Re-Core Cockpit Sole

[devindiedrich]

Here are some pics of the boat finally back on the water. In the end, it turned out better than I expected but took a lot longer than I expected. I wasn't hard, just time consuming. My boat is 4 hours from where I live so it was always a big coordination ordeal. I had to make sure I had everything for what I was working on when I was up there. I couldn't just run home to get something if I forgot it. I was out for a full season and I was still putting things back together as the marina dropped the boat in the water over the 4th of July this year. Paul D. on Femme du Nord helped me get the sails on and get the rig tuned while my wife cleaned up below. After all was done, we sailed along side Femme du Nord with Paul and his kids to Madeline Island to anchor. The kids spent the day playing in the water and we all spent the evening watching fireworks. It was good to be back on the water.

Devin

[Keith]

What is it that bothers you about the deck stepped mast?

It is certainly easier to step the mast. There is never a chance of leaking around the partners. It would be easier to clear if it were ever to come crashing down and it would not leave a hole in the boat. There is no spar in the middle of a rather small cabin. The somewhat shorter mast is easier to deal with when it is removed. Did I mention that it never leaks?

Cape dory did a pretty fine job of spreading the load to two bulkheads in order to support the mast step and keep the interior clear. The Typhoons are known to have some compression problems but I have never heard of any issues with the bigger boats.

Life is a compromise, Steve.

Steve,

You make some good points. But for me it is really about strengths and robustness. I agree Mr Alberg did a good job distributing the load with the steel support in side the coach roof and the two bulkheads. I just don't think that it was worth it for just the cross-sectional area of the mast in the main salon. Now that MOONDANCE it 37 years old and that steel support is giving me little pieces of iron oxide every year when I run the mast wiring through it into the cabin I know that one day I'll have to rip apart the coach roof and replace the steel support like I'm doing right now with the bow support. Don't get me wrong I love the 30 and every summer I seem to push it a little further and she has never disappoint me. She can take much more then I can give her I'm sure.

Another bit of food for thought why did Mr. Alberg design the 31,32,33,36, etc... with the masts stepped to the keel????? Things that make yu say Hmmmmmm!!!

Keith

[Keith]

Hi Devin,

Thanks for posting the pics. Fantastic work by the way. I was hoping to get a glimpse under the mast step to see what the metal support looks like but I can see that you only needed to work up to the edge of that area.

Thanks Again,

Keith

[Ron M.]

Devin,
Interesting to see your well done and documented project. I did similar repairs/restoration about 10 years ago.
Dirty, dusty work but not really difficult if one has the inclination and time. Fairing and painting took considerable effort.
I had some cracks and rust stains around the mast step as well. Cracks were opened up and epoxy injected in voids that were found, then filled, faired and painted. No signs of structural problems or rust since. All in all the repairs have held up well, and hopefully will give the boat another 40 years of life.
Good job.

[devindiedrich]

Thanks for the comments. I didn't have any problems with the mast step. My water problems in that area came from a thru deck next to the mast step that was used for the vhf antenna cable. I removed the core up to the mast step. The mast step seemed to be encapsulated in fiberglass. I did have gelcoat cracks on the mast step itself. I ground those down to the fiberglass. All the cracks were over voids in the fiberglass underneath them. I filled all voids with fiberglass and then re gelcoated. I didn't take any pictures any better than the ones I posted though.

Devin

[jbenagh]

All the pieces of Coosa cut and ready to dry fit:


The 1/2 stuff does not quite fit under the lip in the sole so I need to sand those edges a bit. And there were several places where there was extra resin hardened in the groove so each piece will need a bit of tweaking at the boat. I'm hoping to take advantage of this week's forecast warm weather to get these epoxied in.

Jeff

[jbenagh]

I took advantage of the warm weather on Thursday to epoxy in the Coosa pieces into the sole. A friend graciously offered to help. First we shaped all the pieces to fit under the upper glass layer using a variety of cutting tools:


The hand power planer was very useful but the Coosa dulled the blades in a hurry. The oscillating tool sanding pad did a great job opening up the space between the upper and lower glass layers around the edges.
I used two pieces of 48in x 11in 3/4 ply with plastic on to to support the bottom layer of glass so I could weight the Coosa while the epoxy cured. I also needed a 22in 2x4 to fill the gap over the top of the engine compartment bulkhead. A 32in 2x4 below and atop allowed getting some long clamps to hold them together. Longer would have been better for the clamping 2x4s. Here's the clamping from below:

I didn't get any pictures during the epoxy phase. We used about 1/2 gallon of West System resin, right in line with my estimate of 5 qts for the whole thing. We put two pieces of 3/4 ply, trimmed to fit in the space from the upper glass layer. I weighted it down with the boats' batteries and about 5 gallon jugs of water. Today I went over to pull off the plastic sheet and the clamping; looked good:

It's stronger already than it has ever been since I owned the boat! Here I am in socks since my boots were so muddy:

