Starboard side, dinette without hinged table.
Starboard side, dinette without hinged table.
Stub bulkheads glue up for cabin furniture. Easy Chair.
Interior hand rail inserts glued thru cabin side.
Compression beam being bolted thru the deck. Compression beam series of thru-deck bronze bolts. Center three go thru previously epoxy and Xmatt reconstruction directly under mast. Outer bolts pass thru composite balsa core with classic hockey-puck treatment - oversized holes and undercut skin. The original unglued support beam was locked in place with only two #16 bronze screws driven thru the circular mast-step into the beam under balsa-cored deck.
for the reseacher in the use of cardboard in Ariel refurbishments
EDIT (11/28/11)
This date reference doesn't have any significance, except to record that the cupboard sliding door locker at #336 - pg17 on this thread
has an 'how-it-was-made' confession over at TonyG's Gallery: Fruits Of My Labor - pg25 - #494.
Last edited by ebb; 11-28-2011 at 09:06 AM.
Clarification.
Photo at #341. Those red thingies are right angle pieces of fiberglass ("electrical grade") material from McMasterCarr.*
The bottom flange sticks out on the inside of the cabin and a flat piece of the same material is cut to the cabin curve from bulkhead to bulkhead and glued on top, tying them all together. What follows is one way of adding interior handrails without using thru-bolts.
They are not glued in when the photo was taken.
However the hollow between liner and cabin molding has been filled and the vertical sides chamfered. An inside the liner donut with a square hole.
When prepping / wetting out a clip for inserting into the hole, a cut-to-fit rectangular piece of glass is positioned like a scarf around the upright flange so that the fiberglass gets glued to inside of the liner when the clip is pushed into place.
Fiberglass tails are brought outside, pasted to the sides of the hole. Then the hole filled and flange buried. After setting, the filler was faired and pieces of fabric sanded away.
Interesting that the space is different in each hole between the cabin and the cabin liner.
The space gets wider (about 1/4' to 5/8") toward the rear of the cabin as witnessed through the progression of holes.
This converging space between liner and cabin is pretty equal port and starboard which would mean that the liner is centered pretty good in A338.
ALSO the further forward toward the mast the thicker the cabin sides are laminated. There is less apparent space separating cabin and liner.
Also, the molded curve of cabin into deck, right there at the deck where the Fein tool was used to cut in at deck level is very thick, very substantial and very hard.
Smoked at least FIVE K-blades! 20 bucks EACH.
After cutting the square holes and exposing the inside,
there is barely enough room to sort of prep the inner surfaces that have been waiting 40 years for this event. But imco it HAS to be done.
Since both cabin and liner were laid up in female molds we have to assume the last polyester resin coat put on in 1966 had wax in it so that it would cure hard.
This wasn't the place to use a solvent to kill any wax. So carpet-taped pieces of 40 grit sanding belt on the ends of doorskin strips were used to scratch things up inside best I could.
I've said this too many times:
imco FIRST priming surfaces with liquid epoxy that will be filled with thickened epoxy is essential for 'secondary' bonding to bond.
After priming - mop it up with a rag if it's really wet - SCRUB on some of the thickened stuff (toothbrush in this case) before actual filling to help get the old and the new to like each other even better.
Sides, top and bottom are filled with mishmash using flexible foam rod for dams. This is all done at the same time.....But you needn't do all the holes at the same time!
When hard, the holes were cleaned up (that's the stage in the photo at #341) and a slot cut in the liner through the bottom of the hole for the angle clip.
With the holes prepped for the second time the clips were inserted.
With the little piece of fiberglass bridle and the wedge shape of the second fill, can only hope they are solidly implanted and amalgamated with the cabin.
I use the best available LAMINATING epoxy almost exclusively - for everything. Structural projects like this stretches the intent of the epoxy, which is really to laminate fabric together. However, imco NON-BLUSHING good epoxy is good glue.**
The holes on the outside are disappeared now.
You'd never know all these words took place there.
Another set of right angle pieces will be glued under each projecting flange inside - upright and facing the cabin side. Just to make absolutely sure, will glue AND machine-screw the clips through the layers together.
Mahogany rails attach to the uprights.
A lot of weight will be put on this system at times.
It looks like grab rails over at the side like this will get used not only for trapeze work but handing the body in and out of the seats/berths. An adult will be able to negotiate the accommodation with a hand on each rail, arms out-stretched. I think there is more ERGO in the dynamic of having rails at this lower level.
