Lead Ballast Keel unbound

Six weeks since my last post. Sorry 'bout dat. Part excuse: I've been "sailing" in a little car with three other sailing mates, over the steppes of Russia from Vladivostok to Moscow. That took up pretty much the whole of May.  Some photos here.

Meantime, our Xena boat captain, Noel, has been at work on jobs I left him with: (1) To add the lead ballast keel that we had forged, onto the our little Somes Sound. (2) To add the chainplates. (3) To get hold of the mast and boom that we're going to put on: namely a second-hand Laser rig.

Here's the result of item (1):

With the 1 1/2" pine we used and the lead not too hot
(because it was "stir-fried"), there was not much burning on
the mold and it came off quite easily, says Noel, including
the wood in the centreboard slot.  Here is the keel,
unbound, at the Royal HK Yacht Club, around 13 May.

And another photo of "Keel unbound", looking good..

Noel drilled down on the thru-holes we'd made in the keel by placing
copper tubes in the mold.   We needed to drill down to make countersink
space for the nuts for the 316 SS threaded rod (12mm and 10mm)