Diving in…..to the deck

[Bob Bradley]

Having done the job, I honestly believe that it's impossible to prevent water intrusion into the cored deck. There's really no way to seal the pulpit to the deck thoroughly. I think the only solution would be to not have any coring in that area. If they had just made that area of the deck solid fiberglass, it would have prevented the problem.

 

[whoover]

I had stacked plywood under my windlass as well. Part of the repairs was replacing it with PVC. When I was remounting the windlass and pulpit I over drilled and filled the holes with epoxy. Water may still get in but will not rot the core.
Walt Hoover

 

[Briankinley2004]

I had stacked plywood under my windlass as well. Part of the repairs was replacing it with PVC. When I was remounting the windlass and pulpit I over drilled and filled the holes with epoxy. Water may still get in but will not rot the core.
Walt Hoover

I over drilled my holes as well. Where the pulpit bolts that I couldn't remove came through I over cut the plywood with a large hole and filled with thickens epoxy. Also sealed around the hawsepipe and where the foot switch penetrates the deck. I went back with stacked plywood but I sealed it with epoxy on all sides then glued all of them together with epoxy. Also over drilled and filled the holes in it so hopefully it stays good.

 

[Joe Hewes]

The core replacement continues.
“4 yards & a cloud of dust!” Is the mantra on this project.

After a month of work we are now ready to start installing the Coosa in the anchor locker. It took some time to template test fit & test fit again & again & again….Once we were sure we had accurate templates, we proceeded to cutting out the 1” Coosa. We then proceeded to test fit those pieces & quickly realized that there there would be a lot of massaging to get each section to fit properly. Thank goodness Dereck from Atlantic Restorations was there to provide a good set of hands & quickly trimmed, ground & otherwise customized each section of Coosa to ensure everything fits properly. Shout out to Dereck for helping throughout!

After we dry fitted for the final time, we marked & over sized drilled the cleat bolt, windlass bolts, anchor hawses, fresh water & anchor switch holes. I have filled all the holes with West System Epoxy & 404 & will drill out the correct size hole once installed.

I routed out the Coosa to accept the 1/4” stainless backing plate which will be laminated into the deck & have additional back plating. We’ll use two layers of heavy bi-axle glass counter layed for the entire anchor locker deck (underneath) to tie everything together.

Attached see the pics….more to come

 

[rsmith]

The paint sticks the template?

 

[Joe Hewes]

Yes, we used paint sticks or template plastic for the initial template then went to foam board to tune it in.

Coosa is all in. We’ll fare & fill it as needed & prep for 1708 lay up.

Here are pics of in process….back plating etc. I’ll post the latest later this week.

 

[dar636]

Impressive work ! Well past my skill set, keep posting-

 

[Joe Hewes]

Coosa is in. Surface is dust free & wiped down with Acetone. Windlass & Spacer dry fitted, new Hawse Pipes fitted, Pulpit bolts ready to install.

Templated for glassing 1708 in 9 sections. Cut the 1708 into manageable sections, labeled & referenced with witness lines on the underneath side of anchor locker. What a job!

Tomorrow we start glassing in the bottom skin coat. Stay tuned.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

Looking good

 

[jim rosenthal]

Beautiful work. And a lot of it.

 

[Dan Mapes]

Great work! Much more professional looking than what I was able to accomplish.

 

[JD5652]

The core replacement continues.
“4 yards & a cloud of dust!” Is the mantra on this project.

After a month of work we are now ready to start installing the Coosa in the anchor locker. It took some time to template test fit & test fit again & again & again….Once we were sure we had accurate templates, we proceeded to cutting out the 1” Coosa. We then proceeded to test fit those pieces & quickly realized that there there would be a lot of massaging to get each section to fit properly. Thank goodness Dereck from Atlantic Restorations was there to provide a good set of hands & quickly trimmed, ground & otherwise customized each section of Coosa to ensure everything fits properly. Shout out to Dereck for helping throughout!

After we dry fitted for the final time, we marked & over sized drilled the cleat bolt, windlass bolts, anchor hawses, fresh water & anchor switch holes. I have filled all the holes with West System Epoxy & 404 & will drill out the correct size hole once installed.

I routed out the Coosa to accept the 1/4” stainless backing plate which will be laminated into the deck & have additional back plating. We’ll use two layers of heavy bi-axle glass counter layed for the entire anchor locker deck (underneath) to tie everything together.

Attached see the pics….more to come

is the purpose of templating and cutting in "squiggily lines" to create more surface area for bonding??.... or other reason.

Never done it or seen it done that way...

 

[Joe Hewes]

Thanks for all the interest & support with this project. It’s holding me accountable!

I did the squiggly lines in an attempt to gain more surface area. In retrospect it’s not necessary & truth be told it created challenges when fitting each piece of the Coosa as there was no “slop” to fit each piece. While it certainly made for a tight fit - the lemon was not worth the squeeze.

We are all glassed in, primed with Awlgrip 545, sanded & ready for the Awlgrip Top Coat Medium Grey.

