South African "Catalina" 22
- Thread starter greg_m
- Start date
Jesus.... Nice work so far. I think you and @CloudDiver are in competition for amount of work done.
Thanks for the comment... I tend to get bored when I do so much work but actually see little progress... so the GAFF gets low some times
The bottom sanding seemed to just go on and on and on... then I decided to go around the sides again remove as much of the old cracked gelcoat but still try maintain the fairness above the waterline... eventually it was time to say enough and move on. The next step was measuring up the hull to sheath it in fiber glass cloth and laminating epoxy.
What is actually missing in the time line is all the work put into separating the hull to deck joint, cleaning it out back to clean fiber glass trying all sorts of tools and abrasive methods, lining it all up again and then bonding it with epoxy adhesive all around the hull deck joint. If you look carefully you will see the joint sealed/bonded forever (I hope!)
What is actually missing in the time line is all the work put into separating the hull to deck joint, cleaning it out back to clean fiber glass trying all sorts of tools and abrasive methods, lining it all up again and then bonding it with epoxy adhesive all around the hull deck joint. If you look carefully you will see the joint sealed/bonded forever (I hope!)
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Then came the task of preparing the transom inside surface for adding the ply wood laminate. I decide to also clean away the under deck back stay laminating wood where the back stay fittings bolt into. This was to replace old rotted wood but also beef up the mountings with 12mm thick pads instead of the old 6mm thick ply wood. this was quite a mission to do, crawling back and forth between access holes, squeezing through the cockpit locker openings etc. This was on 02 March 2017.
Remember the boat is upside down in these pictures
Remember the boat is upside down in these pictures
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I decided to install the new marine plywood laminate in sections as there was not large enough opening to get big pieces through. I also decided to fit a section of 12mm thick ply into the center part of the transom for the rudder support area and then use the 6mm thick ply to laminate the rest of the transom. I made a template of the transom to help size and shape the ply parts. All in all there are 7 parts, one center and three per side.
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I also pre-laminated the faces while parts were laying down to make life easier. Trying to place soggy resin saturated cloth on a vertical surface is not pleasant. The rudder center section went in first followed by the side pieces till all parts were bonded in place. I used thickened resin with glass chopped strands as bonding material. I then used screws through the hull into the plywood with strong backing planks to clamp and hold everything in place while the adhesive cured. After a few days I then glassed the joints and the perimeter of the new wood to transom/hull and filled all my screw holes. This was around the 12th of March 2017.
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Then it was in with the new back stay support pads, bonded in place and then heavily glassed over and into the transom and hull side to spread the loads. This concluded work in the transom for now. Still have to come back a do final finishing touches and a lick of white top coat/gel coat!
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So after final touch up sanding and having a perfect weather day I enlisted the help of my very able and willing neighbour to help me sheath the hull with fiber glass cloth and laminating epoxy resin. I pre-measured the lengths of cloth fabric, three overlapping sections per side and one on top down the center. Worked out to about 36 meters of cloth all together. This was the first time either of us had ever done this sort of thing. One of the wisest choices to start with was to go for the super slow hardener! Man did we need that extra time to get the cloth to behave! The picture make it look much better than it was but the hull was completely covered in the end and I'm hoping that will be the end of any osmosis bubbles in future. Was not really about strength but more about sealing the original porous fiber glass structure of the hull. This process actually took up two full days in the end. Would I do this again... Yes but definitely not in the same way as I did it this time... I opened a whole new world of sanding pleasure for myself
The procedure was to run some cloth tape around the hull deck joint first then lay the cloth lengthwise from the hull center down to the topsides.
The procedure was to run some cloth tape around the hull deck joint first then lay the cloth lengthwise from the hull center down to the topsides.
