1 October 2013

Mizzen sheet cleat supports

I moved the mizzen sheet cleats last year so that they were screwed to the inside of the cockpit coaming, just forward of the boom gallows supports. This worked very well for accessibility, but I often failed to put the rope in the cleat fully as my natural reaction was to pull the rope down rather than push it back into the vertical cleat. So my first job (before I have even fully emptied the boat) has been to cut a pair of 18mm plywood supports, which will hold the cleats horizontally. These squeeze in between the gallows legs and the coaming and will be screwed and glued in place. (They are just dry fitted here).

I was very pleased with how these came out, as they need a mitred cut on the inside edge to match the leg and a compound mitre cut to match the sloping coaming. Both were measured with sliding bevels and cut on the band saw, which worked very well. I cut the groove for the leg with a round wood rasp. I feel a proper boat builder now.
They also serve multiple functions, which is always good. As well as holding the cleat, each pad also provides a better location for the lacing eye for attaching the bottom of a flag halyard too, and provide additional fore and aft bracing to the boom gallows, which has been lacking

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