)
In the picture below you can see the two 3/4" 10-24 SS hex screws just sitting in the holes. They are very loose and can slip right out.
The holes are oversized so that there is still room for thickened epoxy.
Then I waxed the screws well with candle wax and set them aside.
I mixed up a small batch of epoxy and clear coated the insides of the holes so that epoxy would soak into the bare wood. With the remaining epoxy I mixed in thickener to about the peanut butter stage and with a mixing stick worked it into the holes. The screws were coated as well and I carefully inserted them into the holes and gave them a little twist to work the epoxy in well.
A lot of thickened epoxy squeezed out the bottom and I cleaned that up. The idea is that you can barely see the threads on the inside of the hole. You can sort of see them in the picture below. Compare the two pictures and you can just barely see little bits of the thread.
Tomorrow after the epoxy has thoroughly hardened I will take my Allen wrench (I'm using hex screws) and will sharply snap the screws loose. They should come right out... fingers crossed!!
A little cleanup and chiseling will be needed to open up the holes on the inside but that should be easy.
Then I can use clean 1/2" 10-24 SS hex screws and a small neoprene washer to make the actual drain plugs. The sacrificial screws are 3/4" to make sure that they stick all the way through the holes. I had some 1" screws but they were too long. I'll hang onto the sacrificial ones though as you must keep something in the holes when you paint or varnish to keep the threads clear.
This is what the transom looks like with the screws set in place. There will be some cleanup required, mostly sanding, on the transom tomorrow when the screws come out.
More tomorrow!
Peace! _/)
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