Not sure how this is supposed to be done, but here is how I did it and it worked well enough. I taped my pattern board and both port lights together. I used a carbide bit without the aggressive fluted tip in my Harbor Freight drill press.
A Couple of boards gave support and a backing for the bottom piece for the bit to cut into. RPM at about 1000 and it seemed that I could have gone down to 850, but it was working, so I continued. I did get some minor breakout from the bottom plastic; either the board was too soft, or I was not holding it down tightly enough. But in any case it was minor and I used that side against the cabin side.
One of the port lights. Grey tint.
Since the pattern was not perfectly symmetrical (and therefore neither were the holes), I carefully matched up the possibilities and taped each port light to the cabin and marked the holes. The SS screws I used were number 6’s and I drilled 1/4″ holes to allow for expansion. Also careful labeling as I can mirror image with the best of them!
A quick look at how it might look when done. I worry that they are too large for the cabin.
Having traced around the plastic before removing it, I then used the marks for masking off to keep the 795 glazing compound under control.
I was obviously going to need help for this procedure, so I set up an indoor and outdoor parts bin for each of us. Each of the 32 holes requires 6 pieces of hardware! Only five shown here as I superglued the washer between the cabin and plastic to the plastic before hand. Imagine trying to get those in while dodging the compound and curvature of the cabin side!
Here is helper Willie Anderson, brother in law, admiring his inside work from the outside! He did a good job…
Another shot of results…
A Final shot without Willie messing up the photo! 🙂
I was really dreading this as so much can go wrong with a new (to me) task. But it went well enough; not a neat as I would have liked, but acceptable.
Tomorrow the boomkin pieces, some trailer bunks/guides, and maybe a new trailer light bar for hanging on the stern, Also have to change the oil/filter in the car and pull the #4 cylinder spark plug to check for fouling. Loose mount bolt for the spark coil had it missing for a good while before it threw a code so I could identify which of the six cylinders was at fault.
Plus other stuff, of course!
Un Abrazo,
Bill
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