Keel Repairs

 May 2013                      Keel Repairs

It looks like that the winter slowly is going over into spring, at least the temperatures at night are getting above 5° Celsius which means that I’m able to get some parts glued in.

One of the underwater ship projects left is the replacement of a part of the keel.

The most forward part of the keel where it meets the bow is split and looks rotten.

Although I have checked the inside and the wood of the inside part of the keel is sound and good.

First it was decided till how far the wood would be removed. Than the bolts which hold the inner keel against the outer keel were removed and it showed directly that water ingress had been around the threads of the bolts resulting in some rot in the wood.

When all hardware was removed the wood needed to be removed.

First attempt was with a plainer which did work but was not wide enough for removing all wood in one run at the time. The good news was that the wood was not as rotten as expected but just cracked.

Next attempt was with a tiger saw, reciprocating saw with a long saws blade.

Did worked well but as expected the cut line was not 100% straight.

After several hours working I was satisfied with the form of the removed wood by sanding and shaping the form to a more square form where the new wood would be fitted in.

The next step was that a template was made from a piece of scrap wood and fitted against the hull.

This form was than checked on both sides of the keel at the position of the removed wood and then drawn onto a piece of wood for the new to be shaped keel.

The new piece was shaped out a square beam of 150 X 150 mm.

During the fitting the new piece was regular fitted against the hull and in steps shaped to the best possible fitting.

One should take care during the fitting that the new keel will fit flat against the hull otherwise one will find large gaps on one side and a perfect fitting on the other which creates extra work or the chance that too much wood is removed from one side.

Therefore I used a support with kegs to fit the new piece as straight as possible against the actual bottom of the boat.

When I was satisfied with the fitting of the new piece especially where it meets the old keel under an angle the new piece was fitted with kegs against the hull in such a way that it was in the right position and as tight as possible against the hull.

It was than possible to drill the holes from inside out through the new keel for the threaded rods which fix the inside keel against the outside keel.

Nuts were tightened and another check was performed if the fit between new and old was satisfactory.

New keel was then removed and shaped for a better fit on the sides and bottom, it is easier to perform this task when the new keel is not mounted yet, but I made sure that at least 1mm on both sides would stick out for final sanding.

The new keel was removed, threaded rods as well.

Now the new keel was fitted with seal and glue from Sikaflex pretty large amount was used to make sure that no holes would be between the old and new wood, so at least 200 ml was forced out between the old and new keel but I was sure now that a 100% coverage of the kit was between old and new wood.

At the same time it was made sure that the threaded rods were covered with kit before they were pushed into the holes for the rod, this to make sure that a water tight seals would be created.

After drying of the kit, which took several days, the new keel was sanded in shape to fit the old keel, bow beam and hull.

To make sure that the shaping would be similar port side and starboard side the stainless steel rubbing stroke was fitted temporarily against the new keel. This way shaping was done by following the rubbing stroke.

Picture 10

After the final sanding was finished the wood was protected with linseed oil like the rest of the hull.

Floor Board Cabins

February 2013                      Floor boards Cabins

Winter time is not a good time to work outside, the work done during the last summer 2012 and the autumn resulted in that the boat was more or less closed windows in place and all the decks in place again.

Boat was covered around the bow and aft cabin with tarp to protect the boat from water ingress, not through the deck but through the windows which were in place but not sealed yet.

During the installation of the teak on the deck more than several short pieces were left over as well as some full lengths, since I was not pleased with the original installed rubber mats on the floors of the cabins it was decided to install teak on the floor boards.

In between the teak planks is a gap of 6 mm which normally is filled with Sika flex black or white neither of them were appealing to me therefore I have filled the gap with wood strips made from European Ash ( Fraxinus Excelsior).

These strips were cut 6.2 mm X 6.5 mm from a beam. The reason for this seize is that it will fill the gap completely of 6 mm and the strip sticks out above the actual teak planks, with the idea that when the teak planks are glued onto the actual floor board that they are pushed into the glue for a tight fit.

With the teak planks installed on the floor boards instead of the rubber mats the distance between the floor and the ceiling will become less, this will be solved by removing wood with a router at the position of the supports under the floor board, thus regaining the original distance between the floor boards and the ceiling.

First step was to find out how much teak was actually needed and what could be done with the available teak.

It took some time and moving short pieces around to be able to cover all floor boards in the 3 cabins, not the steering cabin.

Second step was to remove the rubber from the plywood floorboards, this was not to simple since they were glued in place with contact cement.

After trying several methods tried , one of which heating the rubber in the hope that the glue would let loose or get soft I found that the best method was to place a thin piece of metal between the wood and the actual rubber math and so piece by piece separating both.

When the rubber removed from the wood  glue residue was left and the only way to remove this was to scrape it off I have tried to sand it off with a sander, different types as well as heat but found that the best method was to just scrape the glue.

Than the wood was sanded and all paint and glue residue were removed this is needed to get a good contact between the glue and the wooden floor and teak planks.

Right side of the picture is sanded left side after scraping.

Next was the actually teak plank installation on the wood floor panels.

First were the sides of the teak cut to seize this was done while the floor board was in place, I found that the original floor boards were not always cut to the exact space available on the floor and therefore some adjustments were made with the teak sides where in between the teak planks were placed.

