And so it begins

Aug 20, 2010
1,399
Oday 27 Oak Orchard
Hey, those hands aren't old, just well used and abused. Point well taken jibes. Mildew is a symptom of a larger problem. Anybody have any comment on the solar powered circulating fans that look like a small turtle usually installed on the forward hatch?
 
May 30, 2006
351
Oday 34 Chesapeake Bay
Yes, they're expensive, the batteries last only a few years, the bearings of the motors get noisy within a year.

Other than that, they're fine, just purchased my second set. WM currently has the 4 1/2" Nicro on sale for a few days.

I know that I should go with the passive cowl vents but really hate to break up Karma's lines with them on top of dorados. I snag enough stuff on deck already.
 
Jan 27, 2008
3,086
ODay 35 Beaufort, NC
The only thing I use a turtle for is my beer turtle. If I remember I'll send you a picture. It looks just like a turtle, you put it on top of your mug and pour a beautiful black and tan. A wonderful device from some craftsman. The mouth of the turtle is a bottle opener, an added feature included at no extra cost. Just thinking about it makes me want a Guiness and Bass Ale.
 
Jan 27, 2008
3,086
ODay 35 Beaufort, NC
Regarding Karma, I see an O'Day around Beaufort a lot named Karma, are you the same boat or are there two of you?

My boat already had the Dorades when I bought it. I pulled out the cowl vent on one of them and the solar vent pops right into the hole. So I have active and passive both. After three years or so the battery still works and I haven't heard the fan make much noise. I also crack my front hatch just a slit so air can be drawn into the v-berth. My fan is on the exhaust setting so it pulls air in from the other cowl and from the hatch and any other leaks like the companionway boards. Seems to work very well. I don't have air conditioning and don't intend to get it. I just use fans on the boat. In the summer heat you really need to keep air moving in the boat.
 
May 30, 2006
351
Oday 34 Chesapeake Bay
Must be two of us, I've yet to venture out of the Bay.

I must confess that to keep the Admiral happy, I've gotten a portable AC. Tis nice to step below into cool for a cool one after tucking everything away on deck after a sail on those hot summer days.
 
Oct 7, 2008
379
Oday Oday 35 Chesapeake Bay
I'd like to get AC this year but its not in the budget. That active fan in the dorad box sound interesting. Where do you get such a thing? Is it a self contained battery operated unit?
 
Jan 27, 2008
3,086
ODay 35 Beaufort, NC
It is just a standard solar fan made by Nicro. The diameter of the mount exactly fits the dorade after you take out the cowl. It overlaps the dorade box a bit and looks like hell but it works fine and you can just pop it in and out as you see fit. So if you are goind sailing you might want to put the cowl back in, if there is zero wind pop in the solar fan.
 
Aug 20, 2010
1,399
Oday 27 Oak Orchard
I'm dying here. The fairing is complete and the barrier coat goes on tomorrow. That was one hell of a lot of sanding touching up and resanding. The Maximum Accuracy Gauging light or maglight for short showed no shadows. That's a trick out of the Gougeon Bros. Fairing and Finishing guide. So anyway with all this work restoring, back to our current discussion. Preventing stagnant air and the other things that go with it. I wonder if these fans could be used in conjunction with the blower dorades and ducting on the 27? Not to pull out the existing bilge blower but as an auxiliary system in parallel. After all the work it would be nice to keep everthing fresh for several years. And a few pics of the fair deck for grins.
 

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May 30, 2006
351
Oday 34 Chesapeake Bay
Sorry 25YL, there you are working your butt off sanding and we're casually discussion ventilation. Photos look good. You mention barrier coat, I'm presuming that's for the hull not the deck?
 
May 30, 2006
351
Oday 34 Chesapeake Bay
Ventilation

Concerning using the bilge blower system for two purposes, it may be more trouble than its worth. I guess that you'd have to install a damper or do something to insure that bilge air didn't blow back through the fresh air ducting. If you had more fresh air intakes than cabin air exhaust the positive pressure would naturally go somewhere.

I'd kinda want to keep the two systems independent but you guys are pretty creative maybe I'm missing something.

I've just got a 1000 cfm day/nite fan in the V-berth on intake and one in the main cabin on exhaust together they do ok with minimum "snag-ability".
 
Aug 20, 2010
1,399
Oday 27 Oak Orchard
I was thinking along the lines of the Nicro cowl vents you had mentioned that are solar powered. I can't say for certain as I just finished barrier coat #2 so I can't get on YOT right now but I believe blowers draw air out? Using the minivent on the other side and a damper to exhaust from the cabin, the airflow should be drawn in from outside via the companionway which doesn't seal anyway. When the blower is running the minivent would be the fresh air intake or the exhaust as the case maybe. The idea of a fresh boat is very appealing to me. Like you Cal I'm a big proponent of a clean deck with few snags. How to achieve both should be an interesting project.
 
