Thursday 14 March 2024

...and even more epoxy.. transom time..

Transom time...  and here's the scene of the crime... 
 

"Fledgling Too" (for that is her name) has a most unusual (but solid) construction..  a hardwood full length encapsulated keel (as we found when I repaired the bottom) and the gunwales are made from lengths of pre-bent, and then welded, steel pipe, encapsulated again in GRP. Strong and robust but you need to keep on top of your maintenance as one crack in the GRP and the water gets in, and the soft steel pipe becomes toast within years, especially in a salt water environment.. and so it was in this case. The rest is good, but the transom gunwale is a massacre scene..  

First job was to find out how much of it was still sound, and then start cutting out the rubbish..  it basically turned out into two repairs, the bigger one on the starboard was the first to get attention.. my plan was to fill to get shape and then epoxy cloth over the shape to strengthen and seal..  

First step find something that mimicked the steel pipe shape - in this case an old broom handle - cut to size, clamped, and then fixed in place with the trusty two part filler..


Clamps off, first sand, ready for some more filler..


Ports side was better - the pipe is sound either side of the rot..


Cut it out to clean (with an angle grinder)..


Piece of broom handle cut to size and fitted, next step was to fill round the edges, sand to shape, and then get both repairs ready for epoxy and cloth.. 


More on this anon..

..and separately, the outboard has had it's 20 hour service - it was a stupid price, but job done, warranty maintained, and it's ready for the new season..

Wednesday 6 March 2024

More epoxy (or "my bottom's done , turn me over matron")

Going to call this part done I think or I'll faff and bodge until two weeks after launch..  (April 12th 9th! by the way 😏)

You may remember the steps/stages.. 
  1. rubbed/sanded down
  2. hole filled with two pack plastic wood
  3. rubbed/sanded down again
  4. cleaned with acetone
  5. two layers of woven rovings wetted with epoxy (yeah I know, overkill, for this job ordinary GRP would do but I'm used to, and already had, some epoxy, and also had the cloth from an old job so went with it) 
  6. rubbed/sanded down again
  7. I had some steel bar in my spares box, cut off about 9", tried to and largely failed to drill a couple of holes of the right size - I went with pilot holes but it took a LONG time to drill - Heaven only knows what this stuff actually is. Either way got a couple on the end, then pre bent the end to fit the contour of the nose. Nailed this into the keel, and then bedded it in with more epoxy this time stiffened up with some micro ballons to the consistency of lemon curd..
  8. rubbed/sanded down again
This one following is the rear of the keel at step 8+. After the last post I mixed up some more epoxy this time with filler, and to the consistency of peanut butter, and slathered it on all round the aluminium sacrificial keel that is now screwed into the keel...  it dried rock hard, but before it went off I wrapped another layer of light cloth into it..  one it held it in place, and two it's another layer of strength..


This was following light sand..


...and this is it 99% done following a sand with the sanding disk on an angle grinder - I mixed up some Milliput after this stage just so I could soften the angle at the front of the plate, and because the stuff is so easy to use... - but that's good to go, it's a tender for goodness sake, not a concourse class Rolls Royce 😁  


...and here's the nose job... again - post epoxy and thickener, but this time pre-light sanding...


...and post heavy sand with grinder flap wheel..  woven rovings need a coat of gel coat really, but they're solid, waterproof and will be painted (and will do)...


Next step is to epoxy primer the bit's I've epoxied, then turn her over to start work on the transom..

Wednesday 21 February 2024

Epoxy, windex's and life jacket stupidity..

Stuff is beginning to happen..  unguents are being splashed around, and tasks are being ticked off..

The big job this winter is #7 "Titivate the tender" - a major suite of fixes to the new to me tender I got half way through the year..  this was, and remains, a major bonus to me as she is far more stable and capacious than the old one so is well worth the time and money to fix a few of the major issues..

First job though was to get her home - much easier to work on in my garage than at the club..

Two of the jobs for the winter can be seen in that picture..  first the obvious one - the coaming at the top of the transom, what isn't so clear is the hole in the rear of the keel where it's been dragged over the years by someone..

Fitted just nicely on Rodders trailer..  

...the other job is at the very front of the keel where again we see a hole, this time due to years of grounding on the concrete ramps we have round here..

Better view of the two main issues mentioned above..

Once in the garage work started straight away...  the nose is all but complete... apologies was so keen to get on with it I didn't take a before picture, but this is after the second day - 
  1. rubbed/sanded down
  2. hole filled with two pack plastic wood
  3. rubbed/sanded down again
  4. cleaned with acetone
  5. two layers of woven rovings wetted with epoxy (yeah I know, overkill, for this job ordinary GRP would do but I'm used to, and already had, some epoxy, and also had the cloth from an old job so went with it) 
  6. rubbed/sanded down again
  7. I had some steel bar in my spares box, cut off about 9", tried to and largely failed to drill a couple of holes of the right size - I went with pilot holes but it took a LONG time to drill - Heaven only knows what this stuff actually is. Either way got a couple on the end, then pre bent the end to fit the contour of the nose. Nailed this into the keel, and then bedded it in with more epoxy this time stiffened up with some micro ballons to the consistency of lemon curd..
  8. rubbed/sanded down again
These following are post step 5/. and pre 6/.




....and this one is step 7/. - the strip is intended to be sacrificial to stop grounding issues going forward..  should last a while!😏 Need to rub it sown again and then we'll see whether I out one final coat of epoxy on, or just call it done..


....rear of the keel is not so advanced...   I want some lighter cloth for this (that's on it's way) as the curves are complex and a lighter cloth will conform more easily but basically the plan is the same as above with the exception of the metal bar, which for this application doesn't require a curve, so allows me to use a fairly solid offcut of aluminium plate - much easier to drill..

Following then are mid step 5/.



Elsewhere on the job list - #11 "Source/fit new Windex.." is half done - got  a bargain online..  same windex I had previously so it's a straight swap, but I'll do it last thing before launch, or even on the water just before putting the mast up 


..but on the regular job list #6 "Service Life Jackets" is complete, but not without the usual stupidity/real life intrusions.. 😏


So just to close this one out with what is hopefully a laugh here's the sorry tale..  so there I am, the jackets unzipped and folded out, unscrew the bottles and weigh them to make sure they're within tolerance of previous year(s) - all good - I then go to screw the bottles bottle back in, to leave for the 24 hour inflation test. What I didn't spot was that on the first one, where I had been manhandling the jacket to blow it up, the striker arm on the firer (a Halkey Roberts) was down, as the yellow ball on the end of the trigger rope was caught behind one of the straps...  cue hissssssssssssssssssssss as it pierced the bottle as I screwed it back in...  buggering thing was the new one I bought last year as well!! 😂

Trigger on the right - gas bottle screws into that hole - in the centre of the hole is the spike on the bottom of the trigger arm - recessed here as the trigger is in the up position..

Now replaced, and both jackets are online and ready for the new season.. 


At some time I really need to think about replacing them I guess, they are Remploy Commodore II manual inflatable life jackets...  no longer made and the label in the sleeve of the vest says they were made in March 1997 - 27 years old...  most people wouldn't think twice, but I have serviced them every single year, the bladders and covers are good, the bottles are fresh/new, and with very few moving parts I trust them implicitly..   I hate waste, but they are old.. 😏

Postscript - if my stupidity wasn't enough this year, I also found out I've done it before [clicky]..  DOH!!