What's that rope under the V Berth?

[Bfranchini]

Good evening fellow sailors. I decided to take advantage of the balmy weather here in Montreal (6C!!) and survey the inside of Egret, my 1991 26S purchased last spring.
Since I am planning of adding double batteries under the V Berth I decided to take some measurements to see if I could insert two batteries without cutting off more surfaces. Anyway... I was surprised to find a strange rope running through two fiberglass channels attached to the rear bulkhead of the V Berth.
The rope is knotted on the top but cut at the bottom (see picture) and as it is, it serves no purpose whatsoever. Since it looks like a factory install I assume that at one time it must have served some purpose like, i don't know... maybe holding the whole boat together .
The second mystery is the cut fiberglass where the floor joins the bulkhead just forward of the water ballast. Not only is the false floor in that spot springy but when I reach under it to touch what I assume is the actual outer hull, that too is very springy though, when in the fall I went under the boat to test the hull, it felt hard enough but I'm not sure if I was in the right spot...
I really would like to solve these mysteries, perhaps some of the old timers who have done major surgery in that spot can enlighten me.
Thanks and my apologies for the long winded post.
Bill

 

[Sumner]

The rope I believe was used by the factory to lift the hull out of the mold. Not sure I understand the other area well enough to comment on it,
Sumner
=================================================
1300 miles to The Bahamas and Back in the Mac...
Endeavour 37 Mods...
MacGregor 26-S Mods...http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/endeavour-main/endeavour-index.html
Mac Trips to Utah, Idaho, Canada, Florida, Bahamas

 

[Ron20324]

Perhaps the rope was to give shape to those short stringers- to give some stiffness when fiberglass is laid over it?

 

[Bfranchini]

Thanks guys, I really could use a CAT scan !
Summer might have nailed it but I'm still puzzled by the floor. I'm asking myself how many layers of floor are there before we reach the hull? Impossible to answer without major surgery. I'll probably pour some epoxy between the layers and re glass the floor to the bulkhead before installing the batteries.

 

[MrBill_FLL]

I agree with sumner, lift point for assembly.

The floor of the vberth is the top of the water ballast. its thin. couldn't hurt to build it up.

-I added a layer of mat before I used it for cooler storage.

 

[walt]

I also put my batteries (two golf cart 6V) up in the V berth as far forward as I could get them. It a good place for the weight sailing wise, definitely a great place for balance of weight for trailering. If I had to do it again, I would do the same. I dont remember anything that seemed soft in that area but I did add a piece of plywood over the ballast tank area to distribute the weight of the batteries. The plywood is glued to the hull glass plus I put a layer of glass over the top of the plywood. Epoxy is always the best glue for strenght but in this case Im pretty sure I just used polyester resin at least for the extra layer of glass/resin over the plywood. I did this maybe eight years ago.. Going sailing today, maybe I will take a peek in that area to see if I can find that same soft spot. I also added extra access specifically for the batteries so that its not such a pain to add distilled water.

 

[Bfranchini]

Thks to all
It sets my mind at ease, I just couldn't believe that the hull was so thin. As Mr. Bill suggests I'll build it up some also because I plan to store 2 batteries and additional jerry cans of water.
I really appreciate the help from all of you, thanks. Unfortunately the weather has taken a turn for the worse and the short warm break we had is now only a memory, below zero C temperatures and 40 kts winds! Walt I envy you... the only sailing I can do is ice sailing... I must really find a way of installing runners on Egret or wait till my wife retires and move south somewhere...

Bill

 

[walt]

Eh? In the winter here, they have to print all the road signs in both English and Canadian..

 

[Bfranchini]

I wonder why they even bother, most French Canadians don't even bother reading them, especially lights it gets worse on the lake were sailboats are just obstacles to be avoided.

 

[My Mistress]

The plywood is glued to the hull glass plus I put a layer of glass over the top of the plywood. Epoxy is always the best glue for strength but in this case I'm pretty sure I just used polyester resin at least for the extra layer of glass/resin over the plywood. View attachment 118751

Thanks for the picture. I was looking for a solution for re-mounting my battery bank since the set up that was in the boat was rotting away. I like the idea of bonding a piece of plywood to the hull to reinforce the area.
Is that expandable spray foam around your batteries?

