New Chainplates

My previous post showed the repair to the port bulkhead.  The repair provides good compression strength but virtually no tensile strength.  In order to distribute the load from the port side of the rig, over-sized chain plates have been constructed.  The intention is to distribute the load to areas of the bulkhead that are solid and have the strength to take the load.  The load is transferred from the bulkhead to where it is tabbed to the hull.  The photo below shows the new chainplates constructed of 1/4" 304 stainless steel, and backing plates constructed of 1/4" G-10.  The original starboard chainplate and backing plate is shown on the left.  The center shows the new starboard chainplate and backing plate that are extended for one additional pair of bolts through the bulkhead.  There is no problem on the stbd side, but this provides extra insurance.  The right side shows the new port chainplate and backing plate.  Note the plate has been extended down similar to the starboard plate, but also widened about 6 inches since the two upper bolt pairs go through the bulkhead in the repaired section.

The new chainplates and backing plates were coated on the bulkhead side with a thin film of silicone caulk applied with a squeegee, then allowed to cure.  The purpose of this is to compensate for any surface irregularities in the bulkhead and act as a gasket that will help transfer the load to the entire surface, rather than relying on the through bolts for taking the load.  Since the caulk was allowed to cure before installation, the plates should be easily removable in the future.

Below are pictures of the new chainplates and backing plates installed.  The tongue extending through the deck was coated with caulk before being inserted through the deck so that a good seal would be formed.  Once in place, the though bolts were tightened and the topside area caulked and cover plate screwed in place forming a good seal. 

More Core Work, Bulkhead & Electrical too

I have multiple projects going on now. In addition to the recore effort under the port primary winch, I am fixing the forward bulkhead where the port chainplate area got wet. I am also replacing the 12VDC electrical panel and am cleaning up wiring.

Continuing on the recore effort.  I was able to save the top skin removed from the area under the winch.  This was cleaned up and the bottom sanded so it could be bonded over the new core.  I ended up cutting too close to the rail, and didn't realize there was and angled lip molded where the core ended.  Thus I ended up with a 2nd cut that resulted in about a 1.5" strip.  The photo below shows the skin being bonded to the replaced core.  I used paint cans for weight and vacuum bagged to create pressure for holding the skin down while the thickened epoxy cured.

The plastic from the vaccum bag was removed the next weekend and the area sanded.  Thickened epoxy was spread to create a rough faired surface.  At this point the area is now sealed for the winter.  I still need to drill and epoxy fill the holes for the winch and genoa track.  In the spring i'll sand, do final fairing and shoot with gelcoat.... unless I get warm weather before then.

The next area being worked is the wet bulkhead under to port chainplate.  This was discovered last spring when I pulled the chainplates to epoxy isolate the deck area around them.  When I tightened the bolts through the bulkhead, the liner on the bulkhead forward side cracked from the compression.  This fall I removed the chainplates, then made a cut with the Fein Multimaster tool into the aft side of the bulkhead surface.  The area was found to be wet on the inside.  I dug this out about 6 inches on either side.  The cut was extended to the 2nd set of holes where the core was dry.  I dug out the wet plywood and used a heat gun to dry the area.  The approach is to inject epoxy to the area to give it compressive strength.  There will be virtually no tensile strength, so the chainplates will be extended so they can attach to solid bulkhead.  The load on the bulkhead is transferred to the tabbing along the bottom and sides.  There should be no load on the top of the bulkhead, as the deck is supposed to float over the bulkhead.

The area was masked and a series of tape strips spanned across the cut to create a dam to hold epoxy before it cured.  I also taped a clipboard over the area to keep it flat.  Thickened epoxy was mixed and injected with a syringe to fill the area.  It was about 50 degrees and I thought the epoxy would take a long time to cure..... However, there was enough volume to create a critical mass of epoxy.  I had a small nuclear reactor as the epoxy reached critical mass, kicked and started to smoke. 

The result after the masking was removed is shown below.  You can see the epoxy cracked when it kicked.  If I was trying for a combination of tensile strength and good looks, I would grind it out and redo it.  But this area will be covered by the new expanded chain plate, so I don't care how it looks.

Moving on to electrical work now.  I will be replacing the DC distribution panel with one that has circuit breakers and includes a meter to monitor voltage for each battery and the DC bus.  It will also monitor the current for charge/discharge on the batteries.  In order to properly attach the remote monitoring, ABYC standards require that the connections near the battery be fused.  I am taking the time to clean up the rats nest of wiring, both at the battery area, and behind the DC panel.   One of Rhapsody's co-owners (also the previous owner) installed a DC meter panel next to the battery switch.  Since this is no longer needed, it will be replaced with the fuse panel that is now needed. The photo below shows the old meter panel removed.  There is also a meter above this connected to the output of the battery disconnect.  I an removing this and replacing it with a Rule Bilge pump fuse/switch panel.

