Concordia..41
10-09-2002, 06:59 AM
Tuesday's agenda was to gain more access and involved removal of the triangular plank piece below the plank we took off Saturday and removing the plank directly above on both port and starboard. We're talking another 180+ screws and 19 bolts, but who's counting :rolleyes:
I'll link to a web page at the end of the post, but basically:
http://www.sailingwithsarah.com/Pic/Repair3lg.jpg
She's had problems for years probably related to the stern knee shrinking. It's obviously been loose for a long time. Several floor bolts are broken as well as the floors decaying over the years. Wedges were driven under the floors to tighten them up, but with the broken floor bolts this just added stress to the planks. We also removed enough cotton from the seams to stuff a mattress.
At a later date, someone added stainless allthread to pull the knee back in place to the stern post. With the floor bolts broken, this did not work so someone added a dutchman on each side to close the seam at the rabbit.
It boils down to when the problem was first found due to leakage a number of repairs were attempted but weren't sucessful because a total solution would have involved pulling the ballast, deadwood and engine.
This is Dave speaking here because you know all this is way over my head ... M
Dave knew the boat when it first came to St. Augustine over a decade ago, and he was aware of this leak and another up forward under the mast step, which is being corrected in the rebuild. That one also showed a very poor series of repairs involving massive amounts of caulking and then filling the area with underwater epoxy.
It's easy in hindsight to shake your head at the mess, but for the majority of her life, Sarah was well cared for. But even an attentive owner with unlimited resources probably wouldn't pull the engine, and drop the ballast and deadwood, because there's a leak in the lowest and most inaccessible portion of the bilge. At least not until all other options were exhausted.
Today's agenda involves removing the dutchmen on both sides so Dave and Nick can see what's going on there.
I knew we'd get comments on the supports or lack thereof, but she's fine. It's just one of those where the supports don't show in the picture. She's resting on solid blocking just forward of the photo area and there's another set of solid blocks directly under the stern. There's also two sets of tall jackstands up high in this area.
Thanks again for the kind comments. I may grouse a bit, but I can assure you there's no regrets.
Cheers!
- M
More pictures and analysis at http://www.sailingwithsarah.com/exposingsternknee2.htm
[ 10-11-2002, 03:05 AM: Message edited by: Concordia..41 ]
I'll link to a web page at the end of the post, but basically:
http://www.sailingwithsarah.com/Pic/Repair3lg.jpg
She's had problems for years probably related to the stern knee shrinking. It's obviously been loose for a long time. Several floor bolts are broken as well as the floors decaying over the years. Wedges were driven under the floors to tighten them up, but with the broken floor bolts this just added stress to the planks. We also removed enough cotton from the seams to stuff a mattress.
At a later date, someone added stainless allthread to pull the knee back in place to the stern post. With the floor bolts broken, this did not work so someone added a dutchman on each side to close the seam at the rabbit.
It boils down to when the problem was first found due to leakage a number of repairs were attempted but weren't sucessful because a total solution would have involved pulling the ballast, deadwood and engine.
This is Dave speaking here because you know all this is way over my head ... M
Dave knew the boat when it first came to St. Augustine over a decade ago, and he was aware of this leak and another up forward under the mast step, which is being corrected in the rebuild. That one also showed a very poor series of repairs involving massive amounts of caulking and then filling the area with underwater epoxy.
It's easy in hindsight to shake your head at the mess, but for the majority of her life, Sarah was well cared for. But even an attentive owner with unlimited resources probably wouldn't pull the engine, and drop the ballast and deadwood, because there's a leak in the lowest and most inaccessible portion of the bilge. At least not until all other options were exhausted.
Today's agenda involves removing the dutchmen on both sides so Dave and Nick can see what's going on there.
I knew we'd get comments on the supports or lack thereof, but she's fine. It's just one of those where the supports don't show in the picture. She's resting on solid blocking just forward of the photo area and there's another set of solid blocks directly under the stern. There's also two sets of tall jackstands up high in this area.
Thanks again for the kind comments. I may grouse a bit, but I can assure you there's no regrets.
Cheers!
- M
More pictures and analysis at http://www.sailingwithsarah.com/exposingsternknee2.htm
[ 10-11-2002, 03:05 AM: Message edited by: Concordia..41 ]