Rebuilding interior

[amayotte]

I am at the point now that I will start rebuilding my chainplates. I wanted to throw an idea off some veteran sailors and see what you guys think of my idea. Hope this makes sense.

First off I already cut back some of my seats to gain access to the hull.






then I added corner reinforcements which were attached with 3m 5200 and will soon be glassed over.



Now what I want to do (looking for suggestion on this idea) is fiberglass bolts to the hull. 3 or 4 bolts for each chainplate. these bolts will later be used to bolt a brace to and this brace will connect directly to the shroud fasteners. I have fabricated a 4x10 inch piece of 1 inch fir that the bolts are fastened to. This will then all be glassed to the hull, about 15 inches below the deck.
So there will be 3 bolts per shroud that will allow a bracket of some sort to bolt to the hull.
I decided to go this route because I didn't know if I wanted a steal bracket or a fiberglass reinforced wood bracket. With these bolts I will be able to try different types of brackets to transfer the shroud tension to the hull.

I was also wondering if anyone could tell what would be best for fiberglass. Matting or cloth?

Oh ya, here is a pic of the concrete I poured over the lead shot. Before I poured the concrete I put plastic down so it wouldn't soak in with the lead shot. Now it is super easy to remove the concrete. There are 3 pieces about 30 lbs each.


Here also is an update on my cockpit floor replacement. I would like to say thanks to windward for the wonderful idea of hydraulic jacks for keeping the wood in place while the epoxy sets.


Now the next question to many is for the mast post in the cabin. I have found that the mast post pushes really hard on the floor which has cracked and weakened it.
I was thinking of using a treated 4x4 and adding a steel brace at the base of the post to distribute the weight. Any ideas? I don't want to rip anymore of this boat apart since it's costing me 4 hours of repair to every hour of dismantle.


If anyone wants to see all the pics you are more than welcome to go to my site.
http://picasaweb.google.com/adam.mayotte/Renovations#

Thanks for all your input and any idea is appreciated.
Adam

[Bhacurly]

Nice work and thanks for the picts! Love it!

For the fiberglss I would go with chopped strand matt, several layers, it's reportedly stronger in all directions... It sounds like you aren't planning any bolts through the hull correct??

OK on my Catalina 27, under the mast compression post was rotted wood, thus cracks in the floor... doubt if your 26 is similiar, it looks like cement?? But from the pict it looks like it woudn't be too much to cut down both sides and see what supports the post and what shape it's in... that crack looks full thickness and will need repair anyway, and if the suppport is afoul.... Was the post on top of the glass?? Doesn't look like it was and the crack may have been from some other force in that case??

I know what you mean,, seems like it always rips apart faster, it's the prep work that takes time,, but from where we sit your cranking it out!

Again thanks for the picts!
Billy

[FranS]

Wow, that's one big project!

[Holiday]

Most of what I have read says non woven roving has the most stregnth, then the woven roving, then cloth, with mat having little strength by comparison. Under stress the crossing points in the yarns are high stress areas. Mat is not usually used with epoxy. Typically the binder in the mat is designed to be desolved by the styrene in polyester resins, it does not desolve with epoxy. If you need mat with epoxy there are special mats available. Note that roving and heavier cloth is difficult to work with in corners.

If you are using polyester typically you would start with a layer of mat to increase the bonding area then a layer of cloth or roving then mat between each layer of cloth or roving.

I glassed in bolts to hold a bronze through hull flange for the keel penant through hull. I put the bolts through a block of teak plywood then glassed it down with 4 layers epoxy and 5 oz cloth. Keeping the bolt treads clean was a problem. I had to run the threads with a nut while it was setting then used a die to clean them after it hardened.

[Gus]

I would drill holes in the hull and install the chainplates directly to the hull. Charlie from Sailfar.net done to his boat, and it looks great (and way more secure)

Great job! You sure made me miss messing around in my boat

[amayotte]

The mast post actually sits on the floor and kinda stays in place becuase there is a piece of felt there...kinda mickey mouse.

I've been using west sytem 105 resin with 206 slow hardener...cause I'm really slow. I just don't know what to use with it for fabric.
I was looking at the 742 episize glass fabric from west systems.
http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/st ... sNum=13016

Do you guys think that would work if I used enough layers?

As for the chainplates being bolted to the hull I'm a little worried about punching holes so I wanted to try and glass the bolts first.

Thanks for all the suggestions,
Adam

[Gus]

I think outside chainplates would be much better, I want to do that to my boat, I don't trust the whole bolting thru deck chainplates at all.

[tgentry]

Thanks for the pics! Those will be invaluable to anyone contemplating taking their boat apart.

[amayotte]

I just called west system about their episize 6 oz. glass fabric and they said it would work no problem.
They suggested roughing the hull with 80 grit sandpaper then applying a gradual fillet with 406 filler. Then to give a 4 inch overlap of the wood braces to adhere to the existing hull. from there they said I should have about 12 layers, each slightly smaller than the last to build up the brace.

I know that bolts through the hull work on other boats and are strong but By doing this method I won't have to worry about another hole that will eventually leak. There seems to be a lot of holes in this boat already and I don't want more.

Does anyone have any proof or definite reasoning why bolting through the hull would be stronger than glassing?
Everybody talks about how if fiberglassed properly you can attain a bond stronger than steel.
The problem of course is do I have the ability to glass that good?
I am rather stumped as to what I should do.

Adam