New backing and base plates

Here are the new base and backing plate for the chain plate. The smaller piece, backing plate, seems to be cut odd/uneven because it is cut odd/uneven. I just followed the cardboard template I made from the very, very cramped location in the bow.This is replacing the very thin strips of 1/16" stainless steel that was originally there. There was nothing wrong with those strips per say, but I do prefer the 1/4" SS plate I made.

The larger plate is 3/8" SS. Metal Supermarket ran out of 1/4" but only charged me for the price of 1/4". Great service like that will keep me going there again and again. Drilling hint; buy a cobalt drill bit and a good cutting fluid. Wow. I went through three 3/8" jobber drill bits before I gave up, that is not including the 1/8" pilot holes. The cobalt bits are pricey, but well worth it.

Back to the larger plate, it is probably redundant and won't add much more strength to the whole job but I wanted it.

Small side bar here; I initially bought a fairly large piece of SS for the bow and was shaping it in a modified triangular shape with a curved base roughly matching the contour of the deck shapes around the bow but, alas, I fucked up the measurements and ended up with two pieces of 1/4" plate that I could not use (for this project).

I should have place a ruler in the shot to give you some scale, the big piece is about 7" long and 3" wide.

The wife and I have already glassed in the bow after over sized the through holes in the deck. This will allow us to drill the bolt holes in the resin alone and assist in keeping any leaks from getting to the core of the deck.

We still have to mix a final batch of resin, thicken it to a peanut butter state and spread it of and form it, sand it smooth, drill the correct sized bolt holes through the above mentioned over sized, resin filled hole.

I had a lot of mixed resin left over and the wife went around cleaning out the crazing in the deck around the boat and brushing the resin in them while informing me we will be painting the deck this year. I think she read my copy of Don Caseys "Hull and Deck Repair".

BTW, all cutting was done with a die grinder with cutting discs installed, edges removed with a bench grinder then sanded smooth with a sanding wheel in a drill press.

Costs:
Small SS piece = $12
Large SS piece = $17
Fucked up SS piece = $34
1/8, 3/8 Cobalt drill bits and cutting oil = $34 for a total of $97. Should have been $63 except for that screw up of mine...lol

GPS course

The wife and I just finished a GPS course with the Burlington Power Squadron. Learned a lot from it....I KNEW there was more to the unit that I could figure out. I now know what all the initials and acronyms mean, it actually makes sense...lol My unit and compass will now read the same bearing. Before, the GPS was set on "True North" as opposed to magnetic. It was worth the $60 each fee just for that.