Thursday, June 16, 2011

BUNKY Gets Fixed Ports

Naturally I have the order of the pictures reversed from what I had intended so you are seeing the trim ring first. These brass/bronze? rings were part of salvage from an old sailboat. Not sure what they were used for but now they will become fixed ports on each side of BUNKY's cuddy. This one above is held temporarily in place to show how the finished product will look. The cuddy sides are of 1/4 inch ply, there will be a trim ring inside and out and a piece of 1/4 inch plexi will be held captive between the two. Clearances are tight and leave little room for error so I had to curb my natural tendencies and actually take some time and thought into the process. The following pictures will show the progression.
Here are the rings in pairs with additional holes being bored so that there will be eight fasteners rather than four for each unit.
This show the location of the port on the starboard side, a little beyond the gaping hole is the jig I used for the router to follow for cutting the hole.
The finished hole with eight holes bored at the edge for the fasteners. They will be #8 flat head brass with cap nuts on the inside. Close tolerances required as the width of the trim ring is 9/16 inches. Fortunately BUNKY will not be used offshore so there is no concern for the strength of the ports and the actual diameter of the plexi will be 6 3/4 inches.