Oh Joy Resto 02/07/10

[CharlieCobra]

Took a drive up to Oh Joy before the game since I haven't been since last weekend. I scraped some paint aft and applied more stripper. While I was there, I made up another foredeck beam. Then I started checking them for curvature and uniform height across the entire foredeck. I used a very square floor board to measure.

and

They look really close, within 1/16" and dead nuts on three of the four so far.

I then took a look at the Port side deck beams.

A couple of them were a touch too tall and needed some passes on the belt sander which is sitting in the V-Berth at the moment. Another one will need to be redone because it's too short in height by about 1/4".

 

[BobM]

Only one low. That's not bad. Taking a belt sander to the high ones is five minutes of work. Great job! The deck will be back on before you know it.

 

[CharlieCobra]

Yeah but making a new one is about the same 5 minutes. Beside, the curvature on the low one is off and I don't wanna introduce twisting stresses to the decking ply.

 

[BobM]

Are you going to redo the deck as original or do a more updated approach? Many boat builders are essentially just gluing the teak decking to fiberglass deck and skipping the screws altogether. I don't know if there is any benefit in mimicing them somehow to reduce future water intrusion.

 

[CharlieCobra]

There's no teak on this boat, only ply. I'll still screw through the ply to the deck beams because that provides a lot of structural rigidity. However, the ply will be CPES's and end sealed. I'll also coat it thoroughly with Sanitred PermaFlex (basically liquid rubber), including the ends. The house and bulwarks seams will be coated with a layering of PermaFlex/LRB/PermaFlex. LRB, when mixed mechanically, is like caulk. However, it takes about 8 hrs to cure and once cured, never, EVER comes loose unless chemically stripped. I applied some aft to seal a crack prior to pulling the decks. I've tried everything short of "the" stripper to get it loose including other strippers, heat guns and sanding. Nothing touches it.

 

[BobM]

You should definitely mount a plaque somewhere inside with your name and the range of years you performed the resto for future generations. A hundred years from now her new owner is going to need to know who to raise a glass to in salute of your efforts, which certainly seem destined to stand the test of time.

 

[CharlieCobra]

There's an album with records, notes and pictures of her for the last 20 years that goes with the boat, including an original brochure. I'll add my contributions to it and pass it on with her when that time comes. A plaque does sound cool though.