Fruits Of My Labor (A-113)

[ebb]

Hey Tony, I got the proportions wrong, what we were looking at. So you are putting foam back in.

Strange, in all the years I've been mucking about they have not come up with another type of expanding foam than polyurethane. Watch that stuff, the fumes are genuinely lethal, pour and get out of the boat immediately, enjoy your posts, fruits of labor! I've recently used some one part out of an aersol can. Not the same as two part. Befor it settles down it seems to shrink.

It isn't much further down to the bottom at the end of the encapsulated lead, like you say, maybe 8". Since I tanked 338 under the sole and brought fittings out the bottom of the tank aft, which is the top of the ballast, I found the extra depth convenient for turning T's and so forth. It's tight down in there. Also there's just enough room for a small bilge pump and maybe the hose end from the manual. Not much volume tho.

So I'll leave some of the very narrow V going back to the rudder unfilled to gain a couple gallons. The narrow V is suspiciously sloped up at the end of the hull and probably stuffed with unraveled roving and unreinforced plastic. 338 came without Everett's folly tho. Lucky, I guess. Otherwise, without the volume under the sole, tanked, it won't take but a few gallons to put bilge water on the cabin sole!

You know they don't guarantee expanded foam against water intrusion. They say closed cell but water gets in anyway. I asked the guys at TAP, complaining as I do at the quality of products consumer, one suggested mixing styrofoam pellets and epoxy for a filler. I mentioned epoxy exotherm might be excessive, so you'd have to do small batches. It's an untried idea. Maybe cheaper than buying the 2 qt foam kit for such a small space.

[Tony G]

Another day and a little more progress...

Out with the old!

[Tony G]

Yee! 'Pretty sure the EPA won't let me toss those in the dumpster.

We changed the sole under the galley a bit. It'll ride lower and be a little skinnier.

...in with the new.

[Tony G]

Had enough time to squeeze out a set of these today too.

[Tony G]

Thanks to Karen and Jerry ( and Mark A. too) for timely article in Good Old Boat magazine. It is a bit more 'complex' than I had originally planned but I like it much more.

[Tony G]

Ebb, this post is for you. Not a whole lot to look at yet.

The s.s. bolts stick out about 5/8". The outside it ready for a little more fairing compound.

I took CPete's lead and bought some barrel nuts. Each port will get 6 of them to hold the trim piece on inside. The rest of the bolts get washers and nuts to hole the lite in place.

I'm leaning toward butyl as a sealant and then run a bead of whilte 101 around the opening to hide the black. I dunno...that's a ways away yet. things can change here in a day!

[ebb]

Whal arl be hornswaggled!
Believe I got the concept, didn't imagine the outer unframes so smooth. No doubt 'see' it better with the shiney finish coat creating some shape and shadow. And you'll paint the cabin color right up to the lite, right?

Can't see why it won't work - it's truely hydrodynamic - great idea! If I hadn't restored my frames I might steal it for 338. It's real stealth! Got a shot of the molds? You must have said already but what reinforcement if any did you use in the pieces?

Might finish your system with butyl for the mere ease of maintenance (replacement). Don't know what curves you got but they must be like 338's. I'd guesstimate that the lites theirselves have about a 1/4" curve. Curved lex will fit in there like hand in glove.

(Noticed with most sheet material and my piece of 4X8 3/8" lexan that sheets have a natural side they want to curve to. You know, balance the sheet on edge, sight down its length, and lo! there's a side that wants to bend more than the other, imco. Anyway it's that curve that the plastic wants most to spend its life in. Even after a piece is cut small like the window lite and it looks flat, it'll want to take a curve one way best. This curve adds a lot of strength to a flat panel. And I'd guess the natural curve has little stress. You can persuade lexan into more of a curve with hot water, or even weight in the middle of a span for a period of time. My method for 338's. Don't think 1/2" lexan can be 'naturally' bent. Aside from smoke grey lites. 338 will have a lexan main hatch slide and probably drop boards too. All the curves, real & imagined, will be facing out! )

Your window invention is great! Maybe the arguement is that if the butyl doesn't work for some reason you can easily upgrade to something nastier! But the combers will slide right on bye! And those bolts, what are they? 1/4" - and how many? well, Nuttin' is gonna stir them babies.

[dasein668]

I'm leaning toward butyl as a sealant and then run a bead of whilte 101 around the opening to hide the black.

You should be able to find white butyl. I got some at Ace Hardware for something like 2.50 a tube. I used 4 tubes, I think, on Dasein's 4 deadlights, 6 ports, and a couple of odd plastic fittings.