Ariel #24

[joe]

Too bad that Hobbit's aren't for real I could sure use some.

[Tim Mertinooke]

hehe. Actually the boat was rewired prior to purchase so that department is all set, he did however come in handy when I emptied the keel void...

[Tim Mertinooke]

My new bronze port came in. The locations are approximate as I work out the fine details, but here is a preview of what's to come.

Cockpit view (I like these ports because they are almost flush so if you lean against the bulkhead it comfy)



Interior view. I coughed up a couple more bucks for the bronze interior finish ring. It will match nicely with my "someday ports" which will be 12" opening bronze beauties to replace the windows.


The fit is perfect as planned!


A-24 is slowly but surely gaining back her integrity.

[Tim Mertinooke]

My surprising find last week, to me at least, was indeed a propeller aperture filler as Bill suggested. The filler is hollow with an opening in the top and bottom. When I tapped the filler with the handle of a screwdriver it was definitely thin and hollow. I duct taped the nozzle to my shop vac up to one of the holes to suck out any debris or water that might have been hanging out in there. Nothing came out, but I could here a whistle noise so I knew air could somehow get into the void inside the filler. The air was soming in from the other hole. This void would have definitely filled up with water every time the boat was in the water. The apperture is tabbed on with a layer of fiberglass. THe ends were beginning to delaminate a little bit. I grinded off these ends until there was only saturated laminate left. I sanded and prepped the area then coated it with thickened epoxy. I forced some epoxy into the holes so they are now sealed. After the epoxy cures overnight, I'll put a fairing coat of thickened epoxy over that, then sand again. I'll post some pictures of the area coated with epoxy tomorrow after I fair it.

[Tim Mertinooke]

I dremmeled out the dry laminate found underneath the fiberglass rudder tube using a flap wheel attachment. In very localized spots there was some discoloration of the laminate which indicated to me that water had penetrated. I took a fine grinding attchment and drilled out these area like a dentist. Once all of the discolored areas were removed it was ready for a gooping of thickened epoxy.


You can see the areas that were dark after grinding with the dremel. I forgot to take a picture after I drilled out these areas.

[Tim Mertinooke]

Here is the finished rudder tube. It is flush from the bottom of the tube to the opening of the hole all the way around. I'm not sure if this area ever leaked, but no there's not a chance.





Pardon the spider colony part way up the tube.

[Tim Mertinooke]

I sanded smooth the initial coating of thickened epoxy over the propeller apperture. I applied a final coat this morning. This should completely seal the area so that no water can migrate.

[Tim Mertinooke]

Here is the view after the final fairing coat of epoxy cured and was sanded smooth. The area is now completely covered with epoxy so it should stay dry. Paint was applied yesterday. My launch date is tentatively scheduled for June 9th.




Finished product.

[bill@ariel231]

Tim

good looking glasswork. I see you cut back the bottom paint near your cockpit drains. Are the original tubes in place or have you refit with seacocks?

Bill

[Tim Mertinooke]

Bill, the original tubes are still there and will be for this season. New bronze seacocks will happen next fall. I'm also going to replace the standing rigging including chainplates this fall/winter, maybe spring depending on weather. Slowly but surely this boat will regain all of its integrity and then some.

As I thought about where potential water ingression occurs the through hulls came to mind. As I looked closely at them I noticed a few spots that were void of any kind of filler. I decided to grind the area out a little and then put on some thickened epoxy. This is a temporary fix to get me through this season as I will be removing the tubes later.


This is the view as it appeared before I went at it with a grinder.






After some quick grinding it was apparent that there were gaps between the tube and hull. I don't think water would get to the bilge due to the glassing of the tube on the cabin side of the hull, but it's a quick pre-emptive strike against a possible problem. My dream is to throw the boat in the water this June and have it not leak one drop. One thin coat of thickened epoxy should take care of this potential problem.


I just ordered some silicon bronze bolts, nuts, and washers which will be used to hold the rudder shoe and strap to the hull in place of the pins that were destroyed upon their removal. My plan is to have the rudder put back on this weekend using 5200 as the bedding compound. Once the rudder is put back on I will be putting my efforts toward the interior so that it is habitable this summer. Fun Fun!

[Tim Mertinooke]

I finished getting the shoe ready to be mounted the other day by making a form fit on the keel for it to fit into. The original setting of the shoe had a large gap of about an inch at the aft end that was filled with a bedding compound. I want the shoe to be set completely on epoxy with little if any play. My plan is to put the shoe in a ziplock bag then goop a large amount of epoxy onto the bag where the shoe and keel meet. Then with a jack set the shoe in place. I put the rudder back on temporarily to get the fit correct.








Once the epoxy began to kick I carefully cut the bag with a razor blade leaving a small lip to hold onto to peel the bag off once completely cured.









The shoe was easily removed. I released the jack and it came right off.



The plastic bag peeled off easy as well once the epoxy cured.




You can see in the last two pictures that there were a few small places where the bag wrinkled. I just sanded these area a little then coated with a thin film of thickened epoxy to fair them. THe end result was a solid epoxy mold for the shoe to fit on like a puzzle piece.






Hole placement and drilling.

This was annoying because whoever drilled the holes in the shoe originally did so in haste. The next two pictures show that all four holes were drilled at slightly different angles. Since I wanted to match the holes I did some measuring, and went at it with a drill. I only missed once and made a corrective drill which you can see in the next post when I mounted the shoe.