I’m not going to lie: installing wetted out 1708 lying on my back, above my head was less than fun. I was in the anchor locker for 2.5 hrs straight, but with determination & focus I was able to get all the sections positioned as planned & installed. The key is to start from one end & work slowly with gloved hands, down until the entire section is in contact with the overhead. Each section overlaps the next by 3”. Once there, I was able to roll, squeegee & fin roll each section. Full Tyvex suit is a must as is face & eye protection ( I had a full respirator mask ). It’s also important to have a competent helper to wet out & hand each section to you right side up & oriented in the direction the piece is to be installed.

Grinding the finished product was also not high on my list of fun activities. Pretty messy & itchy!
I thoroughly brush vacuumed the entire locker using a fresh vacuum bag & filter in my 5 gallon shop vac. Once clean - I wiped down the overhead with two coats of Awlgrip 545 primer. Full Respirator a MUST. I rolled & brushed both coats with 3 hrs between coats.

Today sanded the fresh primer & sanded the hull & forward stateroom bulkhead with 220. Brush vacuumed once again.

Last thing I did today was paint out all the drilled holes with West System just to know for sure everything is sealed!

I’ll give a final wipe down with Awlgrip
Awlprep & then……wait for it……the top coats!

so by the end of this week I hope to have the windlass & wiring reinstalled along with the cleats, back plates & new wash down plumbing & spigot installed.

Jobs not over by a long shot but I’ll be glad as hell to be out of my “rat hole”!

Pictures for your viewing pleasure. Not super exciting. One after fiberglass & sanding. The other with white primer. More to come.

 

[whoover]

I was in the same position, I was amazed at how heavy a piece of 1708 is when wetted out and your trying to lift and push it into position. Epoxy in your hair is hard to get out!

Walt Hoover

 

[Dan Mapes]

I cut up the glass into strips, the wife rolled them out and wetted them down and handed them into me after she rolled them up on a piece of PVC tubing. All I had to do was push it up onto the ceiling and unroll it into place.

 

[Joe Hewes]

Update:

Finished the anchor locker overhead - glad I did it. Never want to do one again!

On the final stage of fairing, priming & painting bow pulpit, cleat area, windlass switches & fresh water spigot area. I’ll leave those areas smooth for a finished look.

Interestingly while prepping the windlass for paint I turned the unit upside down & milky gear lube leaked out through the shaft O Ring. I had the entire unit rebuilt in 2022 & reinstalled by Rick. I’m not overly concerned as the gear lube level is full. I’ll drain & refill with 90 gear lube tomorrow. I’ll install new O Rings that I ordered from Galley Maid. Rick told me that I should change the oil & O ring every year. Anyone else doing that?

Cut open the last section of deck today. Hallelujah- I hit dry coring! Also hit an 8” x 8” 1/2” stainless plate with a threaded 1” hole. Scratched my head for a few minutes & realized it’s the lifting eye receiver (one of 4 or 6 I assume) that the factory heavily laminated in during deck construction. It was used to lift the deck/deck house from the mold & mate the deck/house to the hull.
I should have the windlass & deck hardware fitted by next week & the deck glassed in & faired.

Getting close to painting!

 

[SKYCHENEY]

Looking good.
Rick rebuilt my windlass in 2004/5. I check the oil every year but have only changed it once. Never had any water in it and never changed an O-ring

 

[warrenw]

I thought my GM windlass was new enough (1987) to have the o-rings but it turns out it wasn't. I found out the hard way last year when it overflowed and dripped down the anchor chute. I drained all the water out, flushed it and filled with with new Merc lower end gear oil. As I don't have the o-ring seal I packed the area around where the shaft exits the tube with water resistant grease. My plan is service the windlass every spring by pulling the drum and gypsy, pack that area with grease, greasing the shaft and checking the gear lube. I added hoses and valves to the gearbox drain plug to make it easier (and cleaner) to drain and refill using a gear oil pump.

 

[JD5652]

Update:

Finished the anchor locker overhead - glad I did it. Never want to do one again!

On the final stage of fairing, priming & painting bow pulpit, cleat area, windlass switches & fresh water spigot area. I’ll leave those areas smooth for a finished look.

Interestingly while prepping the windlass for paint I turned the unit upside down & milky gear lube leaked out through the shaft O Ring. I had the entire unit rebuilt in 2022 & reinstalled by Rick. I’m not overly concerned as the gear lube level is full. I’ll drain & refill with 90 gear lube tomorrow. I’ll install new O Rings that I ordered from Galley Maid. Rick told me that I should change the oil & O ring every year. Anyone else doing that?

Cut open the last section of deck today. Hallelujah- I hit dry coring! Also hit an 8” x 8” 1/2” stainless plate with a threaded 1” hole. Scratched my head for a few minutes & realized it’s the lifting eye receiver (one of 4 or 6 I assume) that the factory heavily laminated in during deck construction. It was used to lift the deck/deck house from the mold & mate the deck/house to the hull.
I should have the windlass & deck hardware fitted by next week & the deck glassed in & faired.

Getting close to painting!

Super quality job!!

 

[dar636]

Well done, very impressed. I sweat a lot, that job in full tyvek would've been miserable for me, so again I'm impressed with the physicality of jobs like this. I hope the rest are easy.