Should I? No, I can make all the repairs with the deck on, I'll just be a little cramped."
This was getting me nowhere, so it was time to make a POA.
Remove the rubrail and check things out.
I used a heat gun to warm up the rail and make it more pliable.
Remove the rubrail and check things out.
I used a heat gun to warm up the rail and make it more pliable.
This strategy worked well and the it came off without much trouble.
From what I could tell the deck and hull are held together with a sealant and rivets. I have read from others that the adhesive used to seal this joint is 3M 5200. According to Don Casey in Sailboat Refinishing, a polyurethane sealant, such as 5200, has a max seal life of about 10 years.
After removing the rubrail and investigating the joint it was clear that the joint has been compromised for quit some time. Kpeting is 35 years old...so, as expected the sealant has reached the end of its life.
The glass was in bad shape. It seemed to me that only the rivets were holding the deck and the hull together. After going down below and checking out the joint, it was clear how bad the situation was. There was light coming through the seam everywhere.
Something had to be done. I was contemplating patching the gaps with an epoxy mix, but it didn't sit well with me. My internal struggle about whether or not to crack the boat in half was over.
I drilled all of the rivets and punched them out. I am not sure if I'm going to re-rivet the boat together again, but I highly doubt it.
The glass around one of the chainplates was in incredibly bad shape. This area is going to have to be rebuilt...later.
Once the rivets were all punch out I cut through the sealent with a sawzall. It took almost no effort to cut through it.
As you can see:
The next symbolically frightening step was to lift the deck off...there's no going back now.
I am glad that I did this and now I can contemplate bigger projects like reballasting the boat and stiffening the hull.
The only other boat project that I have done was on a Pearson 26, a relatively larger boat. This may be the cause, but I am continually shocked at how flimsy and under built this boat seems to be.
I have only read good things about Com-Pac 16s, but I have to say that so far I am less than impressed with the care that was taken in building this little ship.
The glass layup seems subpar in many areas, there were almost no backing plates behind any of the hardware, and the concrete looks like it was poured haphazardly. This is not a boat that I would want to take into the ocean.
Perhaps my expectations are a little too high for this boat, but I hope that one day I can say with confidence that she is a stout little microcruiser.
From what I could tell the deck and hull are held together with a sealant and rivets. I have read from others that the adhesive used to seal this joint is 3M 5200. According to Don Casey in Sailboat Refinishing, a polyurethane sealant, such as 5200, has a max seal life of about 10 years.
After removing the rubrail and investigating the joint it was clear that the joint has been compromised for quit some time. Kpeting is 35 years old...so, as expected the sealant has reached the end of its life.
The glass was in bad shape. It seemed to me that only the rivets were holding the deck and the hull together. After going down below and checking out the joint, it was clear how bad the situation was. There was light coming through the seam everywhere.
Something had to be done. I was contemplating patching the gaps with an epoxy mix, but it didn't sit well with me. My internal struggle about whether or not to crack the boat in half was over.
The glass around one of the chainplates was in incredibly bad shape. This area is going to have to be rebuilt...later.
Once the rivets were all punch out I cut through the sealent with a sawzall. It took almost no effort to cut through it.
As you can see:
The next symbolically frightening step was to lift the deck off...there's no going back now.
I am glad that I did this and now I can contemplate bigger projects like reballasting the boat and stiffening the hull.
The only other boat project that I have done was on a Pearson 26, a relatively larger boat. This may be the cause, but I am continually shocked at how flimsy and under built this boat seems to be.
I have only read good things about Com-Pac 16s, but I have to say that so far I am less than impressed with the care that was taken in building this little ship.
The glass layup seems subpar in many areas, there were almost no backing plates behind any of the hardware, and the concrete looks like it was poured haphazardly. This is not a boat that I would want to take into the ocean.
Perhaps my expectations are a little too high for this boat, but I hope that one day I can say with confidence that she is a stout little microcruiser.
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