Engine foundations and filling holes

Sadly, there hasn't been much progress now that I'm eyeball deep at work. What time I've had has been dedicated to hauling and winterizing Ariel.

One of my little helpers helping me with our littlest boat.

I did, however, manage yesterday to get a final layer of biaxial cloth on the engine foundations, despite temps barely reaching the high 50s. Early in the morning I set up two heaters inside the boat to raise the temp. Around 1, the surfaces were about 65 degrees, so I wet out cloth and glassed the beds.

The weather is going to shut me down soon, so I took advantage of the temp and glassed over two old thru hull holes that I'd filled previously with thickened epoxy. And that was it for the day.

Two strips of G10 arrived late in the day. Those strips will be epoxied to the tops of the engine foundations and glassed over. I'll get to that as soon as time and temp allow. Until then, I work - and wait.

And if anyone is interested in what West Systems has to say about epoxying in colder temperatures, check out this link: Cold Temperature Bonding. Apparently West System fast hardener can be good to 35 degrees. I feel better about the work I did yesterday knowing that

Engine foundations glassed

I began this morning by giving the epoxy a water wash, then sanded the area to prepare for fiberglassing. I prepared the area by wiping it down with acetone, then used plastic pattern material to create patterns for the fiberglass cloth. I transferred the patterns to biaxial and cut enough to apply two layers to both the inside and outside of the foundations. The process went well and I'm pleased to have the foundations glassed in place. A fellow Alberg-er has picked up some 1/2" G10 strips for me that I'll epoxy on top of the foundations and then glass them in place. Things are moving along.

Cleaned and ready for glass

Two layers of glass inside and out 

Engine foundations in

I swear those boat repair/restoration specialists make it look A LOT easier! After a whole bunch of sanding and cutting - and head scratching - I got the two engine foundation blanks shaped and ready to epoxy in place.

I started the day by cutting the 12"x48" laminated plywood for the engine foundations in half, thinking that I'd get a blank out of each 12"x24" piece. After making all of the necessary cut marks, I trimmed the piece to size and realized that the geometry was such that I could actually get two foundations out of one 12"x24" section. I was a little disappointed that I'd cut up more of my marine ply than necessary, but at the same time I was reassured to know that I had enough to make a second set if I managed to make a serious mistake with the first go.

With my first blank cut to the approximate size, I trimmed and sanded as necessary to get the piece to fit  well with the contours of the hull. Once the port foundation was fitting nicely, I repeated the procedure on the starboard side. Both foundations trimmed, I coated the exposed edges of the plywood with neat epoxy before setting the foundations in a bed of thickened epoxy.

I left the foundations to cure overnight. Tomorrow I'm hoping to get a few layers of fiberglass on them. 

The cross braces atop the engine foundations provided a guide and secure mounting location during epoxying.

Galley tops

Work's getting busier and busier, leaving little time for hobbies. I managed a bit of free time and cut two pieces for the galley areas on either side of the engine box. Both pieces slid into place, but I need to trim just a little from each to get the edges to line up with the existing bulkheads - nothing major, but just shy of flush.

The engine foundation laminations are complete. I need to trim the blanks to their rough size. Hopefully I can manage to get them glassed in before the weather gets too cold! Things get chilly around here pretty soon.

Painting, filling holes, laminating engine foundations

I began laminating my 1/2" Hydrotek for the engine foundations Friday before heading off to Ohio for the weekend. I cut the sheet into six 12"x48" strips and managed to get two glued up before it was time to get on the road.

This morning I added two more strips to the lamination, then quit before running out of epoxy (gallon #3). I clamped and secured the laminations for curing, using an assortment of items from the garage (yes, I think the leaf spring is a nice touch, too!).

Last week I'd installed the latches for the settee back hatches.

Today I removed them to give the settees a light sanding and the final coat of paint. I also lightly sanded the head compartment and hanging locker before giving those areas their final coat of paint as well.

I mixed up a batch of thickened epoxy and filled the two thru-hull holes in the head compartment. I'll reuse the larger one with a smaller seacock for the water intake, but the smaller hole will stay filled and fiberglassed. Overboard discharge is prohibited in the Great Lakes, so rather than fuss with an overboard discharge system that can be locked, etc, I opted to eliminate the discharge; she'll have a waste pump out and that's it.

