iceboating.net Minnesota Ice Sailing Association

Well, today the everything came together for the first time. There were no parts (at least temporarily) left in the box from when I disassembled the boat after the crash. After taking this photo, the chocks did come off so I could strip the old sandpaper off them in preparation for gluing new sheets on and permanently mounting them to the plank.

Things started by mounting the stud-plates to the plank using the same jig that I used to mount locate the hull-plates. You flip it over, pivot it on the same nail stuck in a hole at the center of the plank, align the jig to the plank's center-line, and drill the pilot holes for the stud-plates through the correct set of holes in the jig. After that, all you need to do is place the stud-plate in place and drive the screws.

After a quick sanding to knock down the big drips and sags, I used the drill-press to make the chock mounting holes. I drilled the center outside hole 13/32", just slightly oversize of the 3/8" bolt, and the other 5 holes 7/16". I hoped that I would have enough play to align the chocks, but I still had to futz around ovalizing the holes with a round file.


I used a neat jig I inherited from Mike Carlson when I bought my second DN from him. It's a 1" wide steel tube with a 3/b" hole drilled in the center, and precise marks on either end. You bolt the tube in the chock like a runner, and use a piece of thin cable fixed to the bolt-hole of the opposite chock to make sure you have enough adjustment range. When you are ready to mount the chocks for the final time, it's also a good way to get them initially aligned.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to finish everything up, mount the chocks, and align the runners.