the deck on my Pearson Ensign

Picked up the Cape Dory 22 in Kemah, Tx. It's in great shape, with two small soft spots on the port side deck, and some teak plywood in the interior that needs attention, but other than that, most issues are cosmetic. It came with three boxes of spare parts, all the sails, rigging, sheets and halyards, and a custom built galvanized trailer. It weighs 200 lbs. more than the Ensign. The Ensign is stripped down to the hull, and as I feared, the mast step supports were rotted out. Planning on fabricating and glassing new ones in and then starting on the bulkheads and v-berth.

 

Hey, Scott, good to see your still stroking your inability to say NO.

 

Still can't say NO

Yep,

Getting more determined the more I strip away. I'm essentially down to a bare hull, with just a few vestiges of the bulkheads, mast step supports, and v-berth tabbing left to grind away. I installed the mahogany cockpit seats temporarily (just to see how they'll look) and can hardly wait to start going back in with some new wood, epoxy, glass, and paint. I found some reproductions of the original tear drop running lights on e-bay, and amazingly found a reproduction Ensign stern light in one the boxes of spares on the Cape Dory. Thanks for the encouragement.

Regards

 

Spent most of last Saturday sawing out 1X2 sheer stringers that someone had glassed in robustly enough to support the 2" thick deck that had been added. Lots of tedious work trying to cut the wood out without getting into the hull laminate. (Punched a sawzall blade through in a one place, but nothing that can't be fixed). I took some measurements from several reference points as to bulkhead and mast step locations. Tomorrow is a grinding and sanding day, but I've gotten a friend of my son interested in the boat and he wants to help work on it every weekend, so it's nice to have some help.

I picked up some urethane primer and paint this week that was donated by a local paint distributor, and a building contractor friend is donating the plywood that I'll use for bulkheads, cabin floor, and v-berth. I also enlisted the aid of an ex-racing sailor and his wife, who have offered to help with the boat, and teach the group some racing skills and tactics.

Need some advice here on another subject. The original fiberglass transom was cut out sometime in the past, and I need to replicate it. What's the best way to go about this? Should I build a temporary male mold in the opening and put a couple of layers of cloth over it, remove the mold, then build up on the inside with mat and woven roving as in the original lay-up, or is there a better way? Your thoughts, please.

 

If building the transom as you describe, I would apply several untickened coats of epoxy to the mold (covered with release film, wax, etc.) then layup the skin. I wouldn't use mat at all with epoxy, just cloth (knitted and/or regular cloth).

On your boat I would apply a single layer of 4 - 6 ounce cloth on the inside of the mold, then 3 layers of 12 ounce 45/45 biax. Then I'd glue (thickened epoxy) a piece of 1/4" plywood to the biax and a few more layers of biax, all well tabbed back, onto the hull shell. This will make a nice solid, fairly light transom. If you want a solid laminate (no plywood) then you'll need several more layers of fabric. If you want a polyester repair, I'll let someone else guide you as I don't have time for this stuff any more.

 

Removed the last remnants of the bulkheads, mast step supports, v-berth, and cabin sole. Next step: sanding the inside of the hull smooth and repairing the damaged or missing hull flange areas and, as mentioned, replicating the transom.

Solid laminate would be my prefered choice for the transom, since it was original construction, and the blueprints call for a 8"X11"X3/4" plywood motor mount pad and a rear chainplate tab to be glassed to the inside of the transom. Are 1/4" plywood and the cloth rugged enough for the outboard motor and chainplate mounting? I would think they would be, since the transom is not that large (roughly 14"X48") and will be securely bonded to the hull and deck. The outboard is a 65 lb., 6 hp Yamaha.

Regards

 

Nope, you'll want a pad for that outboard to clamp too. I agree in that a hefty hunk of 3/4" plywood will solve the problem. Bevel the edges where it meets the transom and tab it in good, as vibration is high on little kicker type outboards.

 

Thanks for the feedback. I have another option that might work, but I'd like an opinion. Years ago, I had a sign business and ended up with a 36"X48" piece of 3/16" fiberglass signboard. This material was available under various names in the industry, "Filon" being one of them. It was touted as an alternative to plywood, since it was fairly rigid, wouldn't rot, had 2 smooth surfaces, and could be drilled, shaped, and cut using ordinary power tools.

The panel that I have will accept simple bending, and since the Ensign transom is not a compound curve, I was considering using the Filon panel as the basic structural component, using the curve of the rear deck to establish the bend radius and glassing it in place with cloth and hefty tabbing. This would give me a solid fiberglass transom and cut down on the number of additional laminations required. I would of course tab the 3/4" ply for the motor support to the transom. The 3/4" rear chainplate pad would be tabbed to the both the transom and hull shell. creating an integrated structural member linking all this together. Does this sound structurally adequate? It would save some work, and I already have the material.

 

I'm familiar with Filon panels, they make RV furniture out of it too. Grind off any gelcoat before you tab it in and it should work. 3/16" Filon isn't enough for the motor mount or chain plate, but will serve as a "skin" for your transom if desired.

 

Great. Thanks for the advice. I dry fitted the Filon panel yesterday, and it looks like it will do nicely, once well tabbed and reinforced with 3/4" ply for the motor mount and chainplate. This way, I'll have an all fiberglass hull, with the only wood being epoxy coated and tabbed plywood in the bulkheads, v-berth, cabin sole, and chainplates.

Please excuse my ignorance, but what is 12 oz. 45X45 biax, and should I bond a layer or two set in epoxy, to the Filon, and well tabbed to the hull shell? I have set an "Ensign" work day for this Saturday.

Regards

 

Biax is two layers of uni-directional fibers, knitted to each other with a light cotton thread, so it doesn't unravel. The 45/45 portion is the fiber orientation.

http://boatbuildercentral.com/proddetail.php?prod=E_tap_12oz_6in_50

You can get it in a 6" roll, like that in the link or as regular 50" wide fabric. The tape is handy for tabbing and seams, the fabric of course for larger areas.
I would bond in the panel first, making a big fillet around it's edges, then while it's sticky, wet or tacky, apply the biax as tabbing. You'll wet this out to bond it to the hull shell and you can error on too little, but you can't if there's too much, so . . .

 

Great news! The Ensign now has a deck (at least temporarily) installed.

A group of Venture Crew members, the crew leader, and some scouts came over Saturday for a work day. We made good progress sanding on the hull, and since we had a large group, we placed the Ensign deck on the hull and sheet metal screwed it to the hull flange temporarily, in order to get an accurate hull shape for fabricating and tabbing in the bulkheads, transom, etc.

We also cleaned the Cape Dory inside and out, and managed to get the bronze seacocks disassembled, greased, and reassembled. Got the outboard running, and are making progress toward launch day.

 

Project Derelict Ensign: Then and now photos. Still a ways to go......

 

Well done Grasshopper, you've learned admirably. You're going to love aligning the deck cap/hull shell flanges Scott.

 

I love it when someone fixes and old boat!