Today I tried to do the final fitting of the amas/akas and the critical step of drilling and bolting of the akas to the mounts while the amas were in position. I had dry fit the amas to the akas previously, before gluing the aka mounting plates to the akas, and everthing seemed to fit together, with some jiggling and adjusting required.
I then glued the mounting plates and spacers to the akas and made generous fillets, and sanded everything up, and got ready to reasemble. After mounting the amas to the akas I found that the dowels would not fit as intended, and that the aka seemed to be rotated about 20 degrees from ideal, (this, after measuring and remeasuring multiple times prior to gluing the mounting plates) as seen in the photo. Because
the angle is significantly off, the dowels will not engage in the foot plate holes. I placed a shim in the mount and reduced the angle, but it is still not working.
My question is how I might go about fixing this. My options seem to be to remove and re-do the aka mounting plates, which is a lot of work, or remove and re-do the foot plates on the aka-ends, also alot of work.
I do question how functional the dowel/footplates really are, given the amount of stress and wear they will encounter. Would it be reasonable to eleminate the dowels/holes on the footplates and just rely on the webbing straps? I was also thinking of modifying the footplates to be made of hign molecular weight plastic.
Thoughts?
I found that by assembling the amas and alas off the boat on flat surface, as they were when the footplates were fitted, and then lifting it onto the boat in a single piece, the fit was much improved. I managed to lift the entire thing alone, and I am no power lifter. Best to do with an assist however. I also tried the ratchet straps. I'm conserned that they can generate force to break the ama mount. I did find a source for stainless ratchet straps
