Tiddly Bits

With all the major parts taken care of, all that was left was the tiddly bits. Inventorying this would be a pain in the ass and a bore to read, but in the spirit of completeness I’m going to go through the basics.

            Despite what I said in my last post, it turned out to be a little more than “a few minutes drilling and riveting.” Since it was raining (again) on the first day of my week off, I did what I could inside by turning to the rudder. I secured a cam-cleat to the tiller to catch the line that pulls the rudder up, and then I drilled a hole in the rudder cheeks and passed a bolt through that to prevent the rudder from moving too far forward. I relied on the friction of the rudder against the cheeks, and a good tight rudder bolt, to hold the blade down.

            With some sunshine, I turned to fitting the rest of the hardware to the boat. I spent a while measuring the size of every bolt and screw I thought I’d need, and then a much longer time at the hardware store sorting through drawers of stainless nuts, bolts and washers to find everything I needed. These in hand, I returned to Eurydice with a vengeance.

            The stern pintel and gudgeon went on first, followed by the bung hole and radbud scuppers. These latter have a ping-pong ball inside them which theoretically floats-up to block any water from entering the boat. I put all of this on with copious amounts of marine silicone sealant.

The gudgeon, pintel and radbud scuppers in place.

            I’d been at a bit of a loss for what to do with the jib sheets, as they should each properly have their own fairlead and cleat. I only had one cleat, so in the interest of sailing solo I rigged them up so they each ran through their own fairlead, respectively, but instead of a cleat for each sheet, I put one in the middle of the boat. Why have two cleats if I only use one jib sheet at a time?

            A camcleat near the center bracket holds the centerboard down quite nicely, and I put eight small bolts through the transom to connect it to the deck at that point. The last tiddly bit was bolting a stainless loop to the transom above the plug, as an attachment point for the toe-strap, which I also bolted to the thwart.

            The last and best part was the arrival of Gabrielle, who came with her paint brushes and shared a beer while she painted the Eurydice’s name across each bow, leading with an ancient Greek “E” and finishing with her own cursive. Where would any of us be without friends? Thank you, Gabrielle.

Gabrielle painting Eurydice's name.

            It was a strange thing to say she was “finished,” so instead I decided to say she’s “ready for her first sail.” A boat, according to Bertrand Moitessier, is never finished.