Page 25
The last big piece of the puzzle involved fabricating and installing a section of deck to replace the old splashwell. I started with a sheet of 1/2" meranti ply. I needed to match the camber of the deck in the boat so I used an old piece of ply as a guide. It had been leaning against a wall of the house since hurricane season and had bowed a little. Although I didn't measure it, it looked about right. So I laid up 2 layers of 1708 and clamped the deck piece to the old, weathered piece of plywood. Once it cured, it held the shape of the old plywood well.
It's kinda hard to
see the camber in the pic but it actually matched up near perfectly.
Next move was some hatch work. I wanted my hatch to mount flush with the deck
and really liked the way Warthog had rabbited his in. But the 1/2" ply really
didn't offer enough material to do a proper recess. So, I made up a frame from
some 1/2" ply. The ID matches the size needed for the hatch while the OD
provides about a 2 inch overlap with the deck piece above. The hole in the deck
section was cut to the OD of the hatch. First step was to glue it in with a
layer of resin and 1.5 oz mat.
Then the frame got 2
overlapping layers of 1708 and 1 layer of 1.5 oz mat, followed by 2 layers of
1708 over the entire top side of the deck. This left a little raised edge right
around the hatch opening which should give a nice effect. I may not end up
liking it and fairing it back down but for now, I'm gonna try it out and see how
it looks.
Next, I had to rebuild a little section at the base of each corner box to fill in a void where the old splashwell was cut out.
Those pics just show
a single layer of 1708 I stuck in there to form a base which I could build upon.
Fillets of milled fiber and resin were added in the seams and followed by
multiple overlapping layers of 1708 and 1 layer of 1.5 oz mat inside and out.
Now that I knew where the deck drains would be installed, I drilled out the
section of transom, being careful not to cut into the outer skin, dug out the
wood with my 1.25 forstner bit and refilled with multiple layers of 1708. I
boogered up the port one a little but fixed it up on the refill. These
represented the last 2 holes on the transom to receive the overdrill/refill/redrill
treatment. Now, every single hole in the transom will be surrounded by at least
3/8" of solid resin and glass.
In the two pics
above, you can see the little piece of corner box I had to rebuild just to the
outside of each hole. They've been ground and tapered for deck installation as
well.
And finally, I ground and tapered all the seams for the deck installation,
installed a false bulkhead to close off the void where the old in deck livewell
resided and cut all the glass necessary to install the deck piece and close off
the old in deck livewell.
The deck piece will be installed with 2 overlapping layers of 1708 tabbing in the seams, followed by a single layer of 1708 with tabbing covering the entire piece and a layer of 1.5 oz mat covering all of that. The seams on the underside will receive 2-3 layers of 1708 as well.
