Dry-Fitting the Coaming Blocks & Boards, and Fabricating the Aft Cockpit Trim

March 11, 2020

Upon arriving at the shop today, I set about to work on the port side coaming block.  Having previously epoxy-glued a filler strip of teak, I now was ready to trim the excess material and shape for final fit.  With a small Japanese saw, I trimmed the overhanging material and flush-sanded to final dimensions.

Up on the boat, the newly tuned port side coaming block fit nicely in position.

My next steps would be to secure the coaming blocks to the cabin sides, and then secure them to the coaming boards.

On the exterior surface of the cabin sides I marked the outline of the coaming blocks, removed them, and then drilled for three fasteners.

I repeated the process for the starboard side that I had executed for the port side.  I choose #10 wood screws 1.25" in length, and used finish washers for more aesthetic look.

With the coaming blocks secure firmly to the cabin sides, without risk of shifting, I was now ready to secure the coaming boards to the coaming blocks.  I wanted to removed the board and block assembly, in one piece, from the boat in order to do some final shaping back at the shop.  In addition, I could not install the third, lower screw do to the angle of the board and the deck not providing enough room.

Installed the two uppermost screws, both on the starboard and the port assemblies, leaving the third for work on the ground.

Before I could removed the coaming board-block assemblies, I needed to fabricate the aft cockpit trim board. This board would serve a couple functions: first, it would prevent water from streaming off the decking onto the seating, and second, it will (possibly) provide the substrate for the mainsheet traveler and block.  I cut a scrap piece of material to 46", and then hot-glued a couple stir sticks on the outboard ends to bridge the gap between the scrap material and the inboard edge of the coaming boards.  This would serve as an analog for the teak trim that I would need to fabricate.

After removing a 1.5" x 51" strip of teak, I ran it through the planer to get to a thickness of 5/8".

Back in the boat, I trimmed and sanded the outboard edges to mirror the angles of the coaming boards until I arrived at a balanced fit.

Finally, I sanded all edges, rounding over the most exposed edges, which completed the piece.

The coaming boards proved necessary for the fabrication of the aft cockpit trim, and now with that task completed, I was ready to remove them.  I once again set up my jack system - pushing the coaming boards hard up against the molded fiberglass coaming.  This process allows for easy installation and removal of the coaming boards since they are under a lot of torque given the curve of the molded fiberglass coaming.

I first removed all backing nuts and washers, and then backed out the 1/4" machine screws.  

I carried the coaming board-block assemblies over to the shop and began the final shaping work and general sanding prior to varnish.

I sanded the field of the boards with 150-grit paper on the Porter Cable 7335 6" sander, and then gently rounded the edges with the 5" random orbital.

Next, I drilled the third, lower set screw for the coaming board to block assembly, and set the #10 silicone bronze screw in place.

Lastly, I drilled out some 3/8" bungs for future installation on the coaming boards.  There will be more bungs required for the companionway trim installation, but that will come later.

Total Time Today: 5 hrs