Aft Cabin Glass work done....at least the big stuff

The 2 final  projects in the aft cabin structural work were to glass in the aft ends of the main stringers and the rudder log and reinforce the lower transom horizontal stringer. First the Rudder shaft log....

For some reason the builder did not make the "log" ,which really is just a 4" thick piece of teak glassed into the hull to stabilize the rudder shaft, fill the whole space between the two main stringers. The light colored material you see is polyurethane foam which I use to fill the gap between the stringers and transom and the shaft log. It would have been very difficult and weak to glass from the hull up over the stringers and then down to the hull for 3" and then back up onto the log. That is why I filled the voids in with foam.

Then I glassed the whole thing in using 2 double layers of 1.5Oz mat and 24Oz. roving. Now it is one very large piece. At the 4 corners it is 4 double layers thick. Now I have a nice large area to mount the steering gear to.

Next job was to reinforce the rather poorly done glass work on the lower horizontal transom stringer. After grinding, yeah there is always grinding, all the old paint and crummy glass work off I had to add foam fillets to the hull to stringer joints both top and bottom. Without the foam the glasswork will make a hard 90 degree angle between the hull and stringer which is very weak. The foam breaks that into a more gradual transition. The vertical raised areas with the bolts coming out you see are where the swim platform bolts into the hull.

 Here's a shot of the whole stringer with the foam in place in the top hull to stringer joint. That's my work table on top of the water tank that extends up under the berth ( bed).

Here are 18 pieces of cloth cut and ready to be glassed in. I stack them with the last piece I will glass in on the bottom. It is always nice to pick up that last piece of glass and know that you are almost done!

Here it is after nearly 3 hours of glassing. It is slow work do to all the curves and how low it is on the transom. Notice how you can see the foam fillets through the finished glass work.

A closeup of the underside of the port end of the stringer. All done. 

I am finally done with correcting all the poor structural work in the hull. I have replaced all the rot in the stringers and reinforced all of them from the forward cabin back to the transom. Next stop the deck sections mold.

Starboard Secondary Stringers all glassed

                                                      Looks a lot better than ....

There are 2 layers of 1708 biax plus 1 layer of 1.5 Oz. Mat on each stringer. I glassed the vertical leg in first and then the horizontal leg. So each stringer takes 6 pieces of cloth and the there are 5 stringers to each side which makes it 30 pieces in total. No wonder I am tired tonight. 

I actually finished that work about 1:30 had lunch and went back to grind and  prep the rudder log for glassing.

For some reason they did not make it the full width of the space between the two main stringers. So I filled the spaces in with expanding foam then trimmed it flush with the log and stringer tops. It also did not fit back to the transom so I filled that as well. Thursday I will glass everything together so it will be in there solid, plus it will be easier to mount the steering gear. Just another 16 pieces of cloth, but they are smaller. The last job in here will be to strengthen the lower horizontal stringer across the transom. The I will finally be done with correcting and reinforcing the internal structure of the hull.

Progress on the Starboard Aft cabin stringers

I cut all the old junk secondary stringers on the Starboard side out a couple of days ago.  One of the vertical stringers was half full of water!!! You can see the dark area just ahead of the forward stringer.






Here is a closeup of the water leak. Not something I really want to see in my boat! You can also see the rather poor job done on these stringers.

Here is a shot taken after I had cut everything out and ground all the bad glass work off. There was a lot of the glass work that had not bonded to the hull laminate. The telltale sign is the glass being a lighter color, than when you grind it it gets lighter then pops off just as you grind through it. Took 5 hours of grinding to get everything cleaned up on the Starboard side and the transom.

The next job was to glass the horizontal stringer with 2 double layers of 24 Oz. Roving and 1.5 Oz. Mat.

I used Combo Mat which I had to wet out before I put it on. The advantage of combomat is that the mat and roving are stitched together so when the mat is wet it does not slide off the roving. The main disadvantage is that it is very hard to wet out if you apply it with the mat side down. Another disadvantage I found is that it does not conform to compound curves as well as separate mat and roving does.... Anyway it is done.

Next came glassing the outer side of the Starboard outer stringer in the aft cabin. This is the last bit glassing to be done on the stringers. Seems like I have been working on them for ages.
The last bit of glasswork before building the secondary stringers  was to finish glassing in the aft starboard side of the aft engine room bulkhead. That got another 3 layers of 1708 biax plus 1 layer of 1.5Oz. Mat. I also made and installed the limber hole to drain any water from this area into the engine room where it can find its way to the bilge. I make a fiberglass tube by wrapping 1708 biax around a PVC pipe covered in wax paper. After it cures I drill a hole through the bulkhead for the pipe. Then I seal it in with resin thickened with grinding dust. That way I know that the water does not get into the stringers like before.
I laid out and cut all the secondary stringers this afternoon. Hope to glass them in tomorrow, weather permitting.

Aft Cabin Port side Stringers done

Progress was held up by outside work for the last two weeks. Before that I was able to fit the stringers in the right locations. Some of them line up with bulkheads that I will glass on top of them.

I started glassing them in last weekend and was able to finish them up today. Each stringer has two double layers of 1.5Oz mat+ 24 Oz. Roving. They are solid and several will get a bulkhead glassed on top as well.

 
They sure look a lot better than what I tore out. They are much stronger as well. The old ones were only 1-1/2" tall and about an inch or so wide with straight sides. The new ones are 2" tall with a 60 Degrees slope to the hull the average width is about 2 inches, they are 1" wide at the top.

I was also able to strengthen the aft side hull to bulkhead glass work on the aft engine room bulkhead I added 3 layers of 1708 biax cloth plus one layer of 1.5Oz. Mat.

Tomorrow I will move all the tools from the starboard side to the port side and tear all those stringers out. Onward!!

Removed Port Secondary Stringers and Glassed Outside of Port Outer Stringer

I got started on this project last night by cutting and grinding all the crummy secondary stringers out on the port side in the aft stateroom area. I figure I will never able to get at them again and they were really poorly done.



Here is a piece of one waiting for the trash man. If you look closely you can just see a very thin layer of glass over the foam. I was planning to just glass over them but they were so misshaped and poorly glassed in that I figured it would be easier and certainly stronger to remove them and start over.

So the removing part is done, complete with a good complete grinding of the whole area. Most of the glass work that was holding the secondary stringer in just pulled off the hull in pieces. The fresh glass work you see if the final glassing to the outboard side of the outer Port Stringer.

Here is a better shot of the forward part of it. I added 2 layers of 1.5 Oz. Mat and 24 Oz. Roving. The glass runs over the top of the stringer -down the side and out 6 inches or so onto the hull.

Here is the aft end of the same stringer.

Here is a closeup. You can plainly see the foam fillet I added at the junction of the hull bottom and the stringer. Makes for stronger glass work. I added about 1/4" to the thickness off the glass work on the sides. The glass work I did when building the tanks in came up and over the top of the stringer. Then when I glassed the top of the tank on it too went over the top of the stringer Now this final glasswork laps over the top of stringer as well. So the glass is about 3/8" think on the top of the stringer, very solid now.

One final shot of the very aft end of the stringer. So I am back to the aft end of this stringer again. I have re-glassed the entire length of this one and the greater part of the 2 main stringers. Only the starboard outer stringer in the aft cabin area is left and all the stringers will be done.