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Storm Damage Page 4
This page was last updated on 14 June 2002

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Rebuilding the Anchor Platform       Repairs to the Foredeck     Installing the New Platform

Repairing the Damaged Foredeck

Finally, a good day arrived, weatherwise, and I prepared to work on the foredeck that was damaged by my removal of the old anchor platform (as well as some minor delamination).  As early as I could, I was down at the boat in the calm of the morning, and had it into the dock in short order.

First, I removed the duct tape over the temporary polysulfide patches I made, and then scraped off as much of the caulk as I could.  Then, armed with my trusty Porter Cable and some 40 grit discs (ouch!!!), I sanded away the bad material, some of the deck paint, and beveled the edges as necessary around the broken areas.  The toerail and other parts of the boat were covered with salt deposits, and of course all the sanding dust stuck perfectly to the salt, leaving the whole bow of the boat white.  Gross!

 

drillholes2.JPG (146921 bytes)Next, I chucked up a 1/2" bit and drilled a series of holes through the damaged area and delaminated area that I found during my removal, in preparation for filling with epoxy and resecuring the deck.  The core came up dry in the holes, which was good news. 
 

I spent a bit of time sweeping up the copious amounts of sanding dust and disposing of it; then, because I can't just hose off the area with all the exposed core, I sponged off the salty, dusty toerails and other areas that I wouldn't be able to get with a hose, and then washed the whole deck down from that point aft.  (It needed it anyway.)  After cleaning the area to be patched with acetone, I mixed up a batch of epoxy thickened with silica and my usual low density filler material and applied it into the holes and other areas as necessary, sealing the whole area, resecuring damaged areas of the deck laminate, and filling the holes through the delaminated part of the deck to solidify it.  I also filled a small area where I had removed the core that became exposed as I ground out the top surfaces--or partly filled it, anyway--it will require another application, or maybe two.  To help hold parts of the top skin down, I duct taped over the top of the repair.  I had to be careful an hour or two later when I returned to my mooring to make sure I didn't drip water from the lines all over the new epoxy, so I wrapped the lines in a towel until things dried out a bit, before moving the second line over to the other side where it belongs.  The epoxy cured quickly in the hot sun, so later in the day I removed the duct tape.  I left it to cure fully before continuing.
 

Several days later, I arrived to fill the remaining hole with epoxy and level the whole area out.  I intend to install a few layers of cloth over most of the area, so the smoother the better to begin with.  My first step was to scrub the patches with a Scotchbrite pad and water to remove amine blush, then sand the initial application with 40 grit (by hand, for convenience).  Then, I mixed up more epoxy goop and troweled it in, smoothing everything out as best as possible.  

After a day off, I returned and once again scrubbed and sanded the new epoxy.  I sanded by hand with 40 grit again, just working to get the high spots sanded and the whole area scuffed up.  Final fairing and such will come a little later on.

With that done, I cut several layers of fiberglass cloth to cover the patch with.  Then, I epoxied them in place, rolling out the layers and making sure they were properly saturated.  The fiberglass covers the entire area of the patch, including the small holes drilled in the core, the area that I recored (well, filled the void with epoxy, really...I didn't bother with a new piece of core), and the seam on the centerline.
 

2ndcoatfairing.JPG (148180 bytes)The next day, I washed the new fiberglass, sanded it (by hand) with 40 grit paper, and troweled on a final coat of fairing putty--enough to fill the weave of the cloth and help taper out the edges of the fiberglass layers.  The whole patch is contained within the nonskid area, so I didn't have to compromise the white Awlgripped strips on the edges of the deck.
 

allsanded.JPG (153380 bytes)A couple days later, I brought the boat back to the dock (for electrical power) on a beautiful, clear, crisp June day.  With my trusty Porter Cable sander and some 80 grit paper (and subsequently 120 and 220 grit), I sanded the patch smooth and fair with the surrounding deck areas.  I didn't worry about absolute perfection since most of this area is going to be hidden beneath the new anchor platform anyway.  When I had the whole area sanded to 220 grit and smooth to my satisfaction, I rinsed off the dust with water (nice being at the dock) and then, after returning to my mooring, masked off the area I was going to paint.
 

deckprimed60302.JPG (143671 bytes)Then, I primed the raw epoxy areas with Bright side primer; in the warm sun, I was able to put two coats on in short order.  I didn't prime over the painted deck areas nearby.  This picture, taken in brilliant sunlight, might give you an idea why painting the decks white would not be a good idea!  The glare is brutal.

deckrepainted60302.JPG (180365 bytes)When the primer had had a couple hours to dry, I rolled on a coat of Brightside Bristol Beige (same as the rest of the deck), using leftover mixed paint from the initial project (including polymeric particles and flattening agent).  After another hour or so, I rolled on a second coat.  I used a small roller with a 3/16" nap mohair roller cover, and a foam brush to cut in a round the pulpit bases.  It was nice to finally see the ugliness covered after three weeks in transition since the initial damage occurred.

All that remains is installing my new, heavy duty anchor platform.  This thing is heavy!!!
 

Installing the New Platform

With the epoxy securing the stainless steel plate to the wooden platform fully cured, I removed the clamps and sanded the whole thing smooth with 220 grit.  I cleaned up a little excess epoxy spillout with my sander, but I had been careful when gluing the pieces together to keep excess epoxy off the varnished wooden platform, so this was a quick process.

