Where are the bolts going?

[Columbia 112]

My floor bolts are disappearing!

What do you think? The “dry” floor is under the cockpit sole and the “wet” floor is in the cabin. It appears that the bolts are "pulling" thru the floors. One thing for sure is that the limber holes are way under sized. In places they are maybe 3/8 and in others they are no ware to be found. I’m guessing that the fresh water in the cockpit has done the jog of “eating” away the floors. In the cabin I’m not so sure. Lots of sludge in the bulge plugging the limbers. I assume that he black and white stains are probably indicators of what’s happening. (Rot! Out damed rot!)

Ross.
http://pic1.picturetrail.com/VOL1133/4105559/8555187/119295894.jpg

http://pic1.picturetrail.com/VOL1133/4105559/8555187/119295911.jpg

[sdowney717]

Does the boat have that earthy mushroomy smell?
When you get rot going and a lot of it, the air has that unmistakeable odor.
Once rot gets going it is like a plant on growth hormines, the total rotten biomass grows exponentially until so much rots away that the water saturation point of the wood falls, the active rot dies and it looks like dry rot where the wood crumbles into dry powder.
I suppose if you want to save it your going to have to cut it out, treat the remaining sound wood and patch it back together with epoxy and some new wood pieces.

[crawdaddyjim50]

Now this is where the old saying really comes true. There be hard times ahead for the old girl. Good luck to you and may the good lord see ya thru to the water again.

[Concordia..41]

You have a nice combination of electrolysis and fresh water induced rot. (Call them Ginger and Mary Ann)

Now you can be Gilligan and chase around with good intentions, the Skipper and yell alot, Mr. Howell and throw money at the problem, or The Professor and solve it.

First, protect the boat from any future water intrusion. You have a major rebuild on your hands and the best few hundred dollars I ever spent was getting my boat trucked to a warehouse where she is safe and dry - READ "NO ONGOING DAMAGE" - this is important as even with the well-intentioned things can get ahead of you.

See if the electrolysis is causing damage to the keel. Replacing floors is a can of worms, replacing the keel is a 50-gallon barrel of worms.

Good luck.

- M

[Columbia 112]

I agree with the plan to get her out of the weather and stabilized. That’s step one. If you look at the “dry” floor picture you’ll see a wire running over the top of the floor and down out of the picture. This wire connects the prop strut backing block ( the block with the four bolts in the upper right ) which is also dissolving, to the bonding system. I think the bonding system has killed the floors and the after keel under the cockpit. The floors inside the cabin are all showing the same signs of white fuzz and bolts pulling through. She really is in rough shape and I’m contemplating building new or rebuilding (I don’t know where the two start or end) and only using the hardware, lead and what’s left of the mahogany planking.

Ross.

[Lucky Luke]

Originally posted by Columbia 112:
...I’m contemplating building new or rebuilding (I don’t know where the two start or end) and only using the hardware, lead and what’s left of the mahogany planking.
Well, that does not look good, for sure, but do not go to extremes like that!
This little boat looks perfectely salvageable.

You have quite a lot of work to do on the topsides, and a major one with changing floors, keel bolts, and probably some frames (the "wet" -berk!- photo shows deterioration of frames too). As said above, hope the keel is still OK.... :rolleyes:

The first thing to do is to clean her, srape like mad all paint and deteriorated wood, metals (not with this butcher's tool I saw in your first thread!). Know what you will have to do, precisely. This poor boat was filthy!
She has to be immediately hauled out of the water, put under cover, and shored up propely, that's obvious. Hope she won't dry out too much: she does not leak, but she will!

Scrape away all paint, do not hesitate to scrape off putty, don't touch the caulking, unless you have to change some planks, which I'm afraid you will have to (that's not too difficult).
These keel bolts are almost certainely finished, as well as many other fastenings. Pull them out (no mad hammering, please). Do not hesitate to dismantle all the interior and the cockpit (and deck if you have to re-frame), and work on a hull cleared off everything.

One word about the bonding: although advocated by many, examples abound of electrolytic deterioration like yours, stopped by their removal. Try without it, "next time" If all the metals are identical, there is no use for it.

Nice boat, and a future pride! smile.gif

[ 11-22-2005, 10:08 PM: Message edited by: Lucky Luke ]

[sdowney717]

Yes, the bonding is not a good idea anymore.
Actually the bolts may be reusable.
You can heat the nuts with a torch and then they will probably come right off. When pounding them out, you also may damage threads but running a die back down will fix that. You may find only a slight amount of corrosion, buff them up and look for any cracks. I dont like the idea of buying expensive new brownze bolts when the old ones are still useful. My own hull rebuild, almost every bronze bolt was in decent shape. But then some of us have lots of money to spend and dont want to fuss around.

[Lucky Luke]

Lots of money... :rolleyes: ...
Safety at sea is how much?
When talking about keel bolts, there are only two possibilities: good, or not. If they are good, I mean OBVIOUSLY GOOD, no need for replacement, of course. If ANY doubt: X-Ray plus chemical analysis. Trouble is that this sometimes costs about the price of new bolts!
So: when in doubt, go for the most secure way.