interesting thing in the old photo, not a single pair of gloves no masks or goggles.
quite a contrast with the current ensign build method, there is a slide show at the new class association web site that takes a boat from a bare mold to a finished boat (caution it's a 200Mb file)
The ongoing battle to get A-24 to my house ensues as we received 1.5 feet of new snow last weekend on the day I planned on moving the boat and it is snowing hard again right now with another 6 inches forecast. I went down after work today to remove the aforementioned snow from the boat and snapped a couple more shots of the rudder shoe after stripping (quite easily I might add) the fairing compound and fiberglass sheathing. In a perfect world I will have enough time to take the shoe off and put it back on after epoxying, 5200, etc. before I put in this summer (July.) Depending how long it takes to commision the boat will determine whether I do the whole 9 yards on this repair, or just patchwork to get me through my anticipated two month season in the water this summer. As mentioned previously the shoe is solid and fixed very well to the keel. There was water weeping out of the shoe when I opened it up a while back and the area seemed much drier today. If the water trapped inside the keel void is going out then it must be able to...
The coamings on A-24 were in pitiful shape in terms of finish and it wasn't until I removed the finish and got down to sanding that I knew their true condition. To my delightment I found no rot found anywhere on the coamings themselves. There was a little on the bottom of the pieces that touch the side of the cabin that the coaming screws into. The plan to fix that is to cut out the rotton part and glue up another piece of mahogany to match. I am fortunate to have a pretty good supply of mahogany from the same era that the Ariels were made because I got my hands on the remains of an old 1959 runabout that someone cut up. The wood looks identical once sanded so it should be a seamless fix. To remove the finish I used a heat gun with a steady, patient technique. I was able to remove all the finish on both coamings in about 1 hour. Then I sanded with a typical orbital sander, followed by hand sanding to prep for the varnish. Both coamings are now ready for varnish which should be started this coming weekend. Below is a picture of the half-way point with the heat gun and a couple comparison pictures after finishing the first coaming.
Last edited by Tim Mertinooke; 03-20-2007 at 05:43 AM.
Ariel #24 made the 54 mile journey to my house with no incidents. The trailer and boat performed perfectly thanks in part to good planning and preparation. Now the projects begin starting with a marathon grinding session on that keel bulge. Don't worry, pictures will be coming.
Last edited by Tim Mertinooke; 04-29-2007 at 07:42 PM.
I decided to attack the bilge last night and start to remove the foam to see what lurks below. The foam was pretty easy, although annoying to remove. It was well saturated a couple inches below the top which is what I expected as that is where water would travel. Beneath the foam were the two lead pigs everyone talks about. I removed them so that I could get a better angle and view. Now there is a nasty "Ariel Soup" that I'll remove today after work with the shop vac. I think that I am close to the bottom of the keel by my measurements. I still need to work my way back toward the aft part of the keel, but I think I am close. Once all the foam is removed, my thinking is that the entire keel void will have exposed itself with the exception of the space around the lead ballast. I'm mulling over my options thinking of a way to have a real bilge and prevent all the annoyances and damage caused by the original foam setup. I can't see how water can travel from the void I am removing foam from and the space around the lead where water obviously made its way due to the fact that its expansion bulged my keel. Some of you have glass over the foam which mine didn't.
1. Has anyone seen a bilge like mine with just foam?
2. Has anyone removed all of the foam from the top like I am?
3. Is it correct to assume that the entire keel void with the exception of the void around the lead ballast can be reached from the top where I have access?
In a perfect world all the gunk would be removed and I will have a smooth clean bilge that doesn't let anything in or out unless directed by me via a pump.
Before: Looking Aft
During
Last edited by Tim Mertinooke; 03-28-2007 at 01:35 PM.
If I'm evaluating the photos correctly, it appears that someone other than Pearson filled the factory bilge with foam, locking the two lead pigs into place.
Well, the bilge is empty with the exception of some foam up high where water never reaches it at the back of the keel. This foam is dry and sticks to the fiberglass walls of the bilge very well so I'll wrestle with it later. Here are some pictures:
I got this area dry with the shop vac and I noticed water seeping in around the laminate at the back side of the lead at the right of the picture. I hope to have the void around the lead ballast drained once I begin grinding the keel this weekend.
This is looking through the access panel toward the back of the bilge where the rudder shoe is located. Tim L. told me that the flaking yellow resin that I thought was delamination is just extra resin gooped on in large amounts during construction to ensure complete saturation of the fibers and that it is structural insignificant.
This is looking back at my new foamless, pigless bilge.
After the area dries out and I remove the flaking yellow resin, My idea is to fill the bottom of the bilge will epoxy to bring it up level with the lead ballast so that I stop the transfer of water from the void around the ballast to the void in the back of the keel. My hope is that it will stop any water that tries to enter the bilge via the rudder shoe as well. The bilge will be deep as I do not intend on putting the lead pigs back in, but it will be completely exposed and I will have no mysteries or suprises...I hate surprises. By the way, my website is up and running, www.ariel24.com but I'm still getting it off the ground in terms of uploading pictures, descriptions, etc. Be patient. It will echo most of what is posted here really, I just wanted a place others can go to see the project. Tim
Last edited by Tim Mertinooke; 03-28-2007 at 06:29 PM.
Well, I attacked the keel bulge today to find its cause and was quite surprised to find this:
The last two photos shows what it looked like after chiseling out the lead for about 15 minutes. My plan is to have it flush by the end of this week. I would like to start laying up the glass sometime next week as well weather permitting.
I thought the foam poured in there did the damage. But, that lead trunnion would also leave a hard spot.
I might try to cut the lead back, maybe with an angle ginder and cut off wheel.
I would probably try to shove a bunch of glass under the bottom of the lead piece.
Ebay is a good place to find industrial scraps of heavy mat and cloth by the pound. Biax cloth with mat attached is the most useful. But, beware the ebay shipping crooks
Last edited by commanderpete; 04-01-2007 at 04:31 PM.
Reason: P.S.: Nice dish
that's an interesting failure, was the that lead lump pushed out by some corroding rebar at the center of the ballast? The tear in the lead doesn't look like it was cast in place...
(just in case ebay doesn't work out, you may also want to look at www.jamestowndistributors.com or www.defender.com and similar sites for glass & mat. you won't need much material to get that spot back in shape).
Last edited by bill@ariel231; 04-01-2007 at 07:37 PM.
If I'm seeing it correctly the lead grew 2 inches or better? WOW. It reminds me of the lava steps around some volcanos where the lava fractures and the pressure from below pushes each polygon up at differetn heights. The root cause of that would be interesting to know, corroding steel expands but I've never seen it push anything to that extreme. Thank you for the documentation of the dissection.
I would think something is up on the opposite side of that lead bulge. Could be telling. It seems like the bulge is a symptom, not the cause. Just a thought.
Another thought: your boat has been out of the water a very long time, and was not very weather tight by the looks of things. I wonder if the repeated freeze/thaw cycle could have worked its way into a crevice in the lead casting and had its way with the lead over a number of years? (Looks like Bill posted while I was writing the edit...)
Last edited by mbd; 04-02-2007 at 07:10 AM.
Reason: Another thought...
you have some interesting forensic work ahead of you. I might guess something like rebar might have started the problem, opened a crack, let in some water, and a couple freeze/thaw cycles later we have the lead bulge your ballast demonstrates. would be interesting to see what you find if you drill into the cavity behind the lead bulge....
bill
p.s. mike, oops sorry about that
Last edited by bill@ariel231; 04-02-2007 at 07:37 AM.
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