Wednesday 15 April 2015

Multi tool magic

I've had some good advice over this stem head problem.. The first was to get hold of multi-tool to cut out the debris.  This was inspired, thanks Aonghas.  John had a Bosch tool which he lent me, I was so impressed I'll go and buy one today.


I wasn't looking forward to gouging out the rest of the wood but with this it took about 20 minutes and left everything neat.  The tool comes with a selection of blades, I used a wood cutting blade which was about an inch wide and was easy to get into just about any position.  Anyway, happy with the job I returned the tool.


What did surprise me was the voids which had obviously been there since manufacture.  I dropped some bolts in through the two front screw holes  to see where I would have to add the pad material.   Back inside the boat I couldn't see them?  It would seem that this pad has been replaced before, in the picture above there is filler in the gap.  Behind that filler is the even more soggy remains of the original pad.
Having returned the multi-tool I resorted to using the drill as a mill and soon had this void open and cleaned out. The wood which came out of here had the consistency of soup. 
I have ordered a 3mm x 25mm x 300mm 316 stainless steel bar to make the tang out of and I shall pick up some chopping board today.   I'm feeling much better about this part of the project now, I was worried it would be a major problem but it starting to look a little less daunting.


2 comments:

  1. So your problem caused by previous bodge?

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  2. I think the problem would still have been there Steve, but the previous repair was an unnecessary bodge. I'm getting itchy and it's more than just the fibreglass :)

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