Repairing Hunter 40 damage from Hurricane Matthew
- Thread starter B757Captain
- Start date
Long overdue update:
I've been slammed with various projects -
- hurricane prep for Irma which hit us as a tropical storm. No damage, thankfully!
- boat projects
- a new toy for my birthday:
But this is a boat forum, so on to boat projects!
Finishing up the work on the bow, I wanted to beef up the attach points for the cleats, so I fabbed up some backing plates for the thru-bolts:
The old bolts were corroded, and too short for the backing plates, so new bolts ordered (plus a few extra, the aft cleats might need new ones too):
And everything installed and torqued down:
You might notice in the last pic - the roller furler. Yep, we got the mast back up! I know that for you guys in the northeast stepping and unstepping the mast is a yearly thing, but down here it's a big thing!
So, it doesn't leak, it floats, I could motor down the river if I needed to, and now I could sail it if I had to. It's a sailboat again! (minus a few things yet, of course)
Next up, more portlights!
Cheers,
Mark
I've been slammed with various projects -
- hurricane prep for Irma which hit us as a tropical storm. No damage, thankfully!
- boat projects
- a new toy for my birthday:
But this is a boat forum, so on to boat projects!
Finishing up the work on the bow, I wanted to beef up the attach points for the cleats, so I fabbed up some backing plates for the thru-bolts:
The old bolts were corroded, and too short for the backing plates, so new bolts ordered (plus a few extra, the aft cleats might need new ones too):
And everything installed and torqued down:
You might notice in the last pic - the roller furler. Yep, we got the mast back up! I know that for you guys in the northeast stepping and unstepping the mast is a yearly thing, but down here it's a big thing!
So, it doesn't leak, it floats, I could motor down the river if I needed to, and now I could sail it if I had to. It's a sailboat again! (minus a few things yet, of course)
Next up, more portlights!
Cheers,
Mark
Mark
I have enjoyed following your progress and "it floats" was an excellent entry - looking forward to seeing the final interior and exterior work - and most importantly some pics and video of it under sail. The people worried about insurance and resale crack me up. I love doing the work on my boat (thankfully nothing to the extent of yours) and knowing how things work and their condition helps me enjoy the sailing much more.
Good luck as you finish it out. nice vet
Keith
I have enjoyed following your progress and "it floats" was an excellent entry - looking forward to seeing the final interior and exterior work - and most importantly some pics and video of it under sail. The people worried about insurance and resale crack me up. I love doing the work on my boat (thankfully nothing to the extent of yours) and knowing how things work and their condition helps me enjoy the sailing much more.
Good luck as you finish it out. nice vet
Keith
I used 1/8th x 1 x 6 stainless. I figured that since the bolts are stainless it would be better to have similar materials. If your setup is like mine, the bow cleats are only secured through the toerail via the bolts with a nut and washer. Strong enough for normal use but as I found out a really hard jerk (or five, or seven!) will damage the toerail. I did replace the bolts with longer ones - the port (undamaged) side had enough threads on the original bolt for the new backing plate but he starboard didn't due to the increase in thickness of my toerail repair.
The aft cleats are through-bolted through the deck and have backing plates accessible via the lazarette. I did have one side pull loose so I will probably beef up the backing plates there too.
Cheers,
Mark
Thanks for the insights on the backing plates. I'm over in Beaufort at BYSC. I know in a real blow on the mooring the bow cleats can be a weak link. A boat here had this cleats "rip out" during the very hard blow we had a few months before Hurricane Matthew. He was on the boat and could save the boat by motoring into the river and holding it there until the 30 minute or so blow passed by. I think I'll make the same modification. My toe rails are aluminum anyway so the dissimilar metal already exists. I may use 1/8 inch aircraft Al that I already have on hand.
Mark,Long overdue update:
I've been slammed with various projects -
- hurricane prep for Irma which hit us as a tropical storm. No damage, thankfully!
- boat projects
- a new toy for my birthday:
But this is a boat forum, so on to boat projects!
Finishing up the work on the bow, I wanted to beef up the attach points for the cleats, so I fabbed up some backing plates for the thru-bolts:
The old bolts were corroded, and too short for the backing plates, so new bolts ordered (plus a few extra, the aft cleats might need new ones too):
And everything installed and torqued down:
You might notice in the last pic - the roller furler. Yep, we got the mast back up! I know that for you guys in the northeast stepping and unstepping the mast is a yearly thing, but down here it's a big thing!
