Its NOZAMA time

NOZAMA is our 14' Walker Bay tender.  This week we got the chocks mounted where she rides on the flybridge deck. 

Jeff and Chris of Yacht Systems getting ready to drill the first holes. On this day we mount the chocks, but not the padeyes for the tie downs. Everyone in the Seattle marine business is super busy right now. Through my review with Steve D'Antonio I found out there's a right way and a wrong way to mount padeyes in a cored deck like this. 

The wrong way is to just drill a hole for a self-tapping screw, put some 5200 on it, and screw it in. The 5200 is not designed to seal to stainless steel. (This is from 3M's website: "3M™ Marine Adhesive Sealant 5200 is a one-component, high-strength, moisture-curing, gap-filling polyurethane for permanent bonding of wood, gelcoat and fiberglass.")

The right way is to drill out holes larger than the screw, auger our some of the core around each hole, and fill with epoxy. The next day you drill out the hole, and thru-bolt screws.  This involves getting to the underside of the core, obviously (for the backing plate and nuts). Which is way the lazy guys do it the wrong way.  We have a guy scheduled to do it next week, the right way!

We figured out that given NOZAMA's mounting location, we can drill out the underside without making any more holes that show. Two will be above the salon headliner. The other will be where we already have a camera mounted so we will modify the mount for the camera a bit to permit being able to do the thru-bolting. 

I just need to add a longer painter and this is a one-person operation. 

Me bringing her aboard for the first time! I really like this Steelhead crane. I'll like it even better when the wireless remote starts working. NOZAMA is going to add lots of fun and utility to our cruising.