Maintenance on Sea Lady

[Killick69]

That new toe rail sure looks pirty. Were there any areas where the joint between hull and deck was allowing water to get in?

Hope the jobs on Sea Lady progress well and hope to see you out on the water sometime soon. I will be sailing around the Parsley to Lion Head area on Sunday, weather permitting.

Cheers, John

[SeaLady]

Hi John,

No despite the join between hull and deck looking ugly it was water tight.
Also strong.
John, my shipwright tells me it is glued. But he thinks it should be bolted as well as glued.
So there will shortly be 25 bolts each side as well as glue and epoxy.
I have been banned from ever using silicon.
(not all the silicon was mine, but I am guilty of at least 3 big tubes of Sikaflex)

Places where the stauntions were is a different thing entirely. They had very slow leaks through the soggy ply.

There was also a leak from the drain for the anchor well.

I will take photos of beautiful new anchor well and other things as they get finished.

My pretty Sea Lady will shortly be pretty to others not just me looking through my rose coloured glasses.

[Killick69]

Makes me think I should move the "fix staunchions" up the job list. I guess most THs will have the same
soggy ply problem. It seems nuts were bedded into GRP and leaks down the ply are inevitable. I am thinking of drilling through and securing nuts below the GRP. At first I thought the construction with the underside closed off and no nuts visible (for example what is visible in the vee berth) was a good idea. It would have been a good idea, but with ply in there, not so good. Comments guys and gals?
If the ply is soggy, it becomes complicated. I guess once holes are drilled right through one could scape out the soggy ply, dried the remaining ply and fill with epoxy or polyester. Maybe drill oversize (maybe from below only?) to allow one to scape more of the soggy ply out.

[Phillip]

Hi All,

It would seem that with the age of our yachts these little problems are starting to show themselves.



But they are small if they are dealt with in the proper manner.
Below is a drawing of what Diana and Brian [here at Dunbogan] have been fixing.
It also shows the plywood core that needs to be replaced if it is wet or rotten!

[Killick69]

Phillip, good drawing. How far does the ply run. Is it a core running all the way under the deck, or is it only in small sections where there is load, such as the stanchions?
Cheers, John

[SeaLady]

I had ply underneath the triangle part of the stauntions on the deck. i.e. outside not inside (Although there are ply triangles on many nuts inside - i.e. visible on cabin roof. )

Surrounded and drowned in silicon over the years.

The ply was not visible until the stauntions had been removed. And were a surprise to the shipwright.

I think he is putting them back with epoxy but I will check and take photos.

From what I have been seeing this certainly seems to be a job for someone who knows what they are doing. Absolutely beyond my skills and my meagre attempts of just put on more Sikaflex exacerbated the problem rather than fixed it. More to clean off.

[Ianb]

As an alternative to ply backing plates, plastic cutting board material has the benefit of not rotting.

The other issue that is critical is that where stainless steel bolts pass through a hole, the gap around the bolt must be totally sealed. This is not just to stop drips, but also to avoid crevice corrosion. Crevice corrosion is one of the most common causes of failure of stainless steel fittings and rigging, not just fatigue. So dont knock the silicone sealant!

[Phillip]

John, I will check with Brian tomorrow on how far the plywood sheet went, until then:-

[SeaLady]

I double checked today.

My soggy triangles of ply were only on the outside of the boat i.e. on the deck under the stauntions.

My shipwright will be replacing them with cutting board type plastic that he can plane to the correct shape.

Here are photos of the toe rail from the bow showing smooth and also from the port side showing the new scarf joint and plugs not yet cut down.

This weekend the timber gets sanded, sealed and varnished.

[Phillip]

I can confirm that the plywood is only under where there are fixings through the deck!