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After work on the sheathing of the hull was completed I decided to investigate the shroud mounting locations either side of the coach roof. The original fixtures, chrome plated brass u-bolts, were simply bolted through the deck. Unfortunately the guys that resprayed the interior of the boat for the PO did not really do a good job. Missing backing plates were replaced with washers that just tightened up to a point where they crushed the deck laminate and basically made holes on the inside of the cabin under deck mounting areas. My original plan was to simply cut away a large section of the original laminate, clean out the old ply wood and then replace thicker sections of ply wood back and then seal up with layers of fiberglass cloth and resin.
Look what I uncovered...
Look what I uncovered...
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When I opened up that section of deck I then inspected the forward and aft shroud mounting points as well and found the same problem. Rotted plywood that crumbled away like old paper... That then prompted me to take the oscillating tool to the entire starboard side deck! It was not pretty...
The boat is upside down so what you are looking at is the internal lining being cut away, lifted off and then the remaining rotted stuff being removed from the actual deck underside. The core material seems to have been sandwiched between the deck and lining using a glass fiber mash. You can clearly see this was not a true laminated section as essentially the two parts were glued together! Void spaces and gaping gaps galore...
After cleaning away the old rotted materials and then sanding down the remaining deck it actually looked very good. Nothing wrong with the actual glass fiber construction... so the boat is not scrap... just crap! This work was done on 03 June 2017.
The boat is upside down so what you are looking at is the internal lining being cut away, lifted off and then the remaining rotted stuff being removed from the actual deck underside. The core material seems to have been sandwiched between the deck and lining using a glass fiber mash. You can clearly see this was not a true laminated section as essentially the two parts were glued together! Void spaces and gaping gaps galore...
After cleaning away the old rotted materials and then sanding down the remaining deck it actually looked very good. Nothing wrong with the actual glass fiber construction... so the boat is not scrap... just crap! This work was done on 03 June 2017.
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Words actually failed me when I did the same to the port side deck area... well actually the words are probably not allowed to be printed...
See for yourself. The green stuff is the PU foam I injected into the gap between the lining and the coach roof when I was doing the window frame area previously. The whole area cleaned out of all the rot, deck sanded down to good solid fiber glass structure and acetone cleaned. As per starboard side the actual fiber glass structure is solid. Soooo... onto the fore deck section next. remember the boat is upside down... I would not like to have tackled this job otherwise.
See for yourself. The green stuff is the PU foam I injected into the gap between the lining and the coach roof when I was doing the window frame area previously. The whole area cleaned out of all the rot, deck sanded down to good solid fiber glass structure and acetone cleaned. As per starboard side the actual fiber glass structure is solid. Soooo... onto the fore deck section next. remember the boat is upside down... I would not like to have tackled this job otherwise.
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Once I removed the strip of the inner lining around the inside of the hull to deck joint I found that the lining "flange" was needing to go as well. The "flange is marked with the red arrows. This was in order for me to actually glass the deck part to the hull part directly before actually rebuilding the laminate. At this stage I had already cleaned out the hull / deck / lining joint as best I could from outside and had bonded the entire hull deck joint together with epoxy adhesive from the outside of the hull. Now I could get to the joint from the inside... The last phot shows the hull / deck joint before actual cleaning on the inside. This was 12 June 2017
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Ok... so eventually the cleaning was done! Actual reconstruction could now commence. This was for me a huge boost as I had gotten a little despondent during the cleaning stages of the deck. I started the process by filling the void between the deck and hull in way of the joint area with a fillet made from resin/chopped glass/silica "peanut butter". I then covered this fillet with a wide strip cut from CSM fabric all the way along the joint effectively bonding the outer deck skin to the hull skin of the boat. Photos don't really show it all but here is a couple. In the bow section I added a 12mm thick piece of plywood where the bow fittings will attach. The ply wood section was bonded in place with the peanut butter mix, filleted and tabbed in place with the CSM strips and allowed to set/harden for a few days. Due to extreme curve I used the wife's car jack to bend the ply to shape! It worked and came out really solid. Was very pleased with results = further boost to my demeanor!
