Removing old Dynaplate and repairing hull. Electrical work.

 Now that's a Dynaplate, by Guest.  And it is installed per the factory recommendations.













It is definitely time to take the bull by the horns and remove this old miniature Dynaplate.  It's clear that several problems arose in the installation from not RTFM.  First the plate is mounted way over on the edge where starboard tacks could well take it out of the water.  Second, it's near the center (front to back) of the boat where bottom dragging could remove it and cause a catastrophic leak.  It wasn't installed right in so many ways! Guest has a very nice set of instructions which would have served the installer well if reading was among the skills and efforts.  No back plate was used.  The washers were crushing the plywood.  The ground wire was hooked up to the non-shiny bolt (wrong one, poor conductivity).  The plate was liberally spread with bedding compound.  This destroys a good part of the grounding effect.  The backing plate when bedded with liberal amounts of polyurethane will force the seal down the holes. That's all you need.  Again, in the instructions.  And finally, the bolts having not been protected with antioxidant grease were corroded and had to be sawed off.  Well, it's gone and the holes were over-sized and epoxy poured and sheathed.  I feel better!

My Fein reciprocating saw doing quick work on removing the bolts.

Over-sizing the holes from 1/4 to 3/8 to within an 1/8 inch of the bottom laminate cleans out the hole and makes it ready to pour.  I cleaned it out with a air can. 

Hear is the pitiful remains of the plate gummed up with bedding compound.  I think it was abandoned by the last owner because the cable was hanging loose.  I assume that's what it got a coat of bottom paint (the final insult).

I got working room by removing one end of the fender and dropping the bunk.

The patch is in place and partially set up.  Now I can pour the holes and cap it with a patch.

Meanwhile, I took this opportunity to run new cables under the bed for the outboard starter.  I like things as neat as possible.  The previous cables ended halfway under the mattress and ran over the rear dorade baffle.  Mine will be completely out of site.

I finally got my double pole double throw off-on-off switch from defender.  This is the wiring for the two part masthead light. The middle naturally is off.  Up is the steaming position.  Down is all around anchor.  The power is feed by the anchor light manager box that either turns on at dusk or in the manual position provides power for the steaming light.  I'm rather proud of this solution which allows me to cue up the anchor light when I leave the boat and it turns itself on at dusk if I am not with the boat.  

This is the light sentry box that is the brains of the power options.

The left hand panel has the mounted switch with labels.

I have two of these infrared lights that keep the epoxy layup warm and usually kicks it off in around an hour.  I got full drying in two hours today.  This is the way to go with a winter work schedule!