Safety - Pacific Crossing Notes: A Sailor's Guide to the Coconut Milk Run - page 72

thickness of your deck: for example, our two inch thick coach roof called for eight ¼ inch
discs. Top off the stack with one wider disc (three inches in diameter) to achieve the
mushroom shape. The discs can be cut using a hole saw with 2 ½ and three inch fittings.
The hole saw will also drill a narrow hole through the center of each disc. You will need
four mushroom-shaped mounts all together; for a two inch thick mount, that means cut-
ting a total of thirty-two narrow discs plus four wider tops.
Next, sand each disc with 100 grit sandpaper and then bond each stack of discs with
epoxy (such as West System 105 Resin with 206 Fast Cure Hardener). To keep the layers
aligned, put a temporary bolt through the center holes and tighten against a washer and
nut. A layer of plastic wrap can be put around the bolt to prevent it from sticking to any
epoxy.
After the epoxy has hardened, sand the rough edges of each mount. An easy way to do
this is to put the protruding part of the temporary bolt into an electric drill and let it spin
while you hold sand paper against it. Once the bolt has served its purpose, it can be re-
moved and the hole widened slightly in preparation for the last stage: tapping a 3/8”
thread into each mount. These will accommodate the stainless steel machine screws that
will eventually fix the cradle to the mounts. In our case, the screws were 3/8” x 2“; a thin-
ner coach roof might take a 3/8” x 1½” screw. At the conclusion of Step A, you will have
prepared four mushroom-shaped mounts, each with a hole through the center.