Bulkhead replacement and pretty'ing it up

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 3:21 pm

Howdy Y'all,

I bit the bullet yesterday and cut out the port settee in our Harstad, in prep for replacing the sole. This allowed me to inspect part of the forward port salon bulkhead for rot, which I've suspected for some time....bingo. It appears the rot is localized to where the water had sat in the hull during a PO's tenure. My preliminary plan, based on something I'd seen on another site and on my desire to not totally destroy this structural bulkhead, is to shore up the deck from below with a 2x4 frame, then cut out the bottom quarter of bulkhead, and replace that section with a new piece of plywood. Should be a fairly straitforward job, as I have access to both sides of the bulkhead, and the compression post is in line with this bulkead atwartships, so it should give the majority of support already. I figure once I get the old piece cut out, I can grind down the tabbing on the hull and tab in a new piece, epoxy gluing it with a butt joint to the rest of the bulkhead. Can any of you wise boat builders forsee any hitches with this plan?

Secondly, when this is all done, I'd like to glue a teak (or something, haven't decided yet) laminate over the bulkhead to pretty it up. Without actually screwing the laminate to the bulkhead, how whould I go about clamping the laminate to the bulkhead?

Thanks,
Tony Orchard
[url=http:\\www.geocities.com\wilfite\Harstad001.html]S/V Solace[/url][/url]

Figment · Post by **Figment** » Thu Jun 17, 2004 9:03 am

That's pretty much what I had to do with the outer portion of my starboard forward-end-of-settee bulkhead. The only thing I would add to your process would be to feather the edges of the plywood butt-joint down so that you could strip in some fiberglass tape to give some shear strength to the joint, and then fair it flat again before laying your new veneer. Then again, this may be overkill, as you say that your compression post is immediately adjacent.

As for adhering the new veneer... I'd say to use contact cement so that clamping pressure isn't an issue. Or, I suppose you could vacuum-bag it.

dust control.
dust control.
dust control.
Airborne fiberglass dust gets EVERYWHERE. I'm still finding it in places that boggle my mind.

Post by **Tim** » Thu Jun 17, 2004 1:17 pm

Another way to clamp thin plywood or a veneer on your bulkhead would be to build some sort of horizontal "dead men"--that is, roughly T-shaped braces with a wide bearing surface at the top, which would would press in place and brace against adjacent cabinetry or what have you. This is an effective way to press items together without fasteners.

It's not a bad idea to lay one layer of tabbing across the new joint in your bulkhead repair, though it's probably not strictly necessary. Still, it would ensure that the joint could not slip part when placed under compression or tension. You could eaily rout a 1/8" deep rabbett in each bulkhead face, so that your tabbing would be flush and easily faired in. Or grind in a taper, as Mike indicated. You only need one good layer of tabbing here; don't fall into the trap of using too much. I would choose some heavy biax for this.

Otherwise, your plan is sound. Good luck with the job!

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Thu Jun 17, 2004 1:35 pm

Thanks guys,
I hadn't thought about contact cement...I'll try that. As far as dust control, in the fab at Intel where I work, particle containment is VERY important. If we have a tool move, we use plastic sheeting and totally contain these areas by taping the sheeting to surrounding surfaces...you wind up with the containment tent from ET appearance, but it's remarkably effective...the key is to clean up the area BEFORE you open it up again...I figured I do the same thing.

Regards,