Frequent Sea Completion

[thataway]

Since the Transom and cockpit repair core projects are almost complete, I will show what else we have done to improve the boat. For DrJohn, I have included two photos of the Frequent Sea's port side after compounding with Finessit II and several coats of Colinite Fleet wax. The boat looks like new! (We still have to do the cabin top and eyebrow--it may not come out quite as well or last as long, because of more intense UV exposure.)

There is one photo of the last of the transom project--the gel coat has to be blended, the cap put back on, and a final coat of epoxy placed over the solid glass 1.3" section at the bottom of the transom, where the Starboard plate will be screwed/5200 in place for the FF transducers.

The next series of photos involve the step into the cabin down from the cockpit floor. The bilge pump was screwed directly into the cored bottom of the boat--there was minimal if any moisture in these holes, but they were drilled out to slightly over 3/8" and then core routed back from the edges, and the area filled with epoxy filler, after the core was coated with clear epoxy. The screws for the bilge pump bottom will go into the center of these plugs, so no screw into the core.

There were two "L" brackets, with screws into the bottom/core. I removed these brackets. One screw was rusted, and the core was slightly moist. I drilled all of these holes in the bottom out to over 3/8", and routed out the core, dryed the one, and then coated the core with thin epoxy to seal it. The under cut holes were filled with epoxy filler and then the surface was roughed up, along with the Decaboard surface. When the epoxy was still slightly tacky, tabs about 2" x 3" of biaxial cloth were laid into a fillet at the decaboard to bottom of the hull joint and an inch over the bottom, and up the side, tying into these plugs. This eliminates ANY screws into the core in this area. There are a few screws in the cabinets, and they will be eliminated in the same fashion. Thus, hopefully, we will no longer have any screws into the cored bottom of the hull. This is the way which I believe the boats should be built.

I realize that this may be controversial (what do I write which isn't?) but I would expect to see molded interiors for these boats at some point. With the molded interior (or even the current interior), any screws into the cored hull would be eliminated and there would be no question about the core. Incidently this is nothing new--Boats I owned in the early 60's were built this way and when we owned the boat building company that is the way we built the cabinets into the boat.

We have also tightened up cabinets, replaced latches etc. The electronics are a 5" Garmin GPS, an Icom VHF, a 4" Hummingbird Fish finder and a 7" Furuno Radar. the console is completely rewired, with expanded fuse blocks. There is a second #8 set of wires from the house batteries to the consule. We put a "window shade" under the foreward hatch. The Windlass is wired with #6 wire and appropiate breakers. The battery monitering system is a Link 1000. The Fuel monitering is Lowrance in dash guage flow meter. I'll post a photo of the helm station after we get the boat home (security issues leaving electronics on the boat).

A 15 hp Honda Electric start kicker on a bracket will be auxillary power, with a swim platform opposite. There is a 1500 watt inverter for the microwave and other 110 v appliances. There are 3 extra fans; two over the bunks, and one on the driver's side windshield.

Looking at the boat as it is almost finished, it shows that basically a C Dory can be brought back to like new condition with relitatively little work, even if there were some serious problems. I agree that this type of project is not for everyone, but it shows the underlying strength of these boats. (And why I purchased my 3 rd C Dory--and no, I am not being "paid off" or under any pressure to say that. )

My suggestion is that the practice of screwing items to the core of the hull be discontinued, and any screws put there removed, the hole drilled out, under cut and filled with epoxy and tabbing replace these fastenings. Any place where screws have to go into cored deck, and there is balsa, the area can be drilled, under cut and the screw into epoxy and filler, which will eliminate any water intrustion into deck cores. All holes cut into the cored deck or hull, need to be epoxy sealed to prevent rot (windlass, hausepipe, bolts for cleats etc). Incidently we found that the transom tow eyes had been replaced at some point--backed with Starboard, and a sS plate--the Gel coat had been redone. This makes me think that the tow eyes had pulled thru or damaged the laminate. (No transom core in the area of the tow eyes).

There

[Sea Wolf]

Bob-

Wow!

What a rebuild! And better than new!

Not bad for a guy with angina! (I know you hired some labor help.)

Good Luck with your date with the Cleveland Clinic!

Joe.

[oldgrowth]

Bob – thank you for keeping us posted on the repairs on Frequent Seas. With your expertise, I bet the boat is better than when new.

Your Son is lucky to have a father like you.
________
Dave

[AstoriaDave]

Bob,

I have followed your saga as it developed, and learned a lot. Do not own a C-Dory, but the principles are the same no matter the boat. Really appreciate the detailed blow-by-blow narrative.

Plenty of opinions here on whether there was "good workmanship" of "bad workmanship" at outfitting / layup time: more or less pointless, IMHO. Stuff happens in manufacturing (I have a background in machining and in synthetic organic chemistry; what a combination!), and sometimes you need to clean up someone else's mess. That's life: and, then you die!

Good boats, overall, these C-Dories!

[iggy]

Great job! And a wonderful example of sharing one's experience with comrades.

I do have one issue, however . . .

[thataway]

Some very valid points. Thank you. For me, working on or sailing boats has always been extremely therapeutic. Far easier than making sure I had not only read the latest New England Journal of Medicine or the American Journal of Medicine before I rounded with the residents at the University hopstial, but also had double checked the references.

There are always people who are more than willing to show you how do repair work in ship yards and around the docks. Our extended family are all folks who are boaters and most have been hanging around boats most of their lives and always available to help people learn new skills.

