53MY/58YF Engine Room Vent Source?

[Starman]

Now that is one good looking engine !

 

[MikeP]

At some point Hatt quit doing the louvers on the 53's (don't know about the 58's) and went to just a large opening/dorade box with a screen in the top of the box (screen accessible in the engine rooms). The opening also makes a great step to board from the side!

 

[Angela]

My 1980 58MY doesn't have louvers either, just the open box, although the surveyor insisted mine were "missing" making it a flaw. I had a photo of my boat when she was 2 months old (thanks to a fellow forum member) and guess what???? No louvers. LOL Oh well, that same surveyor also insisted that Hatt never put the sea strainers on the boat, that my AC trigger box was a battery charger, etc.

 

[MikeP]

Sounds like a typical survey from a typical surveyor!

 

[bigbill]

hey byron, my boat is coming along sloooooowly,i had two houses to rebuild from katrina, my mom and dads that had ten inches of water in the attic, and my rental that had five feet of water in it. now comes the boat, its like vacation compared to working on houses. bigbill

 

[ThirdHatt]

Bill, hang in there. That work had to be done but now you can focus on what you WANT to do instead of what you HAD to do.

Let me know when you come to Madisonville to drop your chair at the chrome shop and we can have lunch and chat Hatt's.

I dropped by the yard today and four guys were working feverishly on the boat with two removing hardware and two sanding their hearts out! They already have nearly all the handrails and stanchion bases removed from the boat and maybe 30% of the hull is sanded. They are moving along nicely!

 

[Mike53C]

TH,

You may already know this, but just in case......

I have laid up several flat panels using the following method.


Get flat pieces of plywood and sit in on a solid base. A concrete floor will do just fine. Cover the ply with plastic, stretching it tight so there are no wrinkles.

It takes about 6 layers of 1808 fiberglass cloth ( bi axial with a matt backing ) to produce a 1/4 inch thick panel . Wet and roll out the fiberglass on the plastic.

Now cover this with another piece of plastic and then put another piece of flat plywood on top. Make a sandwich.

Weight down the top piece of plywood using cement block, tool boxes, batteries, etc.......

There will be a lot of squeeze out of resin so make sure all the pieces of plastic are large to catch it.

The next day you will have a solid flat fiberglass panel. Cut it to shape on a table saw or with a skill saw, sand it prime it, paint it .

Quick and easy.

I have been doing this by laying the cloth on top of a glass panel, but always end with an unfinished side, (the top)...With your method this is solved...never thought of it....what a great, inexpensive idea that of the plastics... THANKYOU PAUL!!!!

Now if you had another trick for doing rounded edges I could build my battery boxes, top covers and all, to suit my space, and to hold my weight when I have to crawl over them.

Miguel

 

[Starman]

I have been doing this by laying the cloth on top of a glass panel, but always end with an unfinished side, (the top)...With your method this is solved...never thought of it....what a great, inexpensive idea that of the plastics... THANKYOU PAUL!!!!

Now if you had another trick for doing rounded edges I could build my battery boxes, top covers and all, to suit my space, and to hold my weight when I have to crawl over them.

Miguel

Miguel,

Thank you !


The rounded corners are a bit more tricky, usually because a box ( mold ) is built and the corners are rounded when building this mold.

Then the mold is coated with PVA and the gel coat then fiberglass is applied. And when water is introduced to the PVA, it dissolves and the product pops out of the mold.

Short of this, you can sand the panels, both sides, and build your box. Use west epoxy with some 406 additive for the joints. Holding these thin panels together in the box shape will be somewhat tricky. Use some clamps, even string or old bicycle inner tubes.

Once the 5 sides are set, sand off the excess squeeze out from the outside, and then use a router to make your radius ed corners.



By the way, I like the idea of using a sheet of glass as the panel everything lays on.