Well my friends the problems never seem to cease. After grinding down all the keel screws poking through the hull, I started to remove the ballast plates. Noticing a dimple on the deck near the mast light wiring I couldn't resist sticking a screw driver into it. After retriving my screw driver from the cabin below I began to explore the extent of the rot. Half way around the mast on the port side and from the mast box to the cabin front is gone. The hole extends about 6" on one side of the mast and about 8 on the port. Straight down the cabin bulkhead is rotted at least 6". That is where I quit looking. If anyone wants to mess with this I will be open to offers in a few days. Sadly I've had enough.
Man I'm sorry to hear that Craig are you sure you want to do that? Patching some rot with rot doctor (good stuff for rot) and some new ply sure beats building another boat. Well at least in theory, seriously though you donât think you can fix her?
Brian.
Don't you do it Craig, she's still got life in her she's just in need of a little CPR. I've got to check my mast box as well though, the drain hole is looking a bit soft.
Keith
Wow! This is really sad news. A fate I would certainly fear! I'm curious as to what you think is the reason this area got wet like that to cause all this damage. Do you think something could have been done to avoid this? Is this something we should all keep our eyes open for? I'm finally going to be on the water in a couple of weeks and I'm wondering what weaknesses to keep an eye on. I've been thinking of sealing the mast where it goes down through the deck with caulk in an attempt to keep it as dry as possible. On the other hand, I've cut away a portion of the mast box down below to give me access to the bottom of the box so I can keep an eye on any moisture. All I have to do is raise the mast about six inches and I can get in there to dry her out. If I caulk, I wouldn't be able to do that, It would be able to get air though.
Cut it out, build a better box, and throw another sheet of ply over the deck. The more wood up front, the better.
Truthfully, I think my Wolf, has taken more abuse from exposer to the weather, than actual sailing. She's hard to keep dry, and I can't wait to get her under some real cover. I worry about that nasty dry rot, too.
Being the first boat I built, I wonder just how long she will last. My wood skills aren't exactlly professional grade. :oops:
My friend's, Loon, is almost twenty years old. And although the bottom is a single, 24 foot sheet of marine ply.
hock: The sides and decks, are just regular stuff. Just wood, glue, tar, and paint, no epoxy or glass. Still floats.
Patching the old girl, will be cheaper than building another boat.
But then, are you just trying to break it to us slow like, Craig? One of those dusty boat plans calling to you? We'll all understand :wink:
Could you post a picture so I could better understanding?
The best thing you can do with the mast box is cut it off the boat, as it doesn't do a darned thing structurally except add weight and complication to the build, plus produce a fine place for moisture to collect. Mast box issues are a common complaint on these designs and I've often wondered why the issue hasn't been addressed in subsequent plan sets. Rudder boxes have had an equal amount of complaint and rot issues, why use either, when better and simpler techniques are available.
To the novice builder, these things are unknown, but after the number of plans that have been sold and the feed back, here and else where, clearly things could be revised.
Compression loads (which are relatively light on gaffers) are carried by the bulkhead, athwart tensional loads carried by the decking, both more then capable. A stiffener of additional plywood running athwartship at the mast hole would address any undue strains the rig might impose. With this simple change, mast rake could be adjusted to address weather helm issues or lift a boom clear of a wife's head, etc., just like all other boats.
Craig, give it a few days until the pain subsides a touch, then have another look see. A couple of backing blocks of plywood and it seems you be fixed up in the deck and bulkhead areas. This is only a few hours of wood butchery. You don't have to be too neat about it, considering it location.
I saw a while that back someone had an Idea to keep water from going through the mast hole I am in the process of doing just that with a twist.
First off I plan on raising up a lip around the hole with 1"x. then mark a spot on the mast stub to add some 1x2". Cut a notch about 1/8" around the stub to fit the 1x2" so that it hangs over the 1x around the hole. That way it will divert any water away from the hole.
The twist is I plan on cutting the front off of my mast box leaving the top few inches and bottom few inches (like bands) and definitely leaving the back attached to the bulkhead as it will never move.
I donât think I will have much rot in the plywood dept. as I used merenti and okkume, and I did put it to the test, a year and a half submerged and it dried out fine, no rot or delamintion
Brian.
The deck damage was caused bya leaking seal around an electric cable taking power up to the mast head lights. Just a few drops in there every time she is washed will do it. Apparently the 4200 delaminated fromthe plastic insulation onthe cable. The hole was drilled to route the wire from the cabin to the mast and was not sealed with epoxy. ANY END GRAIN or PLYWOOD ENDS NEED TO BE SEALED NO MATER WHERE IT IS!! A cut piece or a hole drilled through the ply is an open invitation for the plys to wick water. Bolt holes should be drilled over sized, filled with epoxy and then drilled down to the needed size through the epoxy plug. End cuts should be sealed with two coats of poxy or encapsulated with glass and resin. Failure to do this will result inthe problems many of us are having after a few years of use on these boats. These are things that are wwell known to professional boat and seasoned amature boat builders. We need to start a Best Practices File for the rest of us to capture the lessons hard learned to share with new builders.
Why not mount the tabernacle to the bulkhead and put several layers of fiberglass at the deck and tabernacle joint, then forget the mast box? I would bet that one of our master boat builders could come up with a good retro fit that would fit all 3 of the cruisers with mast boxes. Then this new version would be available for new builders and old alike to solve this problem.