Project Log: Saturday, February 12, 2011
To continue my piecemeal approach to the engine room
bulkheads and, ultimately, the pilothouse sole, I
installed hardwood cleats on the inboard edge of the new
transverse bulkheads I installed yesterday; these cleats
would provide a bearing surface for and accept screws
from the new sections of longitudinal bulkhead that
would bring the height up above sole level. I
secured the cleats with bronze screws and epoxy adhesive
for additional strength. |
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I reinforced the new bulkheads by adding epoxy
fillets where they met the hull, which I covered with 6"
biaxial tabbing. I also tabbed over the seam
between the bulkhead and the section beneath. |
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Next, I completed some additional layout and confirmed
some of the measurements I'd taken earlier, then
prepared two sections of plywood of appropriate
dimension to bring the bulkheads up to my desired layout
lines (i.e. roughly 48" from the top of the existing
transverse forward engine room bulkhead).
While checking the fit, I made additional level layout
lines for the pilothouse sole supports. Because
there was no access to the back side of the bulkhead
once installed, I elected to build and install the
longitudinal sole support cleats first. Normally,
I would have build these from hardwood, but since I
didn't have material of the appropriate size and type on
hand, I built the cleats in place from two layers of
18mm Meranti plywood, which I laminated to each other
(and to the bulkhead) with epoxy and bronze screws
before adding four through bolts to finalize the
installation. |
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With the cleats installed, I secured the new bulkheads
in place with epoxy adhesive and more bronze screws into
the various cleats already in position, then reinforced
the seam with 6" biaxial tabbing. There was a
slight bow to the port bulkhead (the lower section), so
I added the brace seen in these photos to hold it in the
proper alignment while the epoxy and tabbing cured
overnight. |
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Total Time Today: 5.25 hours
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