I have tried two methods for installing the teak on top of the floor boards one was to install the 3 sides first and glue them in place, next step was to install the teak planks in between the 3 sides and glue them in place at the same time fitting the 4^th side of the floor board. The next day the wooden Ash strips would be fitted in between the teak planks. I found that this was very difficult mainly due to the fact that not all grooves were the same width sometimes a difference between ½ till 1 mm which made it almost impossible to get a good fit between the teak planks and the Ash strips.

Second method worked out much better.

First were the 4 sides of teak rims installed on top of the floor boards and glued in place.

Than the teak planks were cut to fit while at the same time the Ash strips were dry fitted between the teak planks. When all fitted to my satisfactory the planks and strips were marked to make sure that all was glued in the same position as dry fitted.

I have used two component epoxy glue mainly because the planks are short and will remain dry in contrary with deck planks. One can also use bedding compound of course.

As mentioned in the beginning the Ash strips were slightly wider and higher that the groove between tow teak planks when glued in place they were sticking out.

When now clamps are placed over the just installed teak planks the Ash strips are pushing the teak planks into the glue making sure that they will remain in place.

Before gluing the teak planks down one has to make sure that they are de-greased the same way as is done with deck teak planks. The wooden clamps are taped at the bottom with Duct tape to prevent that they will glue together with the teak planks.

When all is dried and after the first sanding it is possible, at least I experienced it that there are some minor gaps between the teak planks and the ash strips as well as at the end of the teak planks and the teak side strips. I have filled those with teak saw dust mixed with epoxy glue to remain in the same color after sanding.

Than sanding again and making sure that all is flat and sanded in the right grain.

I have used a band sander to remove the high spots only, which were the Ash strips. Than a rotary sander to make the surface as smooth and clean as possible and as last a flat square finishing sander which was used in the length of the teak planks so removing and scratches out of the wood as a result of the rotary sander.

The wood was than treated with Owatrol D1 oil in the first place to protect it for the rest of the winter and in the second place it is a natural oil for preserving the teak planks.

Also I think that maintenance in the future will be easier over varnished teak planks.

And I’m pleased with the result below picture of the two aft cabin floor boards.

Since the tight fit of the wooden floor boards with teak it was difficult to lift them not only due to weight increase. I did not want to drill round holes in them as original but installed a flush mount hatch ring.

Although this sound simple one has to start to drill and cut in the just finished teak planks and a mistake is easily made.

First is to decide where the hatch rings will need to be installed so that is visually nice as well as in an area where the floor board can be lifted easy.

I have used a hole saw to make the round hole for the actual ring house, and the rest of the wood was removed with various chisels. I made sure that last thing done was to cut the exact size of the rectangular hatch ring was cut out of the wood. This was done just before the fitting in place of the hatch ring.

As can be seen from the following pictures the result is in my opinion satisfactory, at least I do see this as an upgrade to the boat.

Picture of aft cabin original

Picture of the aft cabin with 3 floor boards in place two sanded and one in one layer of oil

Picture of aft cabin with finished floor boards in oil and with hatch rings.

Next picture shows the main cabin with the door which shows the difference between the original floor covering and the teak planks.

The last picture shows the main cabin with the front cabin with finished floor boards and installed hatch rings, one can see that the lines in the teak planks continue from the main cabin into the forward cabin.

What is left is the final installation of the teak planks under the table, left side of the picture, this will be done in a later stage since other work is planned in the same area and under the to be re-installed table.

Repairs Steering Cabin

                                          Repairs Steering Cabin

The next step in replacing rotten wood was the upper plank of both sides of the steering cabin. These planks are fitted under the polyester covering on which the window frames is placed of the steering cabin.

The main reason in my opinion for the rotting of the wood to be started is that where two pieces of the polyester are meeting no proper seal was installed or has been disappeared over the years. This resulted that water could ingress between the polyester part and the wood not only resulting in that the upper plank was rotten away but also resulting in rotten wood on the inside of the forward cabin and the wet cell. Earlier repairs were made with looks like polyester but the root course was not attended according to me, the gap between both polyester parts.

The plank was removed until the original connection with the other side plank. Rotten support wood on the inside of the removed plank, which supports the window frames, was removed as well. From the inside the window frame was supported to make sure that when the plank was removed the position remained the same thus preventing that after the repairs the window still could be opened.

New wood was glued in place with colored epoxy and kept in place with supports from the inside with wooden blocks. The new plank was shaped in such a way that the angle was the same as the original plank. This to prevent that in future water ingress can happen.

The plank was than screwed in place as original onto the window frame support beams, holes were plugged. To make sure that the plank is protected from water ingress a large amount of epoxy was inserted into the space between the polyester and the inside support beams, more or less the not visible part of the plank is embedded into epoxy.

After both sides were in place all was sanded at the same time all old screw holes in the sides were drilled out and filled with plugs. The reason for this is that the wood showed a start of rot on the positions were screws were inserted and where screw holes poked through from the inside.

When both sides were sanded forward to aft port as well as starboard side the old sealant was removed between the polyester roof and sides. After cleaning and de-greasing new silicone seal was inserted in this opening. Painters tape was used and removed before the silicone dried.

Cracks between the two polyester parts were closed and glued together and both sides of the cabin were sanded again.

Instead of using varnish for protecting the wood I have used Owatrol Deks Olje D1 and D2. I have followed the instructions as can be found on the internet, it took 15 layers of D1 oil before the wood was saturated the next step was to apply the D2 oil which was another 6 layers.

Main reason for using Oil instead of varnish is that the D1 oil penetrated deeper into the wood than varnish and in my opinion protects the wood better from weather influences.