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I have discovered that water has entered the plywood in the cockpit sole (wheel steering, Mark 4) and rotted it out in an area about 6 inches by 15 inches, maybe a bit more.
I've read the material on deck repair in Black Arts and visited the rotdoctor.com website, but before I dive into the repair does anyone have any knowledge/experience with this specific challenge they can pass on?
The boat is in the water and I've taken off the rudder head already (I put a collar around the shaft below decks to support the quadrant). The most intense rot is right at the point where the rudder shaft goes through the cockpit sole, of course. So building a dam here to keep in resin would be a challenge. My thought at this time is to pretty well follow the Black Arts outline.
Thanks all...
Roger Gibb
Passtime (27-4)
Roger Gibb
Passtime (27-4)
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The best material i've found for making dams is fast-curing epoxy. West Fast Hardened epoxy goes off in about 10 minutes, so you've just got time to mix it, thicken it and form a dam before it starts to thicken. That's fast enough that you can sit and watch to make sure everything stays where it should while it hardens. Then you can take your time gooping around with normally hardened epoxy without worrying about it all running away.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
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Roger,
The Gougeon Brothers have a good pamplet on using their products (WEST System) with fiberglass boats. It is worth reading prior to doing anything. As David suggest the fast hardener will set up quickly. I've used it before on decks with a lot of success. Keep in mind that it can get very hot in the pot.
Mike M
SV Wind Horse
#375
Galveston, Tx
Mike M
SV Wind Horse
#375
Galveston, Tx
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For that matter, for making dams, you don't need West epoxy -- hardware store 10-minute stuff will do. Make your dam with a $5 tube of Lepage's to keep the good stuff from running down into the bilge and then settle down to the heart of the repair.
Fast-setting epoxy goes off so fast that you could probably make a collar out of celluloid or an yogourt pot that fit tightly inside the rudder-stock opening, then form a thin dam up against that. The epoxy won't stick to celluloid or yogourt-pot plastic, so you'll have a very slick, precise surface with minimal need for sanding or grinding. One of the West people made a very precise form by inflating an ordinary balloon inside a cavity -- he inflated it to just the right degree that it directed the epoxy into exactly the shape he wanted.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
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Here's a website on a complete cockpit sole rebuild. Lots of pictures of the project.
http://www.wbryant.com/StellaBoat/Projects/cockpit/solecore/five.htm
Greg Tokarz, Nepenthe, Mk1 Hull #73
Greg Tokarz,
Nepenthe, C&C 27 Mk1, Hull #73
National Yacht Club, Toronto
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Thank you all for your suggestions. I have started the work and will record each step in photo and writting, and if it works, or not<img src="emoticons/icon_exclaim.gif"> I'll let you know. The drying process has started, and I figure will go on for several weeks.
Roger Gibb
Passtime (27-4)
Roger Gibb
Passtime (27-4)
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Roger. How is your cockpit sole repair going? I have a soft spot in my sole as well and will likely be doing a repair sometime this summer. Cheers. Greg
Greg Tokarz, Nepenthe, Mk1 Hull #73
Greg Tokarz,
Nepenthe, C&C 27 Mk1, Hull #73
National Yacht Club, Toronto
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So far, so good. I couldn't bring myself to take out the upper or lower glass layers, so after taking off all the wheel steering gear I expanded all the holes left in the sole to improve air flow, and also following the "drill-fill-drill" process described in Black Arts. I've also drilled a bunch of 3/4" holes from below, up to the upper skin. I've had a couple of fans blowing in the area under the cockpit, one of them slightly heating, and so far the ply seems to be drying out nicely. I figure I've probably got another month of drying to do (the downside of the process at this time of year, but epoxy doesn't do well with wet wood). Next step will be to close ALL the holes from underneath plus a dam around the rudder post, and put in penetrating epoxy, followed a week later by regular epoxy (see the Rot Doctor site). Unfortunatley patience is required - I'd much rather be sailing - the up side is I have some time to look after some of the other delayed maintenance.
I'm taking photos of each step which I'll put together at the end.
Roger Gibb
Passtime (27-4)
Roger Gibb
Passtime (27-4)
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Hi Roger
I, too have a rotted cockpit sole which I discovered when I went to rebuild the manual bilge pump. Extensively wet wood core which I'm going to replace with help from the Gougeon bros. Do you know the exact thickness of the wood core? Balsa or ply?
Santeria
Mark lll Hull #626 - Mahone Bay, NS
Santeria
Mark lll ;Hull ;#626 - Mahone Bay, NS
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I took the measurements in mm, as well as inches; measurements taken where the rudder post goes through the sole:
Total thickness: 45 mm (1.75 in)
Core (definitely plywood): 34mm (1 11/32 in)
Top skin: 6.5 mm (15/32 in)
Hope this helps....
Roger Gibb
Passtime (27-4)
Roger Gibb
Passtime (27-4)
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