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OK, I?m almost finished the mid rail chock installation I?ve been working on? for two years. I bought the chocks a few years earlier from Whitewater Marine
To locate the best possible spot for the chocks, I played around with the best fairlead from the proposed location of each chock to the primary Genoa winches, both port and starboard. The center point of the chock (it has a predrilled hole in the center) was directly over an existing bolt through the toe rail covered with a bung. I marked the chocks port and starboard and indicated the direction of the bow on each as they were not exactly alike.
Next, I cut out enough of the toe rail, about 1 inch on either side of the bolt and down about an inch with a coping saw to give me access to the bolt head and backed out the ? inch bolt with a 7/16? ratchet. They both came out very easily and had no corrosion (the boat had been a fresh water boat all of its life). I marked the center of each chock as well as the toe rail?s existing hole, all around as a reference.
Then I carefully traced the outline of the chock on the toe rail inside and outside and cut as much as I felt comfortable with a jig saw, leaving the pencil mark. The rest will be done by hand carefully measuring with the chock, cutting with a hand chisel, measuring with the chock, cutting with a hand chisel and so on. The final trimming was done with a hand plane and a course wood file and finished with 80 grit sand paper. When it got to a point that the chock fit snugly and was positioned correctly in the toe rail, I called it ?good enough.? This is fussy work that should not be rushed; taking off too much would be a problem.
Using the old, empty bolt hole as a reference, I got the correct angle for the rest of the new holes using an adjustable drill guide to be sure I hit the aluminum bar in the hull to deck joint and not out the outside of the hull. I positioned the chock in the rail and held it firmly in place with some quick grip clamps and used the holes in the chock as a reference for drilling the rest of the holes. Then, I carefully drilled the holes checking the first one to be sure my measurements were correct. You have to trim the teak bulkhead on the starboard side before doing this. The port side was clear of any obstructions. Once the drilling was done, I dry fitted the chock using stainless steel, #10 (1/4in), philips head, machine screws. Four inch for the four holes on top and 2 ? inch for the lower, center hole.
Next, I carefully taped the toe rail and chock with 3M, blue painters tape. Using mahogany colored, 3M 5200, I spread out a nice layer on the toe rail cutout for bedding keeping the 5200 out of the predrilled holes. Finally, I slipped the bolts through the holes in the chock and added a small bead of 5200 around each to seal the holes before slipping them into their final resting place.
With my helper (first mate) on deck and me below, I used ? by 1 inch stainless steel fender washers on all but the center screw because they fit better side by side. On the center screw I used a ? by 1 ? inch stainless steel fender washer, all fitted with lock washers and nuts. I snugged them all down, but not too tight. I will do that later after the 5200 has cured a little and I do the final clean up. Later I will install an 8 inch, stainless steel cleat to complete the project.
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File comment: Cutting out the toe rail and fitting the chock.
1 Cutting in.jpg [ 24.45 KB | Viewed 0 times ]
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File comment: Getting the correct angle for drilling and holding the chock in place
5 Drill the rest of the holes.jpg [ 45.39 KB | Viewed 0 times ]
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File comment: Clean up.
8 Clean up and wait for cure.jpg [ 25.64 KB | Viewed 0 times ]
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