Steven,
Pretty sure you don't risk having the keel fall off without the forward
bolt, as I said I have plans that show only the six larger bolts. I'll
try to get a scan of the large print to put on a Google drive. Appears
to me an after the fact addition to address the smile.
My mast step had about a 3" bow in the center when I went at it, if I
tightened the shrouds it just bowed some more. I didn't have any choice
but to do something with, really.
I used 1/2" and 3/4" fiberglass board for the vertical suppots, for
instance:
https://www.mcmaster.com/fiberglass-boards/structural-frp-fiberglass-sheets-bars-and-strips/thickness~1-2/length~24/width~24-1/
Bit of a PITA to work with, found the best way to cut it is with a jig
saw using diamond grit masonry blades, but it beats laying up boards.
And actually I used a piece of the the above board under the layup of
the mast step, at the bottom it was narrow enough to fit one piece in
that spans the sump, then layed up the cloth/resin on top of it.
Believe it or not, I used 27 layers in a single layup, just to get the
height, was quite a trick in 85deg summer heat. I'm sure you could use
fewer layers. And yes, each layer landed on the side of the hull
adjacent to the span over the sump, just a small tab.
I think you could cut that little strip of fiberglass over the bolt,
it's not structural, just holds up the covering boards. Not sure I
follow you about dropping the sole, do you mean in way of the step and
keel bolt?
And I'll contact you off list, be interested seeing the boat if possible.
Neil Gallagher
Weatherly, 35-1
Glen Cove, NY
On 10/30/2022 3:19 PM, steven.hickel--- via CnC-List wrote:
Thank you so much for all the additional helpful messages on this thread.
Neil, I don't see a way to private message from this thread. My email
is just my first and last name with a period between at Gmail. I'll be
at the boat, Fidelis, at evers Marina all the time till she can launch
and is ready to sail.
Only thing, I need to finish the outside of the boat, since there's
potentially only a couple days to get the boat in the water before the
marina owner, who's the only crane operator at this marina, says he
leaves for the season and the crane gets taken away for good. They're
only taking powerboats here now on, as no crane is required. So, if
one can really be sure the keel won't potentially drop at all in front
if the front keel bolt comes off while in, water, potentially also
letting water in that would be great. Then I could, do this in the water.
Thank you for the extra info, Neil and Dennis. I'm still looking
around to see if I can find some reasonably priced high strength
(epoxy?) fiberglass board to make things simpler. But, seems like
fiberglassing from scratch would be a much better deal.
What thickness/ weight glass did you each use? How much glass and
resin did you end up using?
It sounds like you put the cardboard forms, a box without sides or a
top in the case of the mast support, in the bilge and then started
fiberglassing inside that. Did you tape them to make sure they didn't
move. Did you wrap them in plastic film, so you could peel them away
after?
You just edge joined each strip to the bilge sides to keep everything
flat, instead of trying bending/ tabbing to the sides at all, right?
Also, is there any issue with cutting away that transverse strip of
floor with an access hole over the forward keel bolt and re-attaching
it later, perhaps with screws? In fact, it would be really nice to
drop the sole 2 to 3 inches in the walkway or whatever is possible for
better headroom and cut the floor into pieces that pop in and out for
better access if ever needed - though I don't know if there's a
structural function provided by the floor/ liner that would be
compromised. If feasible, perhaps doing this at the same time could be
a possibility and provide better access? There's also a vertical
wooden floor board starboard of the mast that looks like it's gotten
soft. Would be nice to replace all such wood.
Also, I didn't realize that the mast support is actually all wood
covered in a thin layer of fiberglass until reading the discussion
here. The covering made it look like a big block of resin with a board
underneath it. I'm guessing I could deal with this later. I can only
feel a very slight bit of bowing underneath the support and there's
just some dog eared corrosion on the end of the mast step that can be
seen in pictures.
Thank You!
Hope it never comes to a c&c trawler, Joe.
Hope the sail patches up all right. Charles. My boat was in Maryland
before I had her.
