Forward berth semi-final

The good news is that I puled together everything to get the motor running.

Note to self: If the previous owner give you a beat-up fuel can and tells you its never been tested, don't trust it. When I started to fill it with new gas, the first thing I found out was that it leaked. This required a dash to Wal-mart to find a replacement before I doused the fuel station.

Check out this rudder mount. It seems to be after factory. There is a bracket at the very bottom I've no idea what is is for. Also, why would this bracket be threaded? The boat did not come with a pin, so I checked the diameter and found a SS bolt. Fits perfectly in both the rudder and the bracket.


I also put up the mast. Besides not having any pins to connect the stays, only one side stay was missing the turn-buckle hardware used to tighten the rigging. Since this was a test run, I rigged a temp connection. I'll make a run to West Marine to get the required parts later. The one big cost will be the rear stay. It is unraveling. I can probably build one myself, but a professional job is usually recommended.

Don't be alarmed by the Pacifica in the foreground. It is only good for moving the boat around in the driveway. It protests whenever I've used it for the smallest task.

I've glassed the underside of the panels in the forward berth and have them in place. It is foam-filled and sealed around all the edges with epoxy. Getting the V sealed to all angles was a pain. I've gone through three sets of Latex gloves thus far. I've found that they simply break down after being exposed to the chemicals. Buy plenty.



After sanding and re-sanding the edges, I came back with colored epoxy and strips of fiberglass sheets. I discovered my work went well as I forgot to close the forward hatch and it rained hard over night. Water is sitting on top of the platform with no where to go.

This is a before picture of the forward rib. I was 1/2" plywood. If you look close, the bottom two inches are rotted through. Someone may have figured there had to be a better way to get water out of the forward berth and cut it.

Here is an after shot. I've placed the new rib. It was a