March 29, 2015
The day had come for the sailing dinghy's completion - final assembly of the new brightwork, including shaping of the mast thwart now that the interior rails were to be installed. Mustering some help from family the week prior, I managed to flip the dinghy and rest her on a makeshift cradle of 4X4s and plenty of towels to protect the new paint. With the dinghy in good working position, I was ready to begin laying out the brightwork for assembly.
I was a bit foggy on the fastener plan being that it has been such a while since I had the brightwork on the boat in its dry-fit phase. So, the first step was to lay out the various components and accompanying fasteners, by position. With this exercise complete, I gathered the various other tools for the installation: screw drivers (flat and philips), a few clamps, Boatlife Teak Brown Life-Calk, mineral spirits for clean-up, and plenty of rags.
I first tackled the bow and stern thwarts, securing them from the exterior with various size silicon bronze screws countersunk - the exterior rails and stern accents would eventually hide these countersunk screws. Prior to installation of these pieces, I liberally applied teak-colored Life-Calk to the surfaces to be in contact with the dinghy; I cleaned up the calk that was pressed out by the installation process with mineral spirits...cleaning surfaces as I went.
Pictured above and below, the stern of the sailing dinghy in its completed phase.
With the thwarts and accents pieces installed, I turned to the exterior rails since these fasteners would be installed from the interior of the boat and countersunk . Again, these countersunk silicon bronze screws would be hidden by the interior rail. Installation included plenty of Life-Calk...cleaning as I progressed. The interior rails were next, and provided the most resistance due to the significant spring-back that two rails experienced. In the end, and with a few persuasive clamps, I was able to secure these final two rails and wiped the surfaces clean.
The last order of business in the dinghy's modest restoration was the final shaping of the mast thwart - actually the first AND last piece that I would work for this project. When I first worked on the mast thwart, I shaped the outboard ends of the teak board to take the inward curvature of the hull as well as the tapering of the board from aft to stem. Now that the interior rails were in place, I had to create a rabbit in the outboard edges that sloped from forward to aft. With a sharp 1/4" chisel, and after taking numerous measurements, I carefully carved the rabbits for a snug fit. Four silicon bronze screws secure the thwart from underneath - the mast thwart rests atop a 1/4" fiberglass shelf through which the mast passes. What I was unable to do on this project was create the hole in the teak mast thwart to allow the mast to be stepped. This will be an easy enough task for the owner to complete at his leisure.
The sailing dinghy looking a bit younger in years.
Total Time: 7.5 Hrs