Aug 20, 2010
1,399
Oday 27 Oak Orchard
AAAnd a functional, if not very pretty, deck has been achieved. By that I mean three coats of epoxy applied with a urethane roller are now applied giving the portside a moisture barrier. The last coat I colored to provide a background for the forth coming gelcoat and nonskid. The downside is with a super smooth deck the imperfections in the starboard side are glaringly obvious. So let the warmer weather be here as gelcoat hates the cold.
 

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May 30, 2006
351
Oday 34 Chesapeake Bay
Hey, could you post a picture of the tented boat.. It never occurred to me that you had built scaffolding all around the boat to work on it.
 
Aug 20, 2010
1,399
Oday 27 Oak Orchard
Glad to oblige. I couldn't see myself moving a ladder back and forth every few feet so I had to build a cheap scaffolding. Also with the exposed balsa core I had to keep everything super protected lest it get soaked. So I picked up a few 2 X 4s and a cheap tarp to keep the weather away. I also use a smaller tarp to keep the boat covered for double the protection. I used the cradle as the base for all the other stuff as this isn't going to move. The ladder can be moved fore or aft and the other board bridge from the basic frame to it to make it easy to cover long areas efficiently. The height works out pretty good but a face sheild and dust mask are a necessity for the machine sanding, grinding or using the router as it is very close to face level. It does make it nice for the up close staring to check the work though. I honestly don't believe I could have made the progress as quickly as I have without it.
 

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Jan 27, 2008
3,086
ODay 35 Beaufort, NC
Way better than working on your hands and knees! Two thumbs up for 25, keep up the good work and we will promote you to 26. The deck looks great.
 
Aug 20, 2010
1,399
Oday 27 Oak Orchard
Thanks jibes. The tough part will be to exactly duplicate what I've done on the port side on the starboard side. It could well be 26 years as the temp is 26 degrees and six inches of new snow today.
 
Aug 20, 2010
1,399
Oday 27 Oak Orchard
Pour me a warm one jibes the weather is going the wrong way. With the temps a balmy 17 and 18 by night and a toasy 25 during the day I can't do much but regale folks with tales of yore. Other than that, some things can be accomplished. Anyone want to guess the weakest part of an Oday? Yes the sliding hatch on the main companionway wins the prize. Step on that sucker and pow cracks it right down the middle. Hey it wasn't me but a PO. So with trusty grinder the 12 to 1 bevel ground on the inside and a build up with epoxy and three layers of my trusty +/- 45 knytex and hurray and oh joy it's fixed. Now somone in another post asked a while ago how to fix the razor edge, years of sliding that hatch produced. With some epoxy thickened with 404 high density filler layed on the sanded and cleaned surface provides a good base. Sand it and in this case I'm using the 0/90 knytex to improve the thickness and distribute the load. Nothing fancy here. I am also filling the weave, (even though it's not woven but stitched together) with 406 colloidal silica. That stuff is super smooth after sanding and wears like glass. That ought to give it another 30 some odd years. So here's a peek at the curing hatch in the basement where it's warm and as soon as it hardens just a bit more out comes the razor for a quick trim. Aaaayund, later this week I'll be showing how to dispatch with those pesky hidden lifeline stantion nuts without elaborate backer plates and holes carved in the cabin liner.
 

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Aug 20, 2010
1,399
Oday 27 Oak Orchard
As I promised another way to free ourselves of pesky hidden stantion nuts without hacking the bejeepers out of our liners. Introducing the T Nut often confused with the peanut or coconut but radically different in form and function. These are 18-8 stainless steel and available through most any industrial hardware outlet, in this case Mcmaster-Carr. I clipped the prongs by about 1/3 as they only provide a means to prevent turning and any excess might well split the epoxy. With 3/4 inch holes bored in the deck, as this is the flange diameter, the core material was carved out by 1/8 inch on a side using a modified roofing nail mounted in my Dremel. I lined the holes with knytex as the tabbing at the cabin liner has been compromised and the epoxy would leak into the cabin if not for a seal which the cloth provides. Don't bore the holes so deep as to cut through the inner deck skin. The nuts are 1/2 tall so anything more for depth is excess. So wet out the holes with epoxy and thicken the rest with 404 high density filler. Attach the nuts to the stantion base with screws slighly longer than the nut height in this case 5/8 inch. Wax the stantion bottom and the screws prior to assembly of the nuts. Use screws that provide a good means of extraction, here I am using socket head cap screws that use an allen wrench. If the epoxy grabs you'll be glad you didn't use phillips heads. Fill the holes with the thickened epoxy, not too thick or it won't settle in around the nut, and using the outboard screw holes as guides set it slowly in place. Soon as it's cured I'll post more pics of the end result.
 

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Aug 20, 2010
1,399
Oday 27 Oak Orchard
Amendment! Holy chirping crickets. After heat curing, the screws backed right out and a bump with the heel of my hand and the wax worked for releasing the base. After a quick sanding and reattaching of the base I was able to hang off the thing without so much as a creak. This is definately our answer to hidden nuts and elaborate backer plates. The only way these will break free is to tear out a huge section of deck and with epoxy encapsulation no sealant required as the core is isolated as well as the bottom of the nut is sealed.