After about 35 hours of work, the Hydrovane self-steering system is installed! Fitting the lower bracket to the underside of the transom took most of that time. A pad of teak had to be shaped to match the compound curve of the hull on one side, while providing a perfectly level and straight surface for the mounting bracket on the other. Far harder than it sounds! I used a small angle grinder to do most of the shaping, otherwise it would have taken much longer. The bolt holes were so close to the waterline, I had to position the drill inside a bucket, pushed down into the water. But once the lower
bracket was bedded, the upper bracket only took about 2 hours, and bolting on the rudder post and windvane another hour. We weren't able to test it, as we wanted to let the bedding compound harden fo
r a few days.You can also see the outboard motor hoist we had fabricated by a local welder. He is also helping us to construct a mounting system for solar panels that will eventually live on top of the bimini.
We also exchanged our 33lb Bruce anchor for a 55lb Rocna. Luckily the larger anchor fits perfectly onto our anchor roller.
Finally, we have also been working on cosmetics. We hired a detailer to clean, wax and polish the hull and topsides, and we put on new vinyl lettering for the name and hailing port.
