Repair and remodel update

A couple of years ago I stumbled upon this forum, and discovered it was full of excellent resources and knowledgeable people. Which was fortuitous, as my project quickly gained a momentum all it's own.

The story starts just after TS/Hur. Sandy. That summer the 20+ year old fuel tank sprung a leak. Evidenced by the sickingly overpowering smell of gasoline vapors in the cabin. Luckily nothing blew up.. Pumped out the tank , installed a small 28 gal plastic tank to finish the summer and planned to replace the tank over the winter.. Sandy threw a curve into that, in more ways than one, as will be evidenced later on.

After the local salvage efforts, cleared away debris and boat was reblocked, (we were one of 5 boats in the marina to survive without sinking, or other apparent damage), the boat sat for a few months while plans and supplies were acquired. The boat came home to the driveway, and that's where we begin.

First order of business, remove interior, and decking, to facilitate removal of tank.

 

Continuing effort to strip out interior and damage. Along the way minor manufacturing defects, and process irregularities were noticed, as well as temporary repairs from previous owners, and ... myself as well, were removed for more permanent solutions.

 

After tank removal, more damage is evidenced from water ingress, as well as gasoline. Plainly I was not expecting a mere pinhole, but was not expecting rather extensive rot either. But the exterior cabin bulkhead has been leaking at the seams for years, due to the tongue and groove joinery moving, something I will rectify later. The last picture in this post is troubling due to the fact, that , the stringer doglegs down from 8 inches tall, to 3.5 in. , right at the engine room bulkhead, but also the sloppy, unbonded, unsealed glass work. A casual perusal, showed rot in the stringer, as well as the gas tank cofferdam

 

After all was cleared away, I noticed that the gastank bulkhead under the cabin had ruptured at some point, so that was added to the list. As originaly there had been a "deck" under most of the bilge equipement, that has rotted, I decide to epoxy in a keelson to add support to the bilge/tankage areas. This was 2x1's epoxied together, laid into a bog of epoxy, than laminated over with 4layers of 1708, (2 per side) that overlapped on top of the keelson. The a layer of .5 ply for the battery tray support, and 2 layers of 1708 over that. At the same time I cut and framed out a new tank bulkhead, covered in2 plys of 1708, and tabbed down, with my favorite 1708. A quick covering of an epoxy paint, and onto the next step. In the third pic, of the gas tank well you'll notice a layer of glass on either side of the keelson. This is an area where the manufacturer, split the hull thickness, between the actual hull, and the tank support deck, leaving this section, thinner than the rest of the hull. I filled this in with 1708, to bring it up to the rest of the hull.

 

I then started to layout the deck support, and battery box. Also holding tank and flush tank will go in this area. Plainly trying to improve on the rigged up battery situation as I found it. This is the house battery location. The engine had it's own. I expanded the 2 batteries (6v GC's), to 4. The battery box attempt eventually goes awry, later.

 

It was at this point the project expanded again. I dropped a tool which rolled under the head floor. As I fished around for it, I noticed a line of fuzz, that appeared to stand proud of the hull. As I looked, it dawned on me that it was a crack. I searched the exterior hull and found radiating cracks in the gelcoat, in the same area. When the tide went out the boat was rolled over against the dock and pilings, and laying on a bump in the lot, as it turned out exactly where the crack was found. So the head had to come out to access the area for repair. The strake coring had punched through the mat and resin inner ply. Also found a roofing nail embedded in the glass.I ground out the crack at the bottom and filled it an epoxy bog. I then put a layer of 1708, across the fill. I then drilled holes across the top of the stake core and backfilled it with epoxy, then laid 4 plys 0f 1708, over the strake and repair, and finished with 1708, from the keelson to the stringer. The original keelson in this area was a piece of plywood, that was, rotted. As I took this out, more rot was found under the galley deck. All was removed. The limber holes had allowed water, for years, then gas and water to slosh from the engine bilge to the bow and back.

 

Pic taken 12 hours or so after Hurricane

 

A void was discovered in the opposite side strake, so the same procedure was used to fix that. I then went about, setting frames and cleats, to support the new galley and head flooring. All tabbed in epoxy and 1708 tape. Bottom of decking was covered with 1700 and epoxy, then epoxied into place and screwed down as well

 

Here I started to rough out the head and finish the flooring. When done the floor will be covered in a layer of 1708, then a flooring product called Londeck

 

After reaching a stall point I then turn my attention the engine room, where the cofferdam and engine supports had rotted. It goes without saying that once into that, the back of the stringers, stake cores, and transom turned out to be rotted. I had attempted to work around the engine for the engine supports, but after I found the stringers rotted , everything mechanical and electrical came out.

