Wednesday, June 17, 2015

The Starling Project - Part 20

I have cut four battens to length for  the cockpit floor. These  battens will serve two purposes. First they will provide foot grip on what would otherwise be a flat slippery cockpit sole and second they will strengthen the 6mm plywood cockpit floor.

As I planed and sanded these battens I found, yet again, the usefulness of this 'WorkMate' bench to hold small woodworking jobs.

The next step is to install these battens permanently on the cockpit floor with glue and screws.


2 comments:

George A said...

Could you avoid the screws by using vacuum bagging and epoxy?

Alden Smith said...

That is a very good idea George and one that I would contemplate if I had the vacuum gear and the experience. Thanks for the suggestion.

I will be using epoxy and screws. The screws will be an added precaution against the sheering away of the much less flexible mahogany battens from the more flexible plywood when the cockpit floor is under stress from the skippers great clod hopping feet during sailing maneuvers.