Commander 147

[Commander 147]

I've decided to call commander 147 "Destiny". In 1977 I decided to move to Florida from Wisconsin. One of my goals for the move was to get involved with sailing and learn to sail. Not very long after I got down here I bought a 16' daysailer and I taught myself how to sail. I feel like everything from that time until now has been prepairing me for this time and this boat. So "Destiny" seems to fit.

Tonight I finally got the new boat house to the point where I could move her in and start in earnest on her repairs and upgrades. Here are a few photos showing the construction of her new home when she is not in the water. In the first picture you can see where the previous boat house was (just to the right of to Destiny) that I dissasembled and salvaged all of the parts for in the construction of the new boat house.

[mbd]

Mmmmmm.... boat shed. Fantastic!

[Commander 147]

As we discussed in the keel voids thread C147 has had a weeping keel. It now appears that the reason is due to a bad bottom job previously by the boatyard up in Vermont where she was kept for the last 15 years.

We previously thought it was due to water in the foam inside the keel freezing and thawing and crazing the gelcoat to the point where it was no longer a barrier for water. And while I still believe that is part of the problem I think a bigger part is what looks like an over zealous sandblasting job on the keel. Significant amounts of the gelcoat have been blasted away and then a filler was spread over it to try and correct it. This allowed water inside that has totally saturated the foam inside. Take a look at the picture and you can see as I sand down through the filler what I'm finding underneath it. Note also the water seeping out through the keel in the area where I have not yet removed all the foam inside (the dark spots on the pink filler).

My plan currently is to finish sanding the outside of the keel and finish removing all the water saturated foam inside. This will allow everything to dry out while I work on other projects. There are probably many differant ways to repair this hull an I'm sure I do not know them all. I am interested in gathering information to make a decision on the best way to proceed.
Any advice or recommendations are welcome.

[carl291]

With my limited knowledge of the "Fantastic Plastic", I don't think the gelcoat is the moisture barrier for the fiberglass. What are you finding inside when removing the foam? As related to the hull laminate. I would think the hull laminate has been compromised and will require cloth and reglassing on both sides if possible.
I am sure a more experienced response is forthcoming.
A sandblaster is a harsh way to remove paint/gelcoat from fiberglass.
Good Luck.

[Commander 147]

I'm making progress pulling all of the water logged foam out of the keel. You can see it is still plenty wet in there. That foam does not give up the water easy either. The water stays in the foam and does not drain out.

In the first picture you can see the aft end of the lead ballast starting to peek out of the foam.

The second picture is aft of the first and I circled where the rudder shoe is. Seems they liked to throw trash inside the keel before they they poured in the foam. I dug out small chunks of wood and you can see a piece of broken fiberglass in both pictures.

The third picture is looking even further back.

[Commander 147]

The lead ballast does not go as far back in my commander as the design drawing from the old brochure.

[carl291]

Looking very good, Some thing you may want to try once you clean this area up is, at night I would place a very bright light Quartz work light inside the keel and go to the outside of the boat and see if you can identify the leaking areas and mark with a pencil where the filling is required, this may also Identify where you may have some freeze expansion damage.
If you view Ebb's work done in the keel / bilge area , the gussets or bridging he did from one side of the hull to the other in this area really looks like it adds a great deal of strength.
That can't be pleasant work but you've made great progress