Step-by-step I am making Mekicevica a stronger boat. After having encased the keel in a rust-proof coating and changed the mast and boom, it was the turn of the chain-plates. I tend to keep the rigging rather tight, which allows us to sail efficiently in windy conditions. Last season hair-cracks started to form around the chain-plates, especially the port-side where there was some damage when we bought her.
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| Hair-cracks around the chain-plates. Superficial or danger of catastrophic rig failure? |
The first step was to sand the gel-coat down to the polyester. This turned-out to be in good condition, albeit a bit thinner than I would like.
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| Sanded down to sound polyester. |
The polyester was beefed-up with countless layers of epoxy strengthened with three layers of the sturdiest, woven fibreglass I could find. And the same again from the inside for good measure. Since the polyester looked in good nick on starboard I strengthened from the inside only.
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| Beefed-up with several layers of epoxy strengthened with a total of six layers of woven fibreglass. |
Than the whole thing was covered with epoxy fairing mix...
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| Covered in fairing mix. It looks a bit messy at this stage. |
...and sanded until it looked just rough enough to hint it was not professional work.
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| Faired and just rough enough to show it was an amateur's job. |
This was followed by two layers of primer and two layers of topsides paint.
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| Primed and painted. |
New, stronger chain plates were installed (8 mm rather than 6 mm) with generous amounts of polysulfide sealant.
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| The new, beefier chain-plates. |
Inside, the plates for the mast-top shrouds were backed-up by braces made of epoxied wood. These also transfer part of the load to the hull.
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| Braces and belt: epoxied wood braces transfer the load to the hull. |
Now, bring-on those gales!