Not a bunch of progress, but I'm inching forward. I'll pick up another gallon of epoxy tomorrow and finish the laminations for the engine foundations.

Yet more paint

Yesterday the head cabinet/bulkheads and settees received their first coat of paint. And tonight they received a second coat. I did run out of paint, however, before applying the second coat to the starboard settee bottom.

Nothing too exciting to report about the painting. It happened. It is nice to be one step closer to having her saloon looking like a saloon again, though.

I dragged the trailer to work this morning and headed to South Bend after school to pick up a sheet of 1/2" Hydrotek for the engine foundations. I'll cut and glue those up tomorrow.

Paint and 'glass

While waiting for the plywood I need for the engine foundations, I decided to move forward with what I can. In little chunks of time over the last week, I painted the areas of shelving above/behind the settees, the head locker, hanging locker top, and the galley. All areas received two coats.

Hanging locker with only one coat of paint

Today I spent an hour or so fiberglassing the head locker face and the settee tops/backs - oh, and the second shelf that I ended up adding to the lower part of the hanging locker. The tabbing ties the structures together, strengthening and securing them.

In the areas of the settees, I added a top layer of cloth to provide a smoother finish than the biaxial under it and to protect the cushions from snags and scratches.

Round Two

I just wasn't satisfied with the first engine position mockup. Although the angle of the engine was well within tolerances, I wasn't getting enough room under the aft mounts to allow sufficient engine foundation and eventual thread purchase for the bolts. After making sure I was ready to start over, I did just that.

I increased the angle of the engine (and stern tube) by 1.5*, transferred my new angle to the sides of the engine box, and installed the cleats and cross pieces to support my engine template. Not surprisingly, the practice of the first attempt improved my second attempt. All of the angles and clearances seem better. I'm still 3.3* below my max, and the stern tube is exiting the deadwood at a right angle - or very nearly. Additionally, the engine isn't so far forward that it's going to encroach on the galley space.

I collected my rough measurements for the engine foundations; now I need to purchase the material to build them.

Engine bed prep

With an hour or so free this evening, I began feeling my way through the initial stages of the engine installation. I honestly have very little clue what I'm doing. Following encouragement and some expertise from a knowledgeable source, I proceeded with my plan to use a length of the stern tube material I'd purchased, capped with two wooden plugs, to begin determining the centerline of the prop shaft and engine. The picture below doesn't show the string rigged through the center of the plug, but it provides an idea of what I did.

The idea is to secure a string in the center of the wooden plug, run the string through the stern tube and out the center of a matching wooden plug on the forward end of the tube. The string is then run down the centerline of the boat, drawn taut, and secured. Having established the centerline, the tube and string are then adjusted vertically to achieve an angle that does not exceed the recommended angle listed for the engine, a Westerbeke 20B (which happens to be 14 degrees) - all the while adding shims and hot glue to hold the stern tube in place.

Once I'd experimented with a couple of angles and my engine mockup, I set the string to an angle of just under 10 degrees - 9.2, actually - that seemed to give the rear engine mounts a little more room at the narrow portion of the aft bilge. I transferred the pitch and level of the string to the engine box panels, then drew a line on each to indicate the attachment point for cleats that would support the engine mockup while I took measurements for the engine beds.

With the cleats mounted, I rested the template on two 1/2" pieces of plywood running laterally and eyeballed the arrangement. Alignment looks pretty good, but I'm concerned that the rear engine mounts are too close to the hull; I need enough material under them to thread a mounting bolt into. I could get more room under them by adjusting them up, but I centered all of the mounts so that I'd have adjustment room up and down. I don't want to lose that for fine tuning. The other option is to move the whole engine forward, but I don't want to do that either because the engine will already be pretty far forward in the compartment. Anyway, feeling a bit hurried (and uncertain), I decided it was time to quit and let things percolate. I'll take a fresh look at it later this week and see if I've arrived at a clearer idea of what I need to do.

