Kamaloha Cockpit Stainless Work

Here are some shots of the extensive SS rework we had done in St. Martin this
April. Our old stern rail and davits were the suspect Taiwanese stainless, and
had sixteen cracks in the tubing or welds - time to get rid of them!!! We
changed the design somewhat from the original.

1) Rail: Still uses the original aft two stanchion bases, however is extended
up each side to the next stanchion location forward. The rail follows the
curve of the caprail and ends outboard rather than inboard like the old
stanchion. A small brace runs from the old stanchion base to the rail's
forward vertical support to give it lateral rigidity. This change vastly
increases the width of the cockpit, making it feel much roomier and making it
comfortable to sit on the cockpit coaming and lean against the rail. It also
makes it much easier to clamber out of the cockpit onto the side deck.

2) Bimini: Added a bimini. It is so low so it will clear the boom when on the
gallows, but it is very wide and really protects the cockpit. It came out
about an inch lower than it had to; I think the bimini cloth has stretched a
little. We will see about reclaiming that inch as it is a little too low.

3) Windgen Mast: Used to be outboard atop the davits, now the base is on the
cap rail and the support braces attach to the new cockpit rail. The stern
light and outboard motor davit attach to the windgen mast. The mast is doubled
in thickness internally above the struts to add stiffness. The wires are run
internally. I had to machine new delrin bearings for the windgen to spin on
since the tubing is slightly smaller in diameter than the original aluminum one.

4) Davits: The new davits are double-thickness and have support struts that
are much more rigid than the old ones. They reuse the original base sockets on
the coaming. They attach to the stern rail with plates that overlap plates on
the rail, and have two 8mm bolts though each davit. The davits have two
crossmembers welded in place for lateral rigidity. The aft one is raised up to
provide a location for a solar panel, not installed yet. There are two stubs
on the port davit for antennas (GPS and spare VHF). All wires are internally
run. A triple sheave block is welded onto the end of each davit. The big
straps you see in the photo are used to go around the dinghy during
passagemaking. When crossing the Atlantic, we filled the dinghy with our
fenders to take up the volume, then stretched a tent-shaped dinghy cover over
it before hauling it up on the davits. This way it should be able to shed any
waves which hit it. Being a RIB, it just doesn't fit easily anywhere else; on
the foredeck it covers up the liferaft, and on the coachroof it blocks the
forward view from the cockpit.

5) Outboard motor mount: A solid block of teak the thickness of the dinghy
transom so the clamp screws don't have to be adjusted much. Hangs over the top
of the caprail with a big SS channel, and is held in place by a lower 1" strut
attached to the kneerail.