As time allowed, I applied a number of coats of gloss varnish (Epifanes) to the wooden sections of the platform.  I ended up with 5 or 6 total coats...a little less than I really want, but I didn't want to hold up completion and installation any longer.  Varnish is an ongoing task regardless, so I'll just do additional coats once the platform is reinstalled.  When the last (for now) coat of varnish dried, I bolted the two anchor rollers in place, since I figured it would be easier in the shop than hanging off the bow of the boat later.  After hefting the platform in the workshop, I decided it would be too heavy to install it with the rollers bolted in place, so I removed them again.

The next day, I prepared to install the platform on the boat.  Installing it is not as simple as one might expect, since it requires removing the headstay, which definitely complicates things a bit.  I knew that I could not do the job alone, so I enlisted the help of Nathan Sanborn (Dasein, #668), who was more than happy to help out.  He couldn't make it till the afternoon, so in the morning I brought the boat to the dock and loaded the very heavy (30 lb.) platform on board and prepared a few other things for the installation later in the day.  I removed the jib from the headstay and unrove the furling line so that we could more easily remove the stay when we needed to, and got all the tools and such ready.
 

As the day wore on, a strong southerly breeze began to blow, kicking up quite a chop in the anchorage--not the best situation for removing stays and working on the bow.  Yuck.  I was worried that we would have to postpone the installation...which I really didn't want to do.  In fact, I basically called it off...but then reconsidered a little later in the afternoon when I came up with the idea of motoring across the way a mile or so to the lee of Clapboard Island, where several moorings are installed (in the cove on the left side of the island on the chart, sort of between the "6" and "11"; my permanent mooring is near York Ledge, about where the depth says "28" a little NE of the ledge).  With the wind coming from the direction it was, I thought it might be smooth enough over there to do the job.  Sure enough, the waves were nearly nonexistent, though the wind still occasionally howled through as the gusts came from more west than south.  But it was OK.  Where are the idyllic days of summer, anyway?

Loosening the backstay as far as it could go (leaving full threads inside the turnbuckle), we ran the jib halyard forward to the mooring bit and tensioned it up, pulling the mast forward somewhat.  Then, we unpinned the headstay from the stem and secured it out of the way temporarily.  During the installation, the jib halyard made some scary sounding creaks and groans as it stretched, so for insurance I ran the spinnaker halyard up there as well.
 

With the headstay out of the way, I installed the platform to see how it fit and to mark for and drill the boltholes, as well as mark off the outline of the "feet" so I could tape around to protect the deck.  I had to cut a small bit of the caprail out so the platform would sit smoothly against the stem, but otherwise the fit was perfect.  (It should have been, since I used the old platform remains for a template.)  Holding it in place, I ran my drill through the predrilled holes in the platform to mark the deck (after aligning the port side holes with the existing, but filled, holes in the deck from the old platform) and drew around the outside of the platform feet with a pencil (obtained from my handy-dandy pencil rack, of course).  Then, removing the platform again (we had a safety line tied to it, just in case), I drilled the holes all the way through the deck and taped off the outline on the deck as well as the platform itself to make caulk cleanup a little easier.

Using a whole 10 oz. tube of 3M 101 polysulfide caulk, I gooped up the deck beneath the feet, with extra around the bolt holes, and the flat stem area forward.  Then we lowered the platform into place and pushed a couple of the 3/8" stainless steel bolts through the holes.  At this point, I was getting nervous with the headstay attached--each wind gust was making the jib halyard creak and groan--so I went below (with Nathan on deck holding the boltheads) and, squeezing myself into the chain locker, tightened up the after two bolts on the platform to hold it in place.  Then we reinstalled the headstay, which went fairly smoothly although we had to crank on the halyard again to pull the mast forward.

With the headstay safely back in place, we finished up by securing the remaining four bolts; I only lost one nut into the chain locker, which was pretty good since I was juggling fender washers, lock washers and nuts for each of the bolts.  (Yes, of course I had extras...)  With all six bolts secured, I cleaned up the excellent caulk squeezeout with a putty knife and paint thinner.  It cleaned up quite easily--much nicer to clean up 101 than 5200!  Suddenly, it looked like my boat again.  The bow just didn't look the same without the bulk of the varnished platform up there for the couple weeks since the damage occurred.  I was surprised and pleased at how smoothly everything went.  Including motoring time over to Clapboard, we had pretty much wrapped up the worst of the project within 1-1/2 - 2 hours.

We reinstalled the jib on the furler, cleaned up the tools, and returned across the way to my mooring, where we enjoyed a well-deserved cold beer.  I am thrilled to have this project behind me; now perhaps I can concentrate on hiding that ugly scar on my hull.
 

bruceroller1.JPG (174849 bytes)crqroller1.JPG (176324 bytes)The next day, I returned and bolted the two anchor rollers in place.  This was an easy job since the holes were all pre-drilled and ready to go.  The stainless plate on the bottom of the anchor platform acts as a big backing plate, but I used fender washers and lock washers too.  I didn't bring the anchors back out yet because I didn't feel like bringing the boat into the dock, but they'll be back on board soon.    I reattached the stainless half-oval molding salvaged from the old platform to protect the platform and the mooring lines from chafe, and the project was more or less complete.  
 

How will I prevent whatever happened from happening again?  Click here to see the new anchor storage arrangement.

Click here to continue with the final repairs to the storm-damaged hull in the bow.

 


Glissando, Pearson  Triton #381
www.triton381.com 

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