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.