Saturday, September 04, 2010

Lead Pour

I spent a long time worrying about the lead sink weight for the Centerboard. I needed about 30 sq inches of the CB to be cut out and replaced with Lead. And I was a bit concerned about the strength of the remaining plywood with such a big hole. Of course it's much smaller than it sounds. 10" long, 3" wide parallel to the leading edge, leave 13" of 3/4" ply. Add Epoxy Glass and you have no worries about being strong.

I rounded off the corners with a hole cutter to avoid stress points.

I got a cheap, flat, propane camping stove. The cute tall ones are way too unstable for supporting 12 lbs of lead.

A big thanks to Nick who did video, offered encouragement, and stood by the fire extinguisher.

I had a moment of panic at the start when I though the bubbling sound coming off the lead was lead dripping out the bottom onto the ground.

The wood out gasses a lot and this gives you quite a bit of lead splatter. Short sleeves at your own risk.

I should have been more careful levelling the board before the pour. It was only slightly of, but there's a bulge at one end of the sink weight.

There are two big holes in what was the bottom of the lead pout, probably caused by out gassing of the plywood base.





All in all it worked out well. I've some cleanup work to do with a sharp plane, but nothing major.