I believe Thursday will go down as the longest day spent on the boat thus far. I lost track but I'm guessing I spent at least 10 hours if not more on the boat. On what? The DETAILS!
I started by lining up all my hardware with the appropriate boat parts. Then I went out to the boat and attached my two brass cleats to the forward bulkhead tabs. They will serve to tie off the line that I have running underneath the inwale. I also attached four strap eyes on the four bulkhead tabs which will give me a place to hook two ratchet straps to hold the mast down while in transport. The aft ones will also give me a place to tie off my mainsheet bridle.
Next I tackled the deck plates. I soon realized that I had bought screws that were too short. Ugh! That meant I'd be making another trip to the hardware store. No big deal really because I discovered I was going to need some other things anyway.
About that time Robin and I decided it was a good time to make a shopping run. We went to two hardware stores shopping for more hardware, got lunch and stopped at two grocery stores and two big box stores. We returned home around 2:00 and I immediately went back to work and worked until 8:25. I stood the mast up to see how it looked. It appears to be slightly out of plumb. Ugh!!!! That's my M-O: never plumb, level or square - no matter how hard I try. Oh, well. Can't fix it now. Maybe somehow I can straighten it up. May not matter a whole lot. The boat is seldom level anyway - LOL.
I installed the mast gate. In order to do that, I had to cut to length and drill holes in two pieces of brass flat bar that I had ordered and do the same with a piece of aluminum flat bar. I attached the brass and will save the aluminum for later. The gate is ok, but not a perfect fit. Oh, well - again.
I attached my oar locks. In the process I inadvertently reversed the screws on one side. I switched them. The smaller ones still seemed tight. They were actually the same size just one shorter that the other. Didn't make that mistake on the other one. I sat in the boat with an oar and used a suggested method for locating the locks. I attached them two hand lengths in front of the thwart. It felt good so I went with it.
Around 8:30 we made another run to the store. We stopped at three stores: Academy Sports for 50' of 3/16" rope for my tie off line and the two big box stores for more hardware. I think I'm still missing at least one bolt that I need. Not gonna make a special trip for that one.
I went back to work at 9:30 and stayed outside 'til after midnight. I finished the deckplate buttons, tied in the tie-off line and then went under the house to work on the rudder. I made good progress and should be able to hang it in the morning along with installing the drain plug. Both of those items will require some 3M 4200. I'll also affix the tiller to the rudder, howbeit without the one bolt I'm missing.
Here are a few pics of the mast up and tied to a cleat.
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