The final hole placement after only one slight mis-drill.

[Tim Mertinooke]

I used 3M 5200 as a bedding compound for the rudder shoe and strap. This will provide a nice permanent bond that leaves me the possibility of removal in the future should I need to.




I had trouble finding bronze rods like the originals that held the rudder shoe in place. To compromise I purchased 1/4 inch carrage bolts. They did not have the length I needed to bolt the shoe in place so I filed the holes on one side of the rudder shoe so the carrage bolt would fit and I plan to cut the ends of off the bolts and peen the ends once the 5200 cures the end of this week. I left this area messy so that the peened ends will set in a gasket of 5200. THe area will be carefully cleaned once that is done.






Rudder Strap

The original rudder strap was well worn and ready to be retired. Ebb, our resident wizard generously gave me some bronze stock from which I made a new one. Thanks again Sir! This one should last another 45 years.






I used silicon bronze carraige bolts again for this application like the shoe. This time the length I needed was to be found so I bolted this in place with silicon bronze lock washers and nuts. The strap was bedded in 5200 like the shoe.

[Tim Mertinooke]

In an obsessive compulsive rage I decided to finish removing what was left of the materials Pearson "dumped" into the bilge. I noticed at the very bottom of the bilge beneath the foam was a rubber-like compound that the lead pigs sat on. This was obnoxious to remove, but worth it. I used my trusty wonder bar and a serrated knife to remove it a little bit at a time. Prying, cutting, prying, cutting until it was all removed. What I have now at the bottom of my bilge is fiberglass, poured resin, and some random things set in the resin like a piece of mahogany, and some weird purple sea-shell type things. There is no wonder now that I look at this that water could have percolated down into the laminate then out the shoe through the pin holes. I could also see light through a couple areas where the shoe sets before I did the epoxy work shown in the previous post. I am going to prep the area by removing all of the excess resin stuck to the sides of the bilge. Grind down the random high spots, clean the ara with acetone to remove the nastiness, rough up the area at the very bottom of the bilge and then pour some epoxy in which I hope migrats into the nooks and crannies. This will be followed by a couple layers of fine weave cloth saturated in epoxy. Once that is done the area will be coated with a thin coat of thickened epoxy to make it fair. My goal it to have a smooth clean bilge that does not let water in or out unless directed by me. THe area in the front of this part of the bilge allows water into the keel void found between the lead ballast and the hull. This area will also be sealed with epoxy and laminate. This will be painted with bilgekote once complete. I have no plans to put the lead pigs back in. Once this is done I will mount my new bilge pump.






This stuff is incredibly foul smelling and tough.



A snap shot into the tools and technique.



This is a view after I removed all of this rubber stuff. You can see it is a potpourii of stuff (wood, glass, resin, unknown solids mixed in.) This was certainly shoddy work done by Pearson. The good news is that I am truly at the bottom of my bilge now and if I prep well I should get a good mecahnical bond between the new epoxy and what is there now totally sealing the area off forever. I will hide the sins of those before me.






If you look closely at this picture you can see the purple solid things I was mentioning. They are inbedded in the resin they poured. This is the area directly above the rudder shoe location. I can visualize water making in between these pieces and the resin poured. Covering this should do the trick.

[ebb]

Someday when the ultimate HOW2 on plastic classics is put together, TIM,
you'll have a prominent part in the volume on Hull & Decks.
Great photos!

Kept running into that purple concrete stuff in 338. Because so much of the interior bulkhead and furniture was fitted loose in 338, I think the stuff was a kind of stiff quick set bondo the Factory used to position and tack things in place. Maybe it was colored blue so the workers could see it in relation to all the other plastic laminate and tabbing going on? A late model like 338, I have the feeling the stuff going in was pretty casual and improvisational, nearly everything is 'off' in the boat. Maybe it was the solvents.

While the main bulkhead in 338 is way crooked down bottom, some of the other important pieces like the settees are relatively, relatively, parallel and square. One side is completely removed now and the telltale purple spots were evident in places. A flapwheel on the angle-grinder* mostly disappears it, but it does seem to have been used befor the major tabbing of the bulkheads, furniture and soles.

Yours would be the first 'rubber' padding Pearson used, that I can remember hearing about here. What is the thinking of putting weight in the end of the keel anyway? Must be a MORC regulation? OB vs Atomic4? Certainly our rudders are heavy enough! There's more than 20 pounds of bronze metal in the rudder alone. Then add the shoe, gudgeon, bolts, and tiller head !
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*In the Book of Renovation the angle grinder and flapwheel is the epitome of evil. After using a Festool vac and 5" sander system inside the boat, it's impossible to imagine a horrible job more gratifying. While not as quick in removing material (afterall we are expecting a sander to do the work of a grinder), the experience of working with NO lethal dust and fiberglass particles is mind blowing! While we put on a dustmask, whipping it off we discover the air inside the boat is clean and sweet smelling, with very few sparkling glass nasties floating around. An amazing experience!

The company has a strangle hold on the pricing in the US. No matter who sells it, it's the same price. VERY very expensive. For prepping the inside of a fiberglass classic nothing else comes close.

[SkipperJer]

Tim,
Fill me in on the reasoning behind not putting the lead back in. Thanks for sharing your fine work.