Cockpit Coaming Rebuild

[John Stone]

Maybe butyl in the groove? I use Boat Life teak colored polysulfide for the deck to coaming joint.

Agree. I have the butyl.

[John Stone]

Third coat of varnish on outboard surface. Plan to leave inboard surface at 2 coats until install complete because I still need to install the plugs over the bolt holes. Then complete varnishing. Total of 8 coats both sides.

[John Stone]

Attached the bronze return plates. They still need to be bedded. Might be able to install the coamings Saturday.

[John Stone]

I thought about replacing the cleats on the coamings (back-up for the self trailers) with bronze ones. $125 each. I thought the irko ones pretty good after all. The way I secured them before was with small bronze plates I inset on the inboard side. The fasteners went through the plates, through the coamings and into the wood cleats on the outboard side of the coamings. It was an imperfect solution. But it worked for 8 years.

Because I take the cleats off when I sand and varnish the coamings I wanted a better system. It's not good to keep installing and removing screws in wood. Eventually you bore out the hole.

So I drilled 1/4" holes down through the cleats. I positioned them and used an awl to mark the centers in the coamings. Then, I used a 3/8" and 1/2" fostner bit to drill down about 3/8" inch deep. I added a small amount of gflex epoxy to the bottom of the hole and set bronze nut there I had filed in to create tooth marks for the epoxy to grip. I positioned them with fasteners wiped with paste wax and run through the center of the cleats. When they cured I removed the cleats and reinstalled the fasteners and covered the firmly positioned nuts with epoxy. When the epoxy cured I removed the bolts. The nuts were in there very tight. I used a chisel to trim the epoxy.

I then counter sunk the cleats and installed them with oval head 1/4-20 bronze machine screws.

No there is no backing plate. But these are not heavy duty cleats. These are for sheets coming off winches if needed. Everything is in sheer. I have always liked the look of bare wood contrasted with varnished would.

Onward.

[keneasley]

Thanks for sharing that idea for setting the nuts in with epoxy and waxed fasteners.
Something that I'm sure I'll be using as I redo woodwork on Felicity.

[JD-MDR]

I’ve had lots if spare time so I removed the coamings to strip, varnish and rebed. Ive been wanting to rebed them since i got the boat. Calking on the outside worked for a while and but I wanted it better. It was very easy I replaced the screws with bolts. I also made caps from African mahogany. I just rounded the aft end for now and haven’t finished the other where it attaches to the cabin.I thought the caps was a really good idea. I need to figure out how to mount the side mount cleats and I have to set the screws and bungs still but Im not sure if I should use glue for cap. Also Igad to add a strip if wood where the dodger snaps but you cant see it

[John Stone]

Thanks for sharing that idea for setting the nuts in with epoxy and waxed fasteners.
Something that I'm sure I'll be using as I redo woodwork on Felicity.

Ken, Glad to hear it's helpful. I do wonder sometimes if anyone reads this stuff.

[John Stone]

I’ve had lots if spare time so I removed the combings to strip, varnish and rebed. Ive been wanting to rebed them since i got the boat. Calking on the outside worked for a while and but I wanted it better. It was very easy I replaced the screws with bolts. I also made caps from African mahogany. I just rounded the aft end for now and haven’t finished the other where it attaches to the cabin.I thought the caps was a really good idea. I need to figure out how to mount the side mount cleats and I have to set the screws and bungs still but Im not sure if I should use glue for cap. Also Igad to add a strip if wood where the dodger snaps but you cant see it

Good job JD. I did not glue the caps. I bedded them with polysulfide so I can remove them if necessary. Fastener every 10" or so. But you certainly could glue them if you clamp them.

[JD-MDR]

Thanks John. I have surgery on Wednesday. When I recover. I’ll finish and make corrections. Ny Dads funeral was last week. Ut was nice. So many relatives were there

[John Stone]

Thanks John. I have surgery on Wednesday. When I recover. I’ll finish and make corrections. Ny Dads funeral was last week. Ut was nice. So many relatives were there

I am very sorry to hear about your Dad. I'll contact you separately.

[John Stone]

Installed the coamings, winch bases, and winches a couple days ago. Installed the wood plugs today.

Used a strip of butyl for the coaming and a bead of mahogany colored polysulfide. Teak brown polysulfide and butyl donuts for winch bolts.

Modifying bare teak cap rails now.

[Jim Walsh]

Nice! Big job nearly done…Far Reach deserves nothing less.

[John Stone]

I trimmed the plugs today. Taped off the coamings. Sanded them. Applied some varnish to the plugs thinned 50 percent. Tomorrow I'll lay on the first coat since the were installed so coat number 4.

Need to get started on the teak caps.

[John Stone]

After trimming and sanding the plugs flat I applied varnish thinned 50'percent to the plugs yesterday. Today, I applied first coat over the entire coaming/winch pads since we installed them. Fourth coat of varnish total. I need at least 7 coats for minimal protection. But since I'm not launching till the fall will probably apply two more in Sept/Oct.

[John Stone]

While I am sanding and varnishing I started the work to modify the bare teak cap that fastens to the top edge of the coaming to include the return block. The return block ties the coaming to the the aft end of the cabin top.

The little 90° teak elbow (see photo below) at the forward end of the coaming covers the top of the return block. It is not long enough to reach the cabin top for the new coaming. It's short by about 1/2". So, I will cut the elbow off and then mill a new elbow with scrap Burmese teak. This time I will half-lap the joint and once again use Aerodux 185 resorcinol as the adhesive.

Take a look at the photo below. Notice how tight the elbow joint is after 7 years of exposure to the elements without any protective coat of varnish or paint. The heat of the tropic beating right down on the glue line and it's still as tight as the day it was made. That's one of the advantages of resorcinol. Truly water proof, boil proof, steam proof.

I hope the new joint holds up as well as the old one. I have high expectations since there will be more glueing surface with the half-lap joint than the simpler joint I used previously.