Blogger doesn't want to let me post more than four pix per post, so here are more. A couple of pictures show the backstay chainplate knee template as it approached its final form.
I also installed the new tiller, custom-made for Nevermind by H&M Marine Woodwork in Compton.
Karl was on Passat today working with Lee to troubleshoot a rough-running diesel, and after they got it running smoothly again we all went on a short harbor cruise. Then it was back to work for me. One small chore on my list was removing the wooden trim from the aft sid eof the main beam. This is where the hand impact driver earned its keep once again. This little tool is absolutely indispensible on a boat, where frozen fasteners are the norm. It's never failed to free up a stuck bolt for me.
In the evening I managed to get a valve adjustment done on the Westerbeke. Spec was .010" and all valves were loose; on the #2 cylinder, both intake and exhaust were .016"!
I adjusted to the correct clearances all aropund, but didn't firethe 'Beke up. Maybe tomorrow.
Other random things? I cleaned up the boat, and measured for the new main bulkhead reinforcement beams. I also templated the upper shroud chainplates which I will design this week.
The new backstay chainplate knee is going in - after a big degreasing and sanding effort in the laz I spent a lot of time fitting the core before filleting it in. Next comes tape: 2", 4" biax, offset 4" biax, 6" cloth, 12" cloth. The core is 1/2" Baltic Birch ply - it's a high quality Russian ply with 7 laminations in the 1/2" thickness. It's also void-free - at least so far I haven't found any voids.
Picasa and Blogger seem to be hating the guts of each other and pictures aren't showing up in Blogger. I'm testing things out and thought I'd try to show a picture of the new stern anchor arrangement - that's a 22 lb standard Danforth in a Windline bracket - the rode will go under the rail to the deckpipe so deploying this anchor should take only a matter of seconds: untie the rail lashing, lift out of the bracket, and drop. It's important that this be convenient because this anchor can serve as an emergency brake if the engine fails at an inopportune moment, etc.
I wasn't at the boat long today and didn't do much, but I did grind out the starboard chainplate repair enough to put in 3 layers of 10 oz cloth.
I also sanded and primed the faired repair to the port chainplate area.
Many things going on with Nevermind these days...for one, she got all the new ground tackle. The new setup is:
The chainplate replacement is proceeding apace. Here's a view of the aft port lower knee with the new chainplate temporarily clamped to it for some test fitting. The new chainplates are 1" x 1/4" 316L stainless, fabricated by yours truly with the precision tools of an angle grinder and a drill press. It took considerable care to do a neat job but they came out great.
To give the new chainplates a perfect clamping surface I coated each one heavily with paste wax and then created a bed of silica-thickened epoxy on the knee. I temporarily bolted in the plates during the epoxy cure. I can't wait to paint back over the knees - they look so awful right now.
The final step is the deck filling and fairing. Water intrusion had caused some deck core deterioration around the chainplate holes, so I drilled and filled the core void with thickened epoxy. Again making sure the plates were heavily waxed, I also filled around the plates to make a fairly tight-fitting chainplate slot. Next: finer fairing and paint. 
