Chain Locker

When I bought the boat, there was a length of chain and rope attached to the anchor which went through the deck via a hawse pipe and into the cabin. In the cabin was a washing up bowl into which the chain was placed. This all sounds very neat in theory but in reality the chain just dropped into the bilge and water, mud and sand ran down and made a mess. The reason for this is that there was no way to place the bowl under the hawse pipe. To rectify this, I decided to put some fibre glass and wood in to stop the chain and much from going down into the boat, effectively making a chain locker at the bow.

This picture is the bow from inside. The post you can see goes up to the samson post on deck and the grp at the top of the image is the forward bunk to which I glassed the wood. To measure up I used corrugated card and cut to shape, fitting it to the hull shape in line with the front of the bunk to add strength. Once I had the outline shape, I cut this from 4mm marine ply and covered it in resin and glass mat.

This photo is the wood in place, covered in resin but not yet glassed into the boat. Before putting it in place I sanded the hull with 90 grit paper to ensure a good bond with the resin. You will notice that there is no drain hole present, I considered fitting one but I don't see that much water getting in so I'll see how it goes. It's easy enough to add one if it becomes necessary in future.

I then ripped squares of chopped strand mat which would secure the wood to the hull. I mixed 100ml of polyesther resin at a time because it has a short pot life and this is a difficult location to get to. In total I used 200ml to glass into the boat and around 300ml to cover the wood at home.

Here is the finished work. As you can see there is no obvious line of new glass, this is why I ripped it instead of cutting. Thanks to Harbour Chandlers in Emsworth Marina for that bit of advice!