Preparations for Rigging

Once you build the boat, you then need to get all the rigging preparations in order.  Let’s look at a few details:

I curved the back side of the downhaul cleat to better fit the veranda top.

I then epoxied a bunch of small backer plate pieces.  

Backer plates installed using grabber screws.  These screws will all come out once cured and be replaced with stainless screws through rigging hardware.  These block keep the rigging up off the veranda top so they don’t scratch the paint job.  

The upper block has been doubled in height to help engage the downhaul line in the cleat.  

This block will hold the CB cleat.

This aft doubler will hold the stern eye for towing another watercraft.  

I’ll be pulling in anchor lines along these veranda sides.  

So, I added a Sapelle doubler to take the abrasion of the line.  

I’ll bright finish these abrasion sticks along with most of the Sapelle on the boat. 

Now a glimpse into my fender storage/deck seat design.

I’ve often felt there was a better way to store wet slimy fenders.  They take up a ton of room and there are 4 of them…

So, how could we store them outside the boat?  How about right here?

Mocking up the design, the oars are free to move uninterruptedly.  

  This simple fender storage design offers many advantages:

1. Fenders stored outside the boat, take up less interior space that could be used for other purposes.
2. Fenders provide a soft seat if you want to hike out while sailing.
3. Fenders provide massive buoyancy upon capsize (I’m anxious to sea trial this design to test the increased buoyancy)
4. Fenders are uber quick to deploy when approaching a dock.
5. Fenders are uber quick to store when departing a dock.
6. Fenders provide a nice place to sit as you board the boat from shore.
7. Fenders provide cushion when rolling into the boat after a capsize.

I plan to secure each fender with 2 bungie cords.  I’ll run the bungie cords through 2 pad eyes and then loop around the fenders.  More details to come…