Then I started grinding the overlap for the 12:1 so I can make a new upper layer. I plan on two layers of E1708 and one layer of 10oz cloth which should build up to ~0.100in. The oscillating tool makes a nice cut with little dust that can be vacuumed and then cleaned up with a grinder or sander:

It's pretty exciting to be on the assembly part of this finally instead of destruction.
Jeff

[jbenagh]

Got the top layer of glass in on Sunday! Here's a couple pictures of the feathering on the edges and the final product. The two whitish areas are the holes for the emergency tiller and the pedestal; I didn't saturate them so there would be fewer drips into the engine compartment. Now on to sanding and finishing then installing steering.
From the bottom up, I used a layer of E1708, mat side down, then a layer of 10oz cloth, then a layer of E1708, cloth side down. The first layer was cut to an exact fit of the feathered area, the glass about 3/8 smaller and the last E1708 about halfway across the feather. This will prevent grinding through anything on the final sanding. At both sides of the forward end I added some irregular shapes of E1708 in two layers, mat up, to make up for some low points. The final thickness appears to match the original height almost perfectly. My calculated thickness was 0.121in.
After wetting out I put down a sheet of 6 mil polyethelyne sheet, covered by a close-fitting piece of 3/4in ply, then put down more plywood scrap, the boat's two batteries and about 8 gallon jugs of water. The final surface came out pretty smooth so the sanding should be tolerable. The main imperfections were from wrinkles in the plastic sheet; I should have flattened out the fold lines better
Jeff
Feathering:


Final glass layer:

[Jeff and Sarah]

Lots of hard work! It looks like you are doing a great job though. I'm sure it will feel great to be back out on the water after all this.

[jbenagh]

I'm sure it will feel great to be back out on the water after all this.

No kidding! I'm really envious of those people with boats in the water already.

Here's the new stainless steel steering support put in place. This was a bear to get in place with all the holes lined up right. I drilled the pedestal mounting hole from the bottom (because I could see the originals there), then really loosely fastened the rudder shaft to the support. By shoving really hard I got the holes to line up. The machining was perfect and the other three pedestal mounts lined up just right!


And from the top, with the pedestal test fit and gel coat around the outside edge of the repaired area. The pedestal still needs to come out to have sealant under it. Temporary bolts through the pedestal guard mounting holes should hold it in place. The grayish spots are polyester filler that I used since it can be sanded in 20mins. I figure that it's best to have a pretty smooth surface for painting even non-skid and it will be really convenient if anyone ever wants to strip the paint.

[jbenagh]

The other issue that made the steering install challenging was getting the height of the quadrant right; too high and not enough rudder before hitting the stops but too low meant not hitting the stops (and hitting the water heater I also installed).
It would have been good to carefully measure the height of the quadrant prior to removal. The stop collar for the upper support is in a fixed location due to a hole drilled for the set screw; this would be a good reference to use since the rudder stuffing box location can change if you replace that.

Jeff

[Tom Carter]

Jeff,

I just wanted to say that it looks like you did a really nice job on this project and thanks for posting all of these pictures. This is something that I am planning to do as well on Benediction - probably when I pull the boat out next fall - at the same time that I remove the pedestal and convert to tiller steering. Hope you are back in the water and sailing soon, if not already!

[jbenagh]

Thanks, Tom!
I'm looking forward to launch more than most years. I think that the cockpit sole, steering, thru hulls and water heater were about 140-200 hours of time this winter (if anyone is estimating), especially for someone with a full-time job (=me!) and the boat 30mins from home. That's an awful lot, and took a lot of help from the crew: Susan, Andrew and Katy. And my friend Brad pitched in a lot, espacially with mixing epoxy, although he claimed working on the boat was therapeutic.
Jeff

[jbenagh]

Well, this season's launch didn't turn out so well...
Everything I did over the winter kept water out of the boat. But...
There was a leak where the prop shaft tube comes through the hull. Boatyard says "need to pull the motor, re-glass and resinstall the motor". I would do most of the work except that I have another pressing house commitment (rebuild from 2015 ice dams), so paying boat yard seems like a good idea.
Although, there are some cracks in the polyester filler, applied over gelcoat, where I can get a pocket knife over 3/4in in
After grinding I did not hit the boat interior before I hit the end of the crack, so I gave the chance of this fix about 50-50.
I seriously added some fairing to the exterior where the shaft exits, bringing the radius to about 1.5in
Boat went in yesterday but still leaked. Can't reach the area without engine removal. So... Will have boatyard start that and try to get Christine C fixed. Not enough cash this year to install a Beta due to other money commitments.

As Susan said "at least this didn't happen at midnight, 40nm off of Portland"! And, I did ask and the launch crew responded: all the work I did on cockpit sole, rudder shaft and seacocks were bone dry; the only leak was from the shaft tube.

Great advice from a number of you here; thank you!
Jeff

[Jim Walsh]

It painful just reading this. After the wonderful job you did on the cockpit sole it's a real kick in the pants. Good luck.