The replacement panel is cut from Starboard and sized so it will cover the hole cut for the old meter panel.  I also made sure that the electrical hardware mounted on the panel clears the outline of the existing cut.  The panel dimensions and hole locations are shown below.

The replacement panel front side is shown below.  I used a Brother label maker to create the labels.  Note that the "hidden" inline fuse that feeds the DC main to the distribution panel is being replaced with a 40 amp push to reset circuit breaker.  There will be no hidden fuses.  There is a battery charger installed on Rhapsody.  The inline safety fuses near the battery are being replaced by fuses on this panel.

The panel is pre-wired with soldered connections so that only the wires on the boat side need to be attached.  The circuit breaker has screw terminals.  The fuse sockets have push on blade connectors.  All the wires are labeled.

Fall 2012 - More Core Projects

Rhapsody was hauled on 19 October 2012 for the season.  There are a bunch of projects that will be done this year.  The forward hatch was replaced by a Lewmar 60 Ocean Series model to replace the one that cracked on the last race of the season.  Previously on my blog I posted the moisture meter survey done in October 2008.  It showed the area around the port primary winch as wet.  I noticed this season that when the winch was under load, the deck flexed and I could see light under the aft end of the winch.

Port Primary Winch Area

I decided to take care of this problem early before the cold weather set in.  So, two days before Hurricane Sandy, I decided to remove the winch and make the cuts to correct the problem. The first picture shows the area under the winch. The holes were not epoxy isolated, but filled with silicone caulk.  The area outline pretty much corresponds to the area shown as wet with the moisture meter.  I decided to try and make an area that I could cut out and potentially reuse the skin with the non-skid pattern if I was successful in removing it without damage.

Outline Cut to Remove C

In the second picture a cut around the outlined area was made with a Fein Multimaster.  I also opened  an area under the winch so the chisel saw on the Fein tool could be used to start cutting core from the skin.  I also decided to leave the genoa track in place and work beneath it.  I pried the skin away from the core a little at a time while chiseling to remove the bond to the skin.

Core Removed

The third picture was taken after I removed all the core.  The core was not as bad as the area where the transom and stbd side below the waterline was recored.  This is where I stopped on Saturday afternoon, then taped up the area with plastic to protect it overnight.

Trial Fit New Core

On Sunday morning I returned with the materials and tools to do the recore work.  A friend gave me a piece of 40 year old marine plywood that was hard as a rock.  I decided to use under the winch and genoa track this since it was free, and readily available.  The remaining area would be recored with balsa I had left over from the transom and stbd side recore effort.  I created the puzzle pieces that would fill the area to be recored.  Once these were cut to shape, I masked off the area with plastic sheet and tape.  I mixed up batches of West Systems epoxy thickened with colloidal silica.  This was mixed to a mayonnaise consistency and injected using a syringe into the void areas along the edges, particularly by the stanchion base.  I mixed up batches of 6 pumps epoxy/hardener in plastic cups, as this gave me enough to work with but not too much so the mixture would kick in the cup.  It required 6 batches to cover this area.  I spread it using a disposable chip brush.

The final picture of this post shows the core and marine plywood bonded.  The B notation indicates bow and C notation indicated center when I made the puzzle pieces.  The map I used is also shown so I could figure out what order the pieces should be bonded into place.  Note that the area outboard was strengthened with fiberglass tape since I wanted to keep the edge by the deck joint structurally stiff.  I made sure to put a skim coat of epoxy over the entire surface so if the plastic taped on for the hurricane blew off, the core would stay dry.  Now if we didn't have this damn hurricane, I could finish the job!  More to be posted after next weekend.

New Core Bonded

Spring 2012 Final Launch Preps

The spring temperatures cooperated allowing many of the items on the Rhapsody work list to get accomplished early. The Rhapsody decals had become chipped since they were put on in 1996.  Thanks to my brother-in-law Larry who owns a laser cutter, I was able to send him a file with the font and desired letters.  This was accompanied by a wax paper tracing of the old letters and a scraped piece of the old decal for color match.  Below shows the new decal squeegeed on with the mastic still in place.  The mastic was removed the next day, and the area waxed.

New Rhapsody decal

The bottom was painted with VC Offshore using a foam roller.  All but the bottom of the keel is done.  This will get done when the boat is put in the sling the night before launching.  I found the roller almost as effective as spraying, but more efficient on pain usage than spraying.  There is more wet sanding using the rollers to get the same finish.

Bottom painted

This is the result of wet sanding with 320, 400 then 600 grit, followed by burnishing with bronze wool.  The brown color is residual sanding artifacts.  The bottom feels very smooth and has a mirror like finish.