The gal who worked for me on this (and on some other projects) takes time out of her day to show new workers around the shipyard how to do things--even though all of the workers work for independant contractors.
They don't see this as competition, but as someone who may refer work to them or help them out some time.

One of the beauties of today's world, is that one can share these projects and techniques on the internet. Or one can do a Google search on techniques and find a number of references. Even more important the internet has opened up another point of contact for help in these types of projcts--not only thru C Brats, but other forums. For example we have Pensacola Fisherman. It is quite common for a person to ask for help on a project. For example when I needed fuel drums to pump the tank of Frequent Sea, I posted the need on the Pensacola Fisherman's forum, and within half an hour I actually had someone at my door with a pump and two barrels--and the offer of three other barrels.

There are all sorts of resources, from books to vidio and internet to learn these skills. I truely believe that the more skills a boater has, the more the sport will mean to him/her, and the safer they will be on the water. As one looks at the albums, there are some mightly fine crafts people on this forum!

[C-batical]

Bob:

You recommend and discussed using "tabs" rather than screws. into the balsa core. Would you take a picture of this technique in use. Did you use epoxy or polyester resin. Also, what materials did you use to build up the bottom of the transom after you cut it out. epoxy or polyester resin . I am assuming polyester because you finished the area with gelcoat. Thanks for your help in this regard.

Best regard,

[Byrdman]

Cool. Go Bob GO!!

[thataway]

Rollie, Photos 145 and 146 on the "Thataway" Album are two of the tabs I put in the "step" in the CD 25, where the head thru hull, the cabin bilge pump and the washdown pump are located. I have done all of the rest of the "L" brackets which were screwed in today, so I cannot show a step by step--but as I noted, pull the screw, drill out the hole, slightly undercut the core, and then fill (I used Marine Tex, because I had some handy yesterday: West System Epoxy with filler, I used today).

As far as the bottom of the transom: That was filled with mulitple layers of glass, and then overlayed with a several of layers of glass with epoxy. Since this is covered with bottom paint, there is no gel coat, but a clear layer of epoxy after fairing. (the boat did not appear to have been epoxy coated before the bottom paint was applied). We are not planning to leave the boat in the water full time, so I just left the bottom paint (which is in good shape). We put another coat of bottom paint on the transom.

As for the top of the transom: We did a technique where when the epoxy was still slightly tacky, we put a layer of waxed polyester pigmented resin. After that went off, we continued to fair with polyester and sprayed gel coat. (Please understand this is not a technique we would consider when covering a large area with gelcoat--as in the previous discussion of painting vs gel coating). There were about 3 layers of gel coat sprayed as we went thru the final blending and spraying to get an excellent match--one has to consider what color changes will occur with both compounding and with sunlight.

[C-batical]

Hi Bob:

Thanks for your quick reply and for the detailed product information. Your earlier post got me to think about the hardware attached to my 2004,
22 ft cruiser by the mfg. and dealer. Low and behold, I even found non-stainless screws used by the dealer to secure battery hold down trays to the stern bilge area. I am in the process now, like you, of removing all hardware that may have affected the integrity of the core and reattaching using the epoxy plug technique. Of further interest to me is what filler do you use to increase the viscosity of the epoxy? I have micro-balloons on hand but the colloidal products appear to provide a stronger plug. Thanks again for your help and for potentially saving me future repairs on my boat. I did see the tabs on you photo page; again thanks.
Any succuss of bonding fiberglass to starboard?

Best regards,

[thataway]

The only way that you can bond starboard is to encase it in glass, with epoxy or polyester. Ie: make a case around it--or at least around the edges. What we have done is left areas where we will put screws into solid glass for the Starboard which we use for the depth sounder transducers. The other thing which we do, is to use a very small dove tail bit in a Dremel tool and make some under cuts, as well as cross hatches, so 5200 will adhere--we then screw it down, with the 5200 between it and the glass.

As for thickening: I use Cabasil (silicon dioxide). The other compound may vary from micro fibers to either high or low density fillers. If I am not going to be doing much sanding and just will fair with a spreader, I will use high density filler.

Hope this helps.

[thataway]

I wrote a 3 page (single spaced in Word) E mail/fax to the powers that be at C Dory last evening, including the invoice for the repairs done on Frequent Sea.

I am happy to say that Tom Lathum called mid morning and we visited for a few minutes. C Dory is standing behind the boat and the repairs. I am hope that they do this in all cases, and that these types of repairs are not necessary in the future. In the long run it saves both C Dory and the owners agrivation and expense.

We are moving foreward in finishing the upgrades, including a swim step, engine mount for the 15 hp kicker, and windlass (where we have to grind down, and then build up the foredeck to make a flat mounting surface, plus make a backing block which will be epoxied to the under side of the foredeck.

My son will visit in about 10 days so he will have a chance to run the boat with me. My heart surgery has been postponed a week to the 27th, because I was the 3rd patient as an add on. Fortunately the surgeon thought that was not wise--and I agreed!

[Rob & Karen]

[thataway]

Yes, I am drilling out the screw holes with a 3/8" drill and then undercutting another 3/16 inc-so the plug is fairly good size. I used Marine tex, because it was what I had on hand when I started. Most of the plugs are microlight filler and cabosil about 50/50. This drills out nicely. Also you can put in the screw before the epoxy sets up all of the way--when it is still "plastic". This works well.

I only am putting screws back in where it is essential, like the bilge pump. I think that the tabs are a better solution. It gets rid of the ferrous "L" brackets.