Stern Repairs Almost Finished (with photos)

Where Next?
Bob Williams
Thu 8 May 2014 10:54

Alongside Fukuoka
Weather: sunny, mild

I was back to grinding and welding at seven o'clock and have had a good day, certainly it all went better than yesterday. The stern is now all welded up, but I have rented the welder for one more day just to do some finishing touches.

I did have one spot of frustration though. I was trying to weld some nuts to take the wind vane mounts under the gunwale before welding that section in place. I have seen this done but had never done it myself. What I did not appreciate was that the nuts distort when they are welded to the plate, so that they need re-tapping otherwise the bolts just bind in the threads. It took me quite a while to figure out a solution, in the process of which I had to sacrifice several nuts and bolts, but I eventually worked it out, so hopefully everything will be ready to simply bolt on the new Hydrovane when it arrives.

Speaking of the wind vane, Hydrovane, the company, assures me that the new wind vane will be delivered to the marina on the 15th or very soon after. So that is good news and with a little luck I hope that we will be ready to depart Japan as originally planned.

All is well.

 

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Now all we need is some paint and some signage (Tony?)