Finished the lead pour. It took all day- mostly waiting for the lead to melt.
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I was a bit concerned that I had enough lead. I had 3 buckets of tire weights but I wasn't sure if they were all lead. As it urns out about 80% were lead and the rest mystery metal. But the melting went well. It was easy to scoop out the chaff so that just the shiny, molten lead went into the keel. There is enough left over for the centerboard as well. Who knows, maybe I'll make an anchor next-not!
I took all of the precautions including a face mask, good gloves and a leather apron. In the end all was safe but I didn't want risk this pretty face.
Here is the forward compartment filled. That was easier. The aft compartment was a bit tricky establishing level since the back tapers. I did several pours and this seemed to work better since I readjusted the keel each pour to make the surface of the lead "level".
The keel is now complete. It will need a little clean up to allow the caps and the keelson to seat nicely. I placed it on a furniture dolly for now- it's not as light as it was this morning.
Next stop is the centerboard!
I was kinda confused at first because you linked me the first blog but not the entire thing and then I realized you had done a lot more work than I previously thought. Good job! :D
ReplyDeletealso, not to get on your case or anything, but that first paragraph says "I was a bit concerned that I had enough lead."
ReplyDeleteIs that a typo? shouldnt it read "I was a bit concerned that I didnt have enough lead"? or "I wasnt a bit concerned that I had enough lead".