We'll end up with closed channels under the windows. No other overhead rails are planned.
Dang, hope this all makes sense.
Haven't turned up another joker yet who's added railings this way.
BUT this is how aye did it - not how IT is done.
Critique appreciated
__________________________________________________ ____________________________________________
*Hammer tested the strength of this red colored commercial polyester fiberglass angle and sheet. Also tested glue-ups. Looks like it's made with glass mat and perhaps pressed or rolled. Could be extruded. Epoxy glued pcs held and seems plenty strong. Angle material is 3/16" - the sheet exactly 1/8".
Smells sweet when cut, but not the usual styrene scent. Used lacquer thinner to remove wax or manufacturing residues and scoured surfaces before gluing. Could have/should have used TSP or a citrus remover.
__________________________________________________ ____________________________________________
**If your MO working with epoxy in a renovation is to stop - let the epoxy set - and then go on to the next step which often requires gluing epoxy to epoxy - then blushing epoxy cannot be used in the type of work described above. Blushing epoxy requires washing grease off with detergent and warm water after every set.
Explain to me how that can be done in the method described above.
There is NO EXCUSE for a maker of epoxy in 2010 to sell you stuff that BLUSHES. OR has any SOLVENT in it.
And by that score it is IRRESPONSIBLE for that formulator or the VENDOR to sell you hardener with formaldehyde in it.
__________________________________________________ ____________________________________________
The square holes in the side of the cabin and the slot the clips are inserted into were cut with a Fein Multimaster (sold to home owners). It comes with a dog-leg "E-Cut" blade which has small teeth on its leading edge and is able to plunge cut STRAIGHT into materials. I had to buy blades at a local hardware at about $60 in a three pack. If memory serves, used at least 6 blades to do the job. I think they were labeled 'bi-metal' but the old frp smoked them!!!
Last edited by ebb; 11-28-2011 at 09:11 AM.
#342
I can tell you what I should have done with those four wide out bolts, maybe all six.
I could have dished-out the hockey-puck tops like we do for any hole repair.
Then epoxied two or three disks of fiberglass (widest diameter first) into each dish so that the edges of the new glass overlaps the venerable polyester deck.
Then redrilled the holes through for the 3/8" SB carriage bolts.
Tightened jam-nut and washer onto the new fiberglass.
(Note to self: Jam nut and washer measure 1/4" thick. Make sure nut can be covered with filler. Use 6-8OZ glass fabric for disks. Keep the dishing as close to the deck surface as possible - don't gouge too deep.)
Bolt ends get cut off with grinder right at the nut after assembly.
Everything fits perfect of course, nuts are JUST below the finished surface of the deck.
Then fill what remains of the dish by covering the nut with chopped-strand and epoxy and grind flat. Nothing shows after filling and fairing.
The fabric disks that lap the old deck hopefully engage the tough old cabin skin of the deck composite outside with the strongback inside.*
Nuts and washers are really on the 'outside' but just happen to be in a convenient dip that just happens to be filled in.
That's how I shoudadunit
__________________________________________________ ________________________________________
* The composite has a top layer that seems to be about 3/16" to a 1/4" thick. Mid layer is 3/8" end-grain balsa. The inner layer (NOT the liner) is 1/16" or less in places. Estimate the composite generally to be 9/16" thick. The foredeck, where it was cut out for a Bomar, is exactly that. Haven't had the boat totally apart for investigation obviously, so this is general assumption - some places it's thicker.
Last edited by ebb; 01-24-2010 at 08:48 AM.
OUT STANDING!!! Truley masterful designing and constrution, Ebb. You are really getting the most out of one of these 'smallish' hulls. Little Gull will be inspiration for a great many DIYers to come. Mark my words and just you wait and see!
The hand rails are a great design with a drip sill incorporated into a very stout and sleek form. Top notch woodwork waiting to go on yet I'd bet.
I, for one, am in LOVE with your diversion from the typical 'hamster home tube' interior when you included some angles and curves. And an easy chair! Man oh man you've got it right on the head. If no one else notices look at all of the space behind the backrest-nearly paralell to the hull. Or the undershot base that gives the feet somewhere else to go if they want. It's a fun journey to go back to page one and follow the progres you've crafted.
The emotions, Ebb, it's a privledge to experience your work and yet you make me feel pretty inadequateWell, keep it coming. I'll just have to toughen up.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote