Ariel #24

[bill@ariel231]

Tim

I think you found the propeller aperture.. At least that's where my prop is located.

I've read that all hulls had the cut out for an inboard prop. The factory then faired-in a separate piece to fill in the aperture if the boat was built as an outboard. The blue fairing compound on the seam appears to match lower section of the yellow outline in the picture attached (from A-409). From some other observations on this site this is another wet spot although it shouldn't result in water reaching the bilge. It will possibly lead to freeze/thaw damage if water is traped in there. I suspect you will find more of that blue fairing about 1 foot above the spot you found.

while the rudder is out, you may want to clean out and fair the slot where the rudder meets the trailing edge of the keel. on my boat there were a couple of thin spots in that slot where the rudder had chafed against the hull opening up a couple small holes.

good luck,
bill

[Tim Mertinooke]

Bill, that makes a lot of sense and yes there is another one about a foot or so above. I'll just grind them out a little then fill with epoxy. I can't wait to see how dry my new bilge is once I launch this summer. A dry bilge is like a good cup of coffee, although there is only a handful of us out there that can relate to such a comparison. Thanks for the info!

[Tim Mertinooke]

Speaking of summer, I noticed there are a few of us in New England. Rendezvous?

[Tim Mertinooke]

Here is my plan to replace the hideous attempt at weather-proofing the depth sounder. I am going to add a four inch bronze fixed port to the bulkhead and then mount the depth sounder display behind on a nice piece of mahogany. The mahogany piece will have a hinge so that it can be flipped out of the way to allow light inside if I want. I like this approach because the depth sounder display will be able to be read from the inside or out and it won't be in the way like one mounted that swings into the companionway. This will also allow me to keep the companionway boards in and still read the depth. The added light is the bonus and I plan to add another on the port side to keep things symetrical. My Cape Dorification of hardware has begun with this step toward bronze.


How it looks right now...



This is what will be in its place.

[bill@ariel231]

Tim

I like your port idea.. but if it saves you time, that model depth sounder is weather proof in a bulkhead mount. We had one out in the weather for 14 years on a Cape Dory. no problem as long as the UV sun cover was used to protect the clear plastic display.

bill

[Tim Mertinooke]

This is the approximate size and position of the new port which will be delivered sometime this coming week. I still need to work out position because I am making the mounting piece of wood with a hinge and I want it to work seemlessly and simple while maintaining a symmetrical look on the outside. I will probably install another on the port side to maintain the symmetry and maybe mount the GPS on the same type of hinged piece of wood

[Tim Mertinooke]

I am removing all of the bottom paint from the rudder area while the rudder is out to get a good assessment. I was looking closely at the bottom of the rudder tube and noticed what appeared to be unsaturated cloth. My plan is to grind the dry cloth out with a dremel and flapwheel which has worked very well for hard to reach areas in other projects and then fill the gap between the glass rudder tube and the opening just below it with thickened epoxy. I'm not sure if water could get in from there, but the fact that cloth seems unsaturated there and that it is below the waterline this is a good preventative repair.