Mentor and more...

Today and yesterday and the day before I worked some more on the Neptune 16.  The ladder rungs were sanded and got another coat of epoxy and then were roped up..  The rigging was set up again using new hardware from duckworks so I could get a full picture of the boat:

New clevis pins were used to hold the forestay and shrouds instead of the nuts and bolts that came with the boat.  A small swivel block was used to set up the outhaul for the mains'l.  This, the downhaul and an extension to the jib tack were set up using some 1/4" or 3/8" low stretch line that I had laying around from who knows where.

My messing-about-in-boats mentor, Paul, came up and gave me some suggestions and a hand putting in the backing plate.  Taped on the lower gudgeon, drilled and used the screws and Paul to hold it in place while I measured, taped and drilled for the upper gudgeon. The backing plate turned out to be too thick as it was with the doubled 1/2" marine ply, so we shaved about 3/32" off of it, trimmed and rounded the bottom, and routered a round edge on the bottom to fit better (Paul's idea).  I held it in place from the inside of the boat (got to crawl under the seat again), while Paul placed a couple of screws to hold it in place. Then we drilled the scupper hole, gudgeon bolt holes, and bilge drain plug hole.

I also tidied up the trailer wiring since it was put in kinda hectic-like :-)

The upper gudgeon was installed and I learned to place a nut on a bolt to hacksaw it down to size without mangling the threads.  Made a bit of a mess with the silicone caulk. I caulked the lower gudgeon and 5 hours later Sarah screwed the lower gudgeon bolts while I held the wrench on the lock nuts from the inside (yes, I got to crawl under the seat.  Again).  I then caulked the scupper and drain plug fitting in place.

Looks like it's all gonna work out.  Hopefully I can put it in the water with Paul on Sunday :-)