Settee hatches and head

Not a whole lot to report, but there has been some progress. I finished cutting and installing cleats in the settee backs for the two access hatches. I made a simple cleat arrangement to hold the bottom of each hatch in place, and I'll add a latch of some sort at the top to keep the hatches from falling forward.

A simple cleat locks the bottom in place.

In the head compartment I installed the face for the two shelves, securing it to the cleats on either side with ss screws.

I'll fiberglass the top and bottom when I do another round of glassing.

I'm going to reuse the original settee cabinet fronts, so I fitted the fronts on both sides. The starboard side is entirely original - and a little beat up. I'll refinish it at some point, and I think I'll do something to cover the holes in the masonite fronts (they're kinda ugly).

The front for the port side was cut by a PO at some point, leaving two doors and part of another. I trimmed the remaining legs flush and fastened the front to the shelf.

I used a 3/4" piece of teak plywood cut to size to fill the area. I was thinking that I could stain the teak to match the old mahogany, but at this point I'm thinking I might paint it white and trim it in mahogany. That decision is far down the road, though.

I think that piece of ply might make a good location for a VHF radio or the electrical panel. At this point I'm not planning on installing another door there.

I had a few minutes today, so I gave my last round of tabbing a quick sanding and vacuumed the area.

Creeping forward - Another head door & settee back hatches

I devoted an hour after work to moving things forward. After finding another door to match the two already installed in the head cabinet, I decided to add it to allow access to the space under the bottom shelf. Even if that space isn't used for storage, the access hatch will facilitate installing the head pump-out and discharge lines.

I mentioned in my last post that I was on the fence about installing access hatches in the settee backs. Well, I decided it made sense to have access to the space - and better to do it now while the settee backs are mobile. I drew two 8"x15" access hatches on each settee back, and cut out the hatches on one before calling it quits for the day. (Alas, other duties call).

Another round of glassing and settee hatches

It feels very good to have the bulk of the interior furniture constructed and fiberglassed in place. Yes, there are still pieces to make - e.g., galley countertops, engine box and beds, etc - but most of the big items are in place.

I began early this morning by cutting 6" and 4" strips of biaxial cloth. I cut more than enough for the job and within 20 minutes had several rolls of tabbing ready for glassing. 

Up in the boat, I confirmed lengths and cut the tabbing to size for each location before wiping all of the areas to be glassed with acetone. Areas to be tabbed included shelves in the head and hanging locker, including the head base and the hanging locker base and top; the starboard settee shelf; port upper shelf and settee shelf; a little area of the longitudinal bulkhead at the forward end of the starboard settee; and the galley bulkhead and shelf.

It took me about an hour to an hour and a half to finish the tabbing, the majority of the time spent mixing batches of epoxy. I really should have brought the resin and harder inside last night to keep it cool. It's been so hot here that the resin and hardener were probably at least 75 degrees at mixing and it wanted to kick pretty quickly with each batch, so I immediately spread it over tabbing and kept the pace going.

Hanging locker top shelf

Port head locker with shelves and chainplate knee glassed to the hull

Port shelves tabbed

While the epoxy cured, I rolled on some white paint in the areas under and behind the settees, after which I'd finally had enough of the heat and fumes.

I worked next on the settee tops, marking the cut lines for the access hatches, then cutting each hatch with a borrowed Bosch jigsaw (again, sweet tool!). I used 1x2" pine to frame the bottom side of the hatch openings and screwed each cleat in place after bedding it in thickened epoxy. I drilled a 3/4" hole in the center of each hatch lid to facilitate opening and lightly sanded each hole to give them a smooth contour. Both settee bottoms received a coat of paint in preparation for installation.

Settee bottoms with hatch cleats epoxied and screwed in place

Hatch lids, cleats, and a fresh coat of paint beneath

Coming together.

With the hatches constructed and the settee bottoms and backs painted (at least on the backside), I reassembled the interior. I'm not sure yet what I plan to do with the settee backs. There is decent storage space behind each one, but I'm not sure if I want to install access hatches or not. I'll have to decide soon since glassing the settees is next on my list. I realize I can always cut the hatches in place, but it would be much easier to work on a flat surface.