Wet sanded and burnished

I've tried a number of things to prevent growth on the prop.  This year I'm using the cream you put on a baby to prevent diaper rash.  It has a high Zinc Oxide content and is greasy as hell.  I remember what a pain it was to wash this stuff off my hands when we used it on our kids.  I'll see how it works on the prop and shaft this year!

Baby Butt Cream on Prop

Here is a nice picture looking down the stbd side of the hull. The shiny finish is from two coats of 3M Finesse wax, all hand buffed, then covered with Teflon finish and hand buffed.

Shiny!

The area in the stbd cockpit that was recored is now finished.  I elected not to do a "permanent" finish since the plan is to redo the entire topside finish in a couple of years.  This was sprayed using a Preval sprayer and a match as close as possible to the existing deck color.  The traveler area was sprayed at the same time. It looks good, but not a perfect color match, which is kind of difficult when you have 30 year old Gelcoat.  Note all the newly finished teak.  Those cockpit toe rails have 11 coats of Epifanes Wood Finish Gloss.  The traveler is greatly simplified since the windward sheeting car is installed.  The outboard cleat is used to lock the traveler in place when the boat is stowed, or is needed in light air chop.

Simplified traveler, finished stbd cockpit & refinished teak

Here is a good view of the traveler with the windward sheeting car.  After I took this picture I noticed the junk on the deck I left from polishing the stainless rails. 

Windward sheeting, refinished teak

The mast wedges were removed and lines tied around the base of the mast to allow positioning so that Spartite could be poured.  I needed to provide lines to pull the mast forward and to starboard.  It was centered using a sight line from behind the boat.  The sight line was a string on a step ladder that was sighted to align the keel bottom, top of keel, rudder pins, with the base of mast and top of mast. I found the area under the mast boot to be pretty messed up, so ended up sanding that area both on the mast, and through the deck.  This was cleaned with acetone and then coated with Vaseline as a release agent so the Spartite wouldn't stick to it.

Setting up to reposition mast

The mast step is exactly 1 inch back from the molded lip at the base.  The front of the mast was positioned exactly at 11 ft 6 inches from the stem per class rules.   This required that the mast be pulled forward at the deck using a block on the bow, and a line run back to the primary winch.  The line on the stbd side was run through the #3 jib block, back to the stbd primary winch.  Note the lip on the deck around the mast. 

Mast exactly 11.5 ft from stem

The mast slot was filled with closed cell foam and covered with modeling clay so liquid Spartite wouldn't run out.  A block was made using modelling clay filling the void around the mast from below decks. A Spartite "mold" was made with modeling clay and masking tape around the top so a new boot was formed.  

Spartite poured

This is the cured Spartite that will eventually smoothed and painted to match the white mast.  There is some cleanup to do at the base of the mast, but overall it didn't turn out too bad.  The masking tape did not peel off the Spartite cleanly, so I'll try solvents or just scraping it later.

Spartite cured

Traveler, Handrails & Chainplates

It's been a while since I posted. I'll start with the traveler. The existing Harken traveler was mounted on a wood base that extended it over the recessed area that the original stock J/30 traveler fit in. This had the problem of the control lines sometimes getting caught in the space between the wood base and the forward and aft edges of the recessed area. The area also collected dirt, grape, cheese, crackers, whatever. The old wooden mount was removed. I measured the recessed traveler area and determined that the void could be filled using a 2 x 3. I ended up using two 1 x 3 Red Oak boards. These were planed to fit and the bottom edge rounded to account for the rounded edges in the recessed area.

I covered the top surface of one piece with fiberglass tape using neat epoxy.  This is merely to seal the wood surface that will be exposed, prior to covering with Gelcoat.

I made an aluminum template to capture the position of the existing holes that mounted the traveler.  This was used to drill the holes in the new wooden base so they would align precisely with the existing holes on the deck.  You can see in the photo below an alinement check of the bolt holes on the template.   I brought the template home and drilled the wooden pieces on my work bench.

Template Trial Fit

All of the pieces laid out on deck can be seen in the photo below.  Ultimately the aluminum template will be used inside to spread the load between the nuts and washers that mount the traveler. 

All the pieces

The photo below shows the trial fit of the wood pieces.  You can also see where I recored the stbd side.  This will be covered with Gelcoat at the same time when I Gelcoat the traveler mount.

Trial Fit Wood Pieces

The chainplates were removed and cleaned up with a scraper and wire brush.  This provides access to the holes in the deck so they could be drilled out and epoxy isolated.  The port side was dry on the deck, but the stbd side required that core be dug out, dried with a heat gun, and injected with thickened epoxy.

Chainplate

Below is a picture of the stbd chainplate hole that has been epoxy isolated and sprayed with Gelcoat.

Chainplate Deck Opening

The area below deck where the chainplates bolted to the bulkhead was cleaned up.  The stb side had no problem even though there was wet core in the deck above.