I found that the stringers were only rotted part of the way to the cofferdam, but were wet. I started but merely cutting off the channels for the engine supports, but decided that salvaging the channels was a better idea. However the struggle to clean out the rotted wood from the stringers, stakes and remaining engine support, lead me to doubt the value of that. However I did keep the remaining channels.

 

Seeing as the cofferdam for the gastank, left an unsupported opening under the rear cabin bulkhead, I decided to shorten the gastank, and close the engine room with a full bulkhead. I drilled numerous test holes to determine the extent of the rot. All the stringers were wet and rotted only partially to the the bulkhead. The hull laminate in this area is over an inch thick due to crazy amounts of glass and resin. With all that it's odd that the port stringer was not sealed or even bonded correctly. I decided that cutting a full scarf would not be economical for the stringers and stakes. Seeings as the main stringers doglegged down so much I figured a lap joint bonded, bolted, and reglassed over, with additional tabbing would suffice. Also I brought the main stringer up to full height with the forward section, to get a better purchase, with attachment. As the new bulkhead would sit astride the joints, with additional tabbing, this seemed strong enough. The engine supports were extended another 6 inches forward to bridge the gap from the relocated bulkhead, and to tie into the bulkhead the way they originally tied to the cofferdam. Also the actual mount pads were enlarged to allow for different powerplant choices.

In the third pic you can see how dramatic the stringer dogleg was . The glass channel barely reaches a third of the way up the new coring.


The last pic is an example of the original laminate thickness on the stingers. It varies from 3/8 to 9/16 thick. This is the stake/stringer coring, and laminate.

 

While I was repairing the stingers, I turned my attention to recoring the transom. Originaly it was made up of several sections, due to the fact the transom is not flat, but has 3 separate angle to it. I extended the center section further than original, and extended it up 6 inches further as well. The angled sections were individually replaced, and the joints overlapped wherever possible. The corners of the core were originaly 1/4 ply, this was replaced with 3/4. All joints were sealed with epoxy bog, and the transom was interleaved on the stringers ( i.e. the stringers butted to the first layer of coring, with the second layer, sitting on top) with epoxy lines between.

Remember the very bad glass work on the port stringer that was open and unbonded ? In pic 5 you can see how far back I had to cut the glass to find a good bond on the core. Later this will be repaired with 3620 glass and epoxy, as will all the stringer repairs.

 

After the coring for the transom and stringers was done, I filled in sections of original glass that had been removed for access or repair on the stringers with 3620.
The transom was covered in 2 layers of 2400, and epoxy. I founds it very difficult to work with a 9 ft section of glass, so I elected to simply use 24 inch widths and overlap the joints, per advice I got on the forum. The overlaps didn't come out as neat as I wanted. Sometimes the glass stretched a bit, sometimes it just started a little wonky, so not wanting to work it to death, I just proceed.

The stringers themselves were then laminated over and tabbed down with 3620 and epoxy by 2 plys. Additional plys were layed over all joints were the new stringers were joined to the old.

I also started to rough in the box deck over the stringers in the engine room. This is where the fresh water tank storage boxes, and battery go. As well the engine supports were also glassed over to the point where they join the bulkhead.

 

After the stringer decks where roughed out, I then proceeded to work on the cabin/engine bulkhead. Once again as 9 ft of bulkhead was beyond my ability to manage , I elected to do it in three pieces. After the the pieces were fitted. the were temporarily, held in place while they were affixed, and laminated. All the joints where backed with doublers, I then added stanchions between the cocpit deck and the stringers. The deck hangs inside the gunnels, being made of a fairly light glass laminate with a foam core. Many stress cracks, and the bouncy feeling back there lead me to stiffen up the bulkhead with the doublers and stanchions. The flybridge is supported by the upper portion of the bulkhead, and with some much flat panel, was bound to eventually, warp, or buckle.

 

This area in the pics was empty originaly. The bulkhead did not come up this far. Only a light plywood cover with 4 screws covered this hole .Oddly this is also where the sling tabs are and as a result, a lot of stress cracking was evident in this area. With no support, the slings would bear on the corners and flex the hell out the hull. Many times creaking and cracking could be heard while on the sling.

Due to the perceived highslinging load, I epoxied in 3/4 ply, glassed it over, and tabbed to the hull. I also laminated a couple of additional strips of 2400 horizontally to help with the sling load.