Hull Carpeting *pop

[Olivier17182]

DavidAttached is a photo of my back room finished.What you decide to do should depend on how you intend to use your boat and how much time you spend on board. I am a liveaboard and I intend to go cruising for a few years, so I spend a lot of time aboard!To answer some of your comments:- The bolts at the deck/hull connection are still accessible: all you need to do is remove the top planks that are held by 2 or 3 screws.- The deck/hull join is very strong: I don't see any reason to try to get to it. If you have some leaks, it is easier to get to them from the exterior side of the hull.- I added a beam along the transom to take the reaction of my auxillary rudder windvane, and reinforced the transom to hull joint (highest stress region).- About the extra weight: The extra weight coming from the wood: may be 50 to 75 lbf.The extra weight from the new bronze ports: give another 50lbf. To put numbers into perspective, the O'day 37 carries 1250 lbf of water. If I were to race the boat seriously I would have considered it, otherwise...- The real question is wether you are willing to put in the time (or money) that it takes to do the work. It simply depends how much time you spend on your boat. For us it was REALY worth it.

 

[davidm]

Wood panelling/Ports

Olivier, thank you for the reply and the photgraphI think you have sold me on the wood!I am in the process of putting NFM bronze ports in and have a question on size. In an earlier post you suggested 5x12 for the small ports. NFM have suggested 4x10 to me based on the opening size. Any comments?Where are you now? I thought you were in Montreal but maybe that is my bad memory. I am coming east (through Montreal to Nova Scotia) at the end of August and would very much like to look at the work you have done on the boat.David

 

[Olivier17182]

RE: Wood paneling and ports

David,About the NFM ports: I have used all 5x12 with 5/8" spacer. I also have installed an 8" dia. round port in the galley. All the ports fit perfectly except for the 2 transom ports: I had to grind approx 1/8" off their lower side (exterior rim only) to make them fit.I have also replaced the plastic dead lights of the front V berth with broze ones from www.sailoboatstuff.com. These required a bit of fiberglass work to get a nice fit.I would be glad to show you my boat, but I am located in northern California... Let me know if you are in the area.

 

[davidm]

Port size

Thanks Olivier, my memory was worse than I thought!Did you pick the 5x12 size to make the port openings larger, or was ther no 4x10 when you were ordering your ports?David