bedding & backing

Anne and I spent the day bedding - filling any voids in the assembly and holes in the deck that may allow water penetration - and then installing backing plates - 1/4" thick metal plates that are mounted below decks to insure forces placed on gallows are distributed over a large area of the hull.

First we started below decks and used cardboard replicas of the backing plates to locate where on the plates we would need to drill holes for the machine screws.  Once we confirmed the hole patterns in the backing plates were correct, we loosened the nuts on the screws currently holding gallow's bases to the deck of the boat. With nuts backed out to the end of the treads we went topsides and used the main and jib halyards to lift the gallows bases off the deck.  This gave us approximately 3/4" of a gap between the deck of the boat and wooden base of the gallows - see image below. 

After taping off the surrounding area, Anne brushed unthickened epoxy into the gap - see image below.

We then mixed up a batch of thickened epoxy and used a syringe to inject the thickened epoxy under the base. Easing the halyards lowered the assembled gallows back down onto the deck and as expected the thicken epoxy oozed out around the bases.  This will create a watertight joint with the deck - see finished product in image below.

With the base sealed to the deck we then turned our attention back to the plates below deck.  We mixed up batches of thickened epoxy and spread this atop the backing plates.  As we tightened down the plates using the machine screws, pulling the plates in contact with the underside of the deck, the epoxy filled any voids between the backing plate and the underside of the deck.  Once cured the epoxy will create a uniform surface between the plates and the deck.  The image below is of the port backing plate installed.