So, it doesn't leak, it floats, I could motor down the river if I needed to, and now I could sail it if I had to. It's a sailboat again! (minus a few things yet, of course)
Next up, more portlights!
Cheers,
Mark
What size cleats are those?
I am thinking of adding some mid deck rail cleats by notching and grinding down the vertical portion of my toe rail about half way down the length of the boat, and through bolting some new cleats like the ones on your bow.
Has anyone else done this to their Hunter with the aluminum toe rails?
Thanks Keith, I found the Mod article and linked it below. This is exactly what I wished to do, but with open based cleats like the ones on my bow.
He says he used 10" cleats.
Mid Ship Cleat
This is what the ones currently on my bow look like.
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I have never heard of a 40.5 losing a clear. That outward flange has to be among the toughest parts. One I know did lose the anchor roller and some deck when a whale tried to drag it and a Coral head
The coral head won. I inspected a 410 that lost a cleat and a chunk of bow deck when it tried to continuously lift a concrete mooring during a large storm in Avalon with hurricane force winds and huge seas.
The coral head won. I inspected a 410 that lost a cleat and a chunk of bow deck when it tried to continuously lift a concrete mooring during a large storm in Avalon with hurricane force winds and huge seas.
It wasn't a 40.5 that lost the cleat. It was another manufacturer but I'm not sure what brand.
The bow cleats are the factory 10" aluminum and I had an impossible time trying to find new ones. Originally I was going to replace them since the bolts had corroded in the cleats and couldn't be removed but none of the correct size cleats currently available have the same bolt centers. I wasn't keen on filling and re-drilling the deck so I drilled the bolts out of the cleats so I could reuse them. Not an easy task!. Going back together I liberally coated the bolts with anti-seize compound. Hopefully that will prevent a recurrence.
I like the idea of the mid-ships cleat. Worth considering for mine also.
I like the idea of the mid-ships cleat. Worth considering for mine also.
Running out of cleats while trying to prepare and tie up for Hurricane Irma got me thinking about what I need for future storms. I had to use the genoa cars and snatch blocks on the rail midships tied back to winches. Not an optimal solution. Mid-ship cleats are definitely on my to do list.
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Portlights:
I don't remember if I mentioned it before, but a while back I got a smoking deal from Defender on some Lewmar portlights. Yes, please! Replacing all the cabin portlights has been on the project list for years, ever since I figured out that the originals (Bomar) could not be repaired. They leaked really bad and I had finally siliconed them closed. Now seemed to be a good time to swap them out. Of course the afternoon rain showers that were NOT in the forecast did in fact happen during the swap but I managed in the end.
I'm not going to do a photo op of the install, lots of videos out there showing how. just the highlights:
The stack of boxes became this pile of boxes:
There were a total of six portlights installed.
This pile of old-and-busted:
Became this new hotness:
I converted the center portlights from opening to fixed last year so they stayed. I'm still debating whether to change them out - the replacement Lewmars for that size are really pricey!
Not too difficult to swap them, I lucked out - the old openings were a tiny bit smaller than the cutouts I needed to make. I was petrified before starting this that the opposite would be the case! Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good!
Next up: The smell of paint (or in this case, primer).
Cheers,
Mark
I don't remember if I mentioned it before, but a while back I got a smoking deal from Defender on some Lewmar portlights. Yes, please! Replacing all the cabin portlights has been on the project list for years, ever since I figured out that the originals (Bomar) could not be repaired. They leaked really bad and I had finally siliconed them closed. Now seemed to be a good time to swap them out. Of course the afternoon rain showers that were NOT in the forecast did in fact happen during the swap but I managed in the end.
I'm not going to do a photo op of the install, lots of videos out there showing how. just the highlights:
The stack of boxes became this pile of boxes:
There were a total of six portlights installed.
This pile of old-and-busted:
Became this new hotness:
I converted the center portlights from opening to fixed last year so they stayed. I'm still debating whether to change them out - the replacement Lewmars for that size are really pricey!
Not too difficult to swap them, I lucked out - the old openings were a tiny bit smaller than the cutouts I needed to make. I was petrified before starting this that the opposite would be the case! Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good!
Next up: The smell of paint (or in this case, primer).
Cheers,
Mark