serious bulkhead rot!

[bugbitten]

I've got the old knee out (that Dremel carbide blade Woody recommended fit right in my Bosch multitool and really cut through the roving nicely). I'll attach some shots of the new knee in rough position, with some cleaning up on the hull still to go. The third picture is of the underside of the deck, where the old knee butted up, but was not attached. I'm thinking about cleaning off the carpeting and epoxying the top of the knee to that area to add strength and to help keep any future moisture from penetrating. Cleaning out the deck rot will have to wait until warmer and drier weather. Any tips on how to keep the holes in the knee for the chainplate (which I've yet to drill) clear while I fiberglass things in? Sorry I haven't had the Shop Vac at the boat to clean up the rotted bits.

John

 

[bugbitten]

I laid out the chainplate on the new knee and drilled the holes using my drill press. I've ordered some 3/8ths inch Delrin rods that I'll stick through the holes while we're glassing the knee in place. They should, I hope, be fairly easily driven out after the fiberglass has cured (anyone have a mold release agent they'd recommend I'd coat the Delrin rods with, to help make them easy to remove?). It should be relatively straightforward, then, to take a fresh 3/8ths inch bit and clean things up for the actual bolts without elongating or skewing the openings. The aluminum backing plates show evidence of holes being redrilled on the original installation, so I may be dreaming that I can do better.

John

 

[woodster]

dont worry about the delrin rod just re drill after the glass is hard you will already have the holes as a guide work looks good john

 

[Jtoben]

Thin coat of silicone should do the trick. We thin coated a custom made wooden plug for our chainplate thru deck holes. Applied a thin layer of silicone, let cure then inserted the plug and glassed around it. When the epoxy cured, we took a hammer and just popped out the plugs. But I also agree that you should be fine re drilling the holes if you have a concern about removing the rods.

 

[bugbitten]

I've already got the rods, so I'll probably try them, although, as Woody says, simply drilling through the fiberglass wouldn't be tough. The new knee is epoxied to the hull with copious amounts of Six10. I'll attach a couple of thrilling shots of that, along with one of the poor boat in the snow and ice. I'm going to sand down the old roving on the hull a bit, and then we'll fiberglass it all in once it gets a bit warmer (my marina's shore-power outlet is eating through my power cord plugs and tripping the boat's 110V main breaker, so the cabin isn't as toasty as I usually have it.) I did put some washers between the chainplate and knee before the epoxy, which should put the chainplate in the same position once it's bolted back on top of the new fiberglass.

John