Sunday 25 August 2019

Kitchen window phases 5a – 5n

The last ten days have seen the window work on Erin Mae proceeding steadily. The most satisfactory part was successfully drilling and tapping the hull with some extra holes to take machine screws that will fix the frame in place.


I've cleaned out plenty of threads before, but these were the first I'd cut myself. Having the right equipment was key – a 3.3mm cobalt steel drill bit, some cutting paste and an M4 tap that was tough enough for the job. In retrospect, I wonder what it was I was worried about. Now the positions of the holes in the frame and those in the hull match each other and I've started on the painting.

The heatwave meant I didn't try to do too much today. I had a BBQ to cook.



My best beloved took the photos so doesn't appear in shot. She looked after the salad and the strawberries. And very nice it was too!

Thursday 15 August 2019

Kitchen window phase 4

Epoxy puttying was duly completed today. No pictures of the job, basically because it looked very uninteresting, and anyway, how many photos of yours truly working on the kitchen window can you stand? The putty worked pretty well – getting my hands thoroughly wet before handling it helped.


The photo is from the Amazon page. I had some epoxy putty – Milliput – some years ago that came as two separate blocks, so it's intriguing to have it all in one roll. I'm not sure what technique they use for preventing it going off at the interface between the two parts. Perhaps there is some sort of barrier. Cutting off a slice was easy, but gave me a lot of wastage, given the size of the hole I was filling. I am also hoping that it won't have damaged whatever barrier they do have in place.

Rain again tomorrow – possibly yet another day of feet up, book out.

Tuesday 13 August 2019

Kitchen window phase 3 – Dremelising

We spent longer in the south than intended, because the appalling weather was going to make window work difficult, and we didn't fancy just sitting inside Erin Mae in the marina while the storms roared outside. Today, however, work resumed.


The new Dremel immediately proved its worth. My first task is to fill a hole where some engineer or other had drilled and tapped too close to the edge of the steel. I have some epoxy putty for that but, as my friend Brian would say, preparation is everything. I attached a small wire wheel to the Dremel - one of about 60 items in a £10 variety pack from Amazon, and it powered through rusty bits and old silicone. I've applied some Fertan and should be able to do the puttying tomorrow.

I can't see any sign of how the wood inner window frame was held in place (apart from the method thoroughly dissed in a previous post!). So today I have also drilled and countersunk four 3.5 mm holes through the hull, and used stainless steel screws to hold the frame tight. I was very glad to have brought my old mains drill – it made a much quicker job of penetrating the hull and cutting the countersinks than my 18v cordless.

At last I feel I'm making some progress. I suspect tomorrow's weather will put a halt to it for 24 hours.