The first ports

New Year’s Day, and the first gunports are in. I’m still puzzling over whether sanding or cutting is the easier way. My method so far: first drill a row of holes along the marked outline, then cut out the centre and finally sand the edges to size.

The third port I mostly cut rather than sanded. That seemed a bit more precise; only the last bits were finished with sandpaper. I’ll stick to that for the next ports.

The spacing between the ports remains a bit of a thing. On New Year’s Eve, after failed attempts at 30 and 31 mm, I had marked them out at 1.2 inches (30.48 mm). Today I redrew everything, this time at a proper 31 mm. Oddly enough the first ports fit the template exactly where the spacing is 30 mm. I think my pencil lines just aren’t precise enough. So we’ll see how it works out at the last port. By eye, at least, I can’t see any difference yet.