Modern composite materials have one virtue, low density, which does not serve well when through-bolting deck hardware. Therefore a dense base should be inserted in the composite, and again I used some of the offcut marine ply supplied for the hull frames.
Firstly, I made a female template as a guide for the laminate cutter to cut out the core in an area large enough on which to fit the cleats. I then centered the template using the holes made in the deck panel whilst screwed to the blocking piece (see previous post). I also cut out eight pieces of ply as dense inserts for all the cleats.
I have found the laminate trimmer cuts the duflex as well as small router. I have to jury rig the extractor fitting which meant there was only one corner of the cutter to use in the template, so I had to rotate the tool as I proceeded.
The core had to be removed very carefully for the underside of the deck down to, but not through the laminate.
Then I smeared plenty of glue on everything (might as well, thats how most jobs turn out anyway)
Fitted the ply piece, clamped lightly, and waited to cure (in my climate at the moment about 55mins will be ok to “demold”)
Lastly sanded and replaced the laminate and…..
This is a closeup of the undisturbed laminate.
The Scrumble Project 