No fear

Spring has officially arrived and boat work now commences. First up, the gaff which was a weak point in my set up from last year. The jaws have to be changed to a more flexible pitch, which means this has to go!

Not an easy feat when you plan it to be a permanent installation. It had to be first sawn, then the left overs chiseled away, and the remaining sanded to the original gaff wood.

Yeah it looks nasty at this point

A new gaff jaws was laid out and the base cut and fitted to match the curve of the side. The ends were shaped to match the profile of the mast. In my case my mast it approximately the same diameter of my epoxy glue powder jar. much easier than taking the whole thing over to the mast for trial fitting.

It's tapered towards the forward end to allow the jaws to spread around the mast better. It was epoxy glued in place.

 The temporary jaws were made from templates I had drawn up and test fitted. Some adjustments were made before committing good wood to the jigsaw.

The final jaw set was cut from a good quality 1/2" plywood and screwed/glued in place.

Once the glue set, it was given a coat of clear epoxy. As usual it will get 2 coats of epoxy before I apply any varnish.

The other end of the gaff was found to be longer than needed, so I did what made sense, I made it shorter.

I cut off approximately 8" of unused weight at the top of the sail. I sanded the end and also gave that part a coat of epoxy.

While in the shop I put two countersunk holes on the tiller to allow for a stronger fit of the tiller tamer.

The next couple of weeks will see some flurry of activity about the marinas and more importantly, my shop. Much to do and the burgs are on their way.