Thwart and Mast Step

My friend Kevin was visiting for the weekend so of course I made him work for room and board. Reaching into the bow section to install the forward mast step is tough for a someone with stumpy little arms like mine. Fortunately, Kevin has freaky orangutan arms, so no problem.



He does nice work. But there is always a chance he installed a small charge under the mast step that he can set off remotely the first time we race. We are a bit competitive about the racing.


This is his boat. Skate is a schooner-rigged proa. Very fast.



Meanwhile, I was working on the centerboard trunk and thwart. I managed to find a very nice piece of 12" wide African mahogany for the thwart. It was a rusty red color in the rough-cut blank. But once I planed and sanded it a bit, it lightened up to look almost like a cedar. I'll be curious to see what it looks like with the final finish.




I built the centerboard trunk to be a tiny bit taller then the final designed height. The contraption below is for scribing a line along the top of the trunk to exactly match the height of the seat tops. This way if I decide to make removable bunk slats to cover the footwell space, they will make a perfectly flat surface all the way across the cockpit.