Wednesday - Third day at the boat yard.

4 Strips of Foil on Dynaplate Gold Post

I arrived at the boatyard at 8AM and in the cool of the morning I started to look at the task of laying the grounding copper foil between the HF tuner in the lazarette and the “golden bolt” of the dynaplate, low in the section below the cockpit.  I had intended to lay down four strips of foil and connect one to each of the four bolts of the Dynaplate, but the instructions were very clear that the foil should be connected to the only one of the four bolts that is literally gold plated.  I would still lay down the four strips but connect them all to the golden bolt.

The idea behind the use of these wide and thin foils is the physical fact, so I am told, that electrons travel along the surface of conductors, and these foils maximize the surface area for a given quantity of copper.  My intention was to stack four foils in order to minimize the resistance between the tuner and the Dynaplate.

Note Entry of /Foil to Lazarette at Top Right

I peered into the lazarette trying to decide the best location in which to cut a slot for the passage of the foil when I hit on the idea of cutting the slot not on the lazarette floor but rather in the vertical section just below the access doors.  This would solve two problems.  First, a slot in the floor would have acted as a drain allowing water – and worse, any gas leaking from the cylinders stored in that area – to drop into the bilge.  A slot slightly above the floor level makes the task of sealing much easier, and in the case of gas would buy more time for the gas detector in the lazarette to go off.  Second, a slot in the floor would have necessitated that the foil take a clumsy passage below the lower edge of a bulkhead, whereas the vertical section of the slot is the bulkhead, resulting in a much neater pathway.

I told Antonio how I would fold the foil to change direction and fasten it to the bulkhead with stainless steel screws spaced about 18 inches apart.  Antonio heroically volunteered to do the work in the cramped and hot conditions.  I started the process by punching the hole in the set of foils and fastening the set to the golden bolt.  Thereafter I supported Antonio by passing the drill, screws, screwdriver, etc.  At the end of that operation at about 11 AM Antonio was one hot puppy and I was not to see him on board again until 5 PM.

That suited me fine because it allowed me to install the lower set of batteries at my usual slow and methodical pace.  I strengthened the battery box with four  more thru bolts and several long screws in key positions.  It now has a better chance of containing all four batteries in a rollover, but still isn't foolproof.  I plan to jam a spacer between the top of the batteries and the cockpit floor.  I also took the opportunity to carefully clean and sand the battery posts and all connectors.  At the end of the day I was the hot puppy but was satisfied that the lower two batteries – the “starter bank” - were back in place.

Antonio came around at 5 PM and had a look at the progress.  We agreed that I would resume work at 8 AM tomorrow but would not be ready for his assistance in lifting the two gel batteries until 9AM.

Bob Carroll visited at about midday.  He showed me how to cut the ends of the screws protruding from the teak work above with small side cutters instead of a Dremmel tool.  This means that I'll be able to deal with those screws before my departure for Australia, which will undoubtedly save me from more than one nasty gash to my scalp.  Antonio dropped by and confirmed to us that two coats of primer and one coat of antifouling had been laid on both the keel and the perimeter of the Dynaplate.  Tomorrow the second coat of antifouling will be laid on the hull and keel, marking the end of that line of effort.

We set the splashdown for Friday between noon and 1 PM.  Bob and I will then have lunch at the marina restaurant.   I'll stick to the non alcoholic beer.  After last night's first beers in over 3 months I had trouble sleeping and felt lousy this morning.  I also noticed that my balance wasn't exactly 100%.  … That's how I used to feel when I didn't drink!  (Just kidding.)

[Note that I've added photos to yesterday's blog entry.]