James

 

[walt]

Well.. I didnt look at the batteries.. but I did have a great sail. There were six sailboats out, temp got to about 60F and winds were probably 10 to 15.. really nice day.

The picture I posted earlier is still the best I could find. My two batteries are in the plastic boxes specifically made for batteries. You will eventually spill a little acid in that area (maybe while putting water in the battereis or??) but I didnt want any screw holes in the bottom of those boxes to either corrode the heads of the screws or have a way to leak acid. Before the load distribution plywood was glued/glassed/anchored to the hull tank, I had put some backing plates on the bottom of the plywood so that the eye straps are strong and the plastic box's are just held in place with straps and the eye straps (but with backing plates). For a little extra horizontal stability, I did put in that expansive foam that is both bonded to the hull in the at area and the plastic boxes. Its held up well for all these years with a fair amount of sailing in about every condition you can think of but the boat also has never lived in a area where I have to worry much about that expansive foam absorbing any water.

FYI, with the batteries forward like that (and weight centered), I still put drinking water up in that area but in one gallon jugs. I think I can get about 15 gallons up there of so (more than I well ever need with this boat). I just pull out one or two gallon jugs at a time when needed. I haven't used that capability for years now since Im mostly marina sailing and camping for just a couple nights so good to not be carrying around the weight for something Im not using.

 

[MrBill_FLL]

Even after adding some roving/mat on top of the water ballast, it was soft like a firm waterbed.
I launched and pulled the cooler once to look for something and stood on the top of waterballast in Vberth.

definitely spread the load.
(I had some plastic bread trays, cut to fit, between the cooler and WB.

GL!

 

[Bfranchini]

Sorry, I have been offline for a while but I have been very busy making money to feed my boat!
Walt, how did you connect your batteries, are they in parallel or you have an A B switch and use one at the time? I have been doing some tests charging two similar batteries in parallel with a smart charger and it seems to work, at least in my workshop but I'd like to hear from someone who has actually done it.
Bill

 

[walt]

I only have one 12 volt battery (composed of two six volt golf cart batteries in series) so dont have any switches. If your reason for the two batteries is capacity, doing what I did is the best way. If the reason is to have a backup twelve vote battery, things get more complicated requiring switches and automatic charging of both batteries (ACR) or other alternative complications.

My "philosophy" is that if its easy to pull start your outboard (I have a 9.8 hp and it is easy), your backup "battery" only needs to be whats in your hand held devices (ie, cell phone, hand held GPS, hand held VHF etc). With a single battery, its easier to also know its state since you are only monitoring and charging one battery. I have a battery monitor on my single battery (V, I and integrated I). This this wont tell me "exactly" the state of the battery but its close enough and I like to know my net use by watching that "integrated I" or amp hour reading. A little extra capacity and good monitoring of the battery - you are not likely to have a problem with it.

FYI, you can both charge and discharge the two 12 volt batteries in parallel. Try a search and I think you should find lots of threads on this. I understand this is rare (at least someone told me that.. I dont know for sure) but I did have a problem with a parallel set of 12 volt batteries where one of the two would go through water a lot faster than the other. Both batteries were the same type and age, purchased at the same time. The one that went through water fast also died fast. This may be wrong.. dont know but if I do ever have parallel batteries, I would be checking the water more often than I do with my single battery.

One interesting thing.. if you put some sort of charging device (or a load) on two six volt batteries in series, you know the current in each battery is identical. If you either charge or discharge two 12 volt batteries in parallel, you have no idea what the current in each battery is. If the batteries are identical, the current is likely about the same but even new batteries of same age and type are likely not identical. As the batteries age, the difference may become more pronounced and the current difference larger.. another reason I like the two six volt batteries in series.

 

[Jim 5757]

Totally agree w/Walt re: batts in parallel... It's doubtful that any 2 batteries will be identical, so if they're connected to each other, one will always be trying to charge (or discharge!) the other one. -just my 2 cents worth...

 

[Bfranchini]

Jim and Walt, That was my feeling as well, the moment the current drops in one battery, the other will try to charge it to even it out. As Walt says, I probably don't need the extra Ah since all I have is a couple of iPads, iPhones the VHF and the radio. A 25 watt panel kept the battery topped op nicely but we were only day sailing... I might add a bigger solar panel for overnight cruising and keep the extra battery for my RV