A dutchman is a piece carefully fitted to replace a damaged area, ideally undetectable to the eye. As opposed to a non-flush repair I suppose.
A mousehole is just a bigger limber hole. OK, those are not mouseholes, they are his and hers racoon holes! Same principles apply though, you are simply removing a long rectangle rather than the area directly below a single bored hole. I would bore holes in the top corners of each rotted area with a hole saw, and cut from one end of that hole down vertically to the hull, and join the two holes along the top. You will have a rectangle with rounded top corners. The radius in those corners helps avoid the stress concentrations and fractures that occur with sharp corners. The mouse hole is the same thing, just much smaller, with one hole only, expanded into an inverted U. If that makes sense... You could use the piece you cut out as a template for a "dutchman" repair piece, but leave a mouse hole at either end for drainage and ventilation if desired. Make sense? Or, as others suggest, make it removable for future access. whatever you do, sand every edge to smooth round corners and epoxy the heck out of it. For cutting consider an oscillating tool like a Fein, with a circular bimetal blade. (where has this thing been all my life???) This is the boat repair guy's friend, second only to the angle grinder.... Dave Subject: Re: Stus-List Rot in non-structural bulkhead - thoughts? Message-ID: <CAHixY6T-+S0i4EsF_cicS3Nm==O3+SELwYyX5GVe47KZPu=k...@mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" @Dave, I think you're probably right. Water could have gotten onto the battery ledge from condensation or past engine leaks (the exhaust run was replaced a few years ago, maybe the reason was that it was leaking). A cup or so of standing water would just sit there until the next time the boat was sailed on a port tack or motored in waves enough to induce roll. I think I should also drill some limber holes at the back corners of the battery ledge. Thanks for the tips, I'm new to things like this, hadn't even thought of the hole saw trick for starting a cut. I didn't really understand your mouse hole idea though. The rotted area (tested tapping a screwdriver) is one section about 4" horizontal at the base by 2-3" high, and the other section about 12" horizontal and 6-8" high (a very large mouse hole). What's a "dutchman"?
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