The problem began with how to mount cameras to the aft deck. I was thinking of notching the sheer clamps and epoxying in some small steel plates to which I could screw whatever I wanted. Making that neat and structurally sound while not adding too much gratuitous weight kept me up nights and woke me early. I didn’t care for having to cut or drill through the deck, either. Things got really elaborate when I tried to imagine how any scheme that works on the flat aft deck could also work with the curved foredeck. I finally remembered what I did for the Isere kayak while experimenting with a skeg and a rudder attachment: a pass-through.
The kayak’s pass-through is just a 1/2-inch piece of copper tubing, cut to about the right length and stuffed through a hole drilled in the hull, sealed and locked in place with fiberglass-loaded epoxy and JB Weld. It’s a mess, but it works. This time, do it neatly, from the beginning, rather than cobbling something up after the fact. I just ordered enough stainless steel tubing to make multiple pass-throughs in the shell (and enough to make a mistake or two). (For the ledger: $15.)
The steel on order is stainless type 304, a tube 24 inches long, to be cut to the lengths needed. That’s plenty with plenty more for mistakes. It’s 0.500 inches O.D. with 0.028 inch walls (leaving an I.D. of 0.44 inches). To put two on each end of the shell a few inches apart, drill 1/2-inch holes through the sheer clamps [Oh, hell no! epoxy a small piece of wood under the sheer clamps and run the pass-throughs through that]. Do that after the hull is stitched and the seams glued but before applying fiberglass. Whatever I want to attach to the completed boat, I can attach to a 1/4-inch or 3/8-inch threaded rod passed through the steel tube and torqued down as needed. If there are two pass-throughs adjacent to each other, then using both to attach hardware will greatly reduce the need for serious torque.
The anticipated pass-throughs will be large enough for steel cable or rope to run through for securing the shell to a car top carrier. They’ll be good for grab loop cords, too. With just a little planning, one pass-through could also be used for an axle and wheels to permit easy trips to and from the car. These could be really useful.
Drill the holes very slightly oversized (as if you could do otherwise) and slather the outside of the tube with epoxy. Consider knurling, scoring, or otherwise playing with the lathe to rough up the outside surface for a more secure grip; that’s probably excessive, but the tools are right there. Trim the tubes so that their ends are flush or just barely below the hull’s outer surface. That will allow glass to be laid smoothly over the pass-throughs. Apply the glass, drill out the openings, clean up the edges, and voila!
OK: this post wasn’t supposed to go public until I figured out if the pass-through idea was going to actually work. But here it is. I have stuff to learn about WordPress.
March 31: the steel is here and I am relieved. The idea of adding stainless steel to what is, after all, supposed to be a relatively light-weight, speedy boat was suspect. I am relieved to see that this thin-walled tube seems to weigh next to nothing, and it’s every bit as sturdy as “stainless steel” would suggest. Good deal so far.