Stbd Bulkhead

The port side below showed signs of stress cracks and the upper part of the bulkhead compresses when the chainplate fasteners were tightened.  This will be put on the work list for next year.

Port Bulkhead Cracked

Some additional epoxy isolation on deck was done in the cockpit area.  Each of the locker hinge mounts was over-drilled and epoxy filled. The holes were drilled and tapped for a 10-24 that will replace the stainless "wood screws" that were previously into the core.

Deck Locker Screw Holes Epoxy Isolated

New teak handrails were mounted.  I taped of the deck and around the teak so it was easier to build a seal using flexible caulk.  You can see the teak bungs inserted before being cut off and sanded.

New Teak Handrails

 

Winward Sheeting Car Upgrade

I took advantage of Cyber Monday and ordered a windward sheeting car kit from Layline.  They had great prices with free shipping, no sales tax, and when I called Henry Mallard a former J/30 owner answered the phone.  I like giving business to those who support the J/30 class.  Layline contributed stuff for the 2008 J/30 North Americans.  Before ordering, I went to the Harken service place in Newport and met with Mike Lee who helped me determine exactly the parts I needed.  He was able to give me the part numbers based on the car and end caps I brought in.  I ordered the following parts to upgrade my ancient Harken traveller:

• Harken 1637 CB Windward Sheeting Adapter Kit
• Harken 1561 Midrange Car standup kit 
• (3) Harken 1526 5/16" Torlon Balls (qty 25 per pack - 60 balls needed)
• Harken 7875 One Drop Ball Oil

There were two sets of double cheek blocks screwed to the original car.  The screws were Loctite in place so required an impact wrench to break them free.  The car kit comes with a tube of Loctite.  Below is a picture of the assembled windward sheeting car - forward edge shown.

 

Note the blocks on the forward edge allow running 3:1 or 4:1 purchase for traveler control.  The view below shows the aft side of the car.  You'll see a black rubber shape in the middle.  This is the standup kit.  It keeps the block with the mainsheet upright and prevents any potential interference with the sliding plate on the car.  Henry Mallard recommended it because some people had problems with the  mainsheet block stopping the plate from sliding, thus preventing the release of the leeward cam.

 

The bearings in the old car were probably original. I figured since the money was spend on upgrading the car, I might as well make sure it slides well on the track.  Harken sells a plastic ball loader that keeps the bearings in place until the car is slid onto the track.  Note that the new series car has captive balls.  The track is interchangeable, but you cant switch the captive versus non-captive balls between the old style and new style car.   The picture shows the path that the ball bearings follow as the car is slid across the track.

This will be installed on the boat in the spring, after I remount the track.

Day 2 - Recore Stbd Cockpit

Continuing from where I left off yesterday, the weather was warm again and supported more core work.  The first thing accomplished was removing the plastic used to squeegee the epoxy, then sanding with 60 grit paper to roughen the surface for a good mechanical bond.  The areas that were punched through on the bottom skin are now fully sealed inside the cockpit locker.

New Fiberglass sanded

 After sanding, I mixed up some Corebond (remaining from the transom recore) and used it to fill in the voids where core was removed around the lip that was cut using the Fein tool.  Corebond was then spread on  the new fiberglass using a disposable notched spreader.  This provides just enough filler to bond the balsa without causing lumps and voids.  Below is a photo with new core bonded.  It was worked in place by hand, and Corebond inserted around the edges with a spreader.

New core bonded

After the new balsa was positioned on the core bond, it was covered with plastic sheet and weights applied with constant pressure for the Corebond to catalyze.  The cure time at 55 degrees was about 40 minutes.  While this was curing, I over drilled and epoxy filled the holes for the hand rails, since these are being replaced over the winter with new Teak - thanks to Charlie Stoddard - Falcon.

Applying pressure during core bonding

Subsequent to curing, the weights were removed and the balsa sanded to make sure the final surface would be level with the surrounding area, since I planned on reusing the skin that was peeled off.

Core sanded / leveled for skin

 To bond the old skin to the balsa, I used thickened epoxy rather than the Corebond.  The Balsa was wet out with neat epoxy using a chip brush, as was the back of the old skin.  Epoxy was mixed and thickened with Colloidal Silica and Adhesive Filler to a mayonnaise consistency.  This was poured in the area and spread with a chip brush.  The old skin was beveled on both the top and bottom edges to allow the epoxy to flow, and permit fairing on the top surface.  The skin was put on top of the new balsa and pressure applied to make sure that voids were forced out.  A plastic sheet was put on the surface and weights applied similar to the method used with the balsa core.  Below is a photo after the old skin was bonded and the masking removed.  That will complete the work until the spring when final fairing, sanding and gelcoat will be applied.

Old skin bonded to new core