Let's just mess around with this here for a moment.
Water, for a number of reasons, mainly because it is the basement of the vessel, will get into the encapsulated ballast keel space - even when the end of the ballast is closed off.
That's not good for a number of reasons. Not only for boats that get pulled and stay on the hard for awhile but also those that stay in the water year round.
Imco you can't close off the ballast keel unless a drain is provided. As you know some have actually installed a simple bronze drain that can be opened when the boat is out of the water.
There could be a good arguement to put that same drain in the bottom of the bilge where you would close off the ballast.
It's a damned awkward place fpr a mechanical drain thingy.
It's also the bottom of the bilge.
Pearson must have seen water captured in the ballast area as a problem and that's why they inelegantly left it open the way they did. I'd agree with them that it's best to keep water out of the bilge and as much as possible out of the laminate.
Foam in place urethane is the same. Water will get in to it. The boats need a sump as deep as the turn of the fiberglass at the bottom to collect water to be pumped out. Water always gets in - need a relatively easy way to get it out.
A dusty bilge will help keep the boat smelling sweet.
Some have filled the space around the encapsulated ballast with two part plastic. Expensive, but it seems to solve that problem. There are some other reasons besides water being stuck in the cavity that imco filling the space is a good thing. Main reason is that adding plastic in there structurally benefits the keel.
Some of our Ariels and Commanders seem to be pretty thin of hull.
The whole weight of the boat sits on it's laminate when on the hard. And it sits right where the ballast is. The ballast does NOT form fit the space it sits in. The only thing that keeps the ballast from shifting is the tabbing across the top! Imco filling the space around the ballast creates a more solid base where all two and a half tons plus are concentrated when in the jacks. That's my arguement.
Painting a barrier coat on the bottom is not strictly necessary for our A/C's.
But it could lead ultimately to a drier boat. If you do go that route then imco the space around the ballast should be filled.
IMCO
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WAY LATER EDIT: I'm sure it has occured to some owners, but there is an important safety issue on whether the lead ballast needs to be
filled/injected with 2-part plastic...or not. If you accidentally get a leak by grinding a hole or cracking the hull in the area of 'encapsulated' ballast that is open to the sump where your pumps are....you have no way of stopping that water from coming in.
A338 also had a large 'hollow' in the turn of the bottom the keel, I mean under the boat where the ballast is, that had been filled with a bondo like substance. It was fairly easy to dig it out - it was not covered over with fiberglass. It was a Pearson created booboo.
Fixed it with epoxy & biaxial matt.
However a flaw is a flaw is a weak area. When on the hard the whole weight of the boat is balanced on this turn of the bilge. This probably led my thinking to epoxy/lead composite...and subsequently over-building the bilge....
C147 showed the same Pearson anomaly. I'm absolutely sure these were considered cosmetic repairs at the factory. They filled in these caves and delivered them to the dealer painted over. It's pretty obvious that the poor souls laminating the hull with live polyester had some concentration lapses pushing wet roving into deep reaches of the bilge. How many other hulls have these flaws?
If you are not filling in the encapsulation void with liquid plastic, then make damn sure the ballast chamber is completely isolated from the interior of the boat.
Looks pretty spiffy, even if maybe not required. I like the idea of an onboard bomb shelter... especially when it only costs a couple bucks and a few pounds.
FWIW, I personally do not think there is much of a need for this but to each their own... so long as we all adhear to the adage 'at least do no harm'
Thanks for taking the pictures and sharing your work.
Well it's been a while so I thought I would post an update.
The economy is taking it's toll on me but I'm still able to squeeze out some money here and there for the boat. Until recently the weather outside was so hot and humid that I spent time working in the wood shop which I could cool until the weather finally cooled down outside.
All the wood topsides will be new in this stage of the restoration. And I have most of the pieces fabricated to the point where final fitting, sanding and finishing remains. The new coaming boards are cut and fit but I want to inlay a reinforcement where they tend to crack at the inside corners where the board goes from the deck down into the cockpit itself. They are currently buried in my woodshed and I have not yet taken a picture of them so I will post that later when I install them.
The two pieces that transition from the coaming board to the cabin sides are made with the exception of the top cut. I want to fit them with the coaming board to make sure I am cutting them off on top exactly where they need to be cut. You can see the current stage of the parts in photo #1 below
Picture #2 below is the new companionway sill.
Picture #3 below is the are the boards that the companionway drop boards lock into.
Picture #4 below is the new handrails I've made which are thicker and slightly taller than the old ones.
And since I can only post 5 pictures per post I will start another post to show you what I have been doing on the boat since the weather cooled down. But I will need to post that later since I have Christmas decorating to do today.
First some time ago I decided to glass in the end of the ballast like Mike (Commander 227) suggested. My reasoning went like this. Unlike a boat that has no foam around the lead ballast that can drain easily to the empty back end of the keel, Destiny has foam all around the ballast and this foam sucks up water and dosen't let go of it. So I thought it better to try and keep water out of that foam by sealing the ballast in fiberglass. If water does get in that area what ever will drain out can go out the plug the prior owner had installed in the bottom of the keel when I pull the boat at the end of season. The first picture is of that job.
Next like most commanders the reinforcement for the backstay chainplate was very short. It left the top 8 inches of the chainplate unsupported. So I cut out and glassed in a new reinforcement for it to bolt to. The new one allows me to cut in half the unsupported distance of the chainplate. Also It is twice as thick as the old one. The second picture shows the old reinforcement.
The third picture is of the new reinforcement.
The 4th picture is of the glassed in new reinforcement showing the added bolt 4" higher than was previously possible. It also shows a couple of backer plates I glassed in for the hinges on the lazarette hatch. I glassed in several backer plates in this area but since I'm out of pictures again I will show you all those at a later date.
for those that wish to use a pivoting mast base. I just drew a cleaner version of the one Rico used to have his step made from. I left out the groove that is needed for the old style mast base where a crain is needed to step the mast.
How many of you have a suprise like this hiding under your stem head fitting?
The first picture below is the surprise I found when I removed the stem head fitting. This boat had more leaks than a colander.
The second picture is a trapazoid I made out of 3/8" thick fiberglass panel that I glued in place with some epoxy last night. Tonight I cut some biaxial mat and glassed it in place (3rd. picture). The biax will not only hold the plug in place but it also locks the deck and the hull together better than it has ever been in that area. Tomorrow night I will cover the existing hole in the front of the bow with some mylar and tape and then drill a hole in the top of the deck where the stem head fitting will later cover it up. Then I will mix up some epoxy with micro fibers to strengthen it and pour it into the the area closed off by the plug I installed.
Will you be able to line up the long bolt?
A338 has one long bolt that essentially makes the stemfitting impossible to be torn off (without taking the whole nose with it. )
Could say the stemfitting does a secondary job clamping stem to deck together.
Also has the two lower bolts that only go thru the stem.
Our stem fitting is a great design!
The plug/bulkhead you have there imco could be tabbed to the hull to insure the upgrade does as you say: hold everything together better.
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