Monday, August 29, 2011
Foot Bensons
Over the weekend I also constructed and glued down the foot bensons. Of course, the primary purpose of the bensons are to keep the crew from sliding to the other side in a strong wind, however it turns out that they are perfectly placed to get rid of a little bit of flex in the cockpit floor. I'd like to think that I planned it that way, but . . .
The picture to the left and below show the results so far. Like most everything else in the boat, these were made out of 1/4" hydrotek. I cut 3" strips for the outside pieces and 2 3/4" strips for the inside and glued them at a 90 degree angle.
The only tricky parts were cutting the end angles and the end caps. I cut the angles and the end pieces before committing anything to epoxy. In retrospect, it would have been easier to just glue the side pieces together and then cut the end angles on the table saw after they were done. In any case, the bensons came out very nice. Finally, I rounded the edges and set them in place with thickened epoxy. I will filet the edges of the bensons prior to glassing the cockpit.
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Phil,
ReplyDeleteJust found your blog and you are making great progress. I wish I knew you were building two weeks ago when I was back in the Mentor, Willoughby, Waite Hill area.
I’m went a different route with the bensons. I glued up three 1 X 4 and used a table saw and radial saw to make the cuts. Rounded the tops with a router. It is great to have fiends with a shop. I’m now finishing the plugs and will be making a set of molds to add to the two bulb molds we now have in the SE.
Hope to meet you out on the race course soon.
Jon
i550-36