Deck fairing and stuff

I've done a few rounds of deck sanding and filling, including the shear. Nothing pretty about that so no pics, other than some of the little jobs that need to get done before deck glass goes on.

I want to add a little shear resistance to my all-uni chainplates, as well as visually clean them up a little. I'm using some fiber-reinforced bog fillets, a layer of biax, and a layer of thin glass so I don't sand into the carbon. I'm doing one side at a time, so I can drill through from the good side. I filled the holes with non-silicone caulking to keep them from getting epoxy filled and thus making it harder to keep the drill exactly aligned in the existing holes.

The "form" is a short piece of 2x4 with a 3/8" radius on one corner, wrapped in packing tape, weighted down with some left over lead chunks, and clamped sideways to the chainplate, over a piece of peel ply.

Both sides done, and smoothed up a bit. Still needs a touch of filler, but there's plenty of that being slung around these days so it'll get done shortly.

Tabbing the bottom of the compression post to the lower flange. I used shrink tape and the same tape-wrapped blocks-with-a-radius to press the tabbing into position.

In other news, I was asked about my prod setup by somebody that wants similar articulation from a below deck pole. I spent some time organizing my drawings, notes and pics in case anybody else is interested. That drawing can be found from the "some useful files" link above, or directly here.

I think I wrote about it earlier when the parts were being built, but the reason I did my prod the way I did was because I wanted a cleaner below deck solution, and I wanted more articulation than the inside angle of the bow would allow. The above deck solution allows a full 90 degree swing, so functionally it works better than anything else. The inside the boat solution allows between 16 and 19 degrees of articulation each way, depending how you brace the back end and how much you cut out frame 18. My puck solution is designed for 45 degrees of articulation, but comes with a little risk and complication. Your choice how you feel about the balance of aesthetics, function, and risk/complication!

For a primo interior solution, I'd copy this build, -I think his internal articulation is about as clean as anything I've seen. Following this example, it should be possible to get close to 24 degrees each side of center, much more than any other solution I've seen. Relevant pics here and here.

A few more sanding sessions to go, but 36 grit long boards make it go quickly. Gotta use the heavy grit now, since it won't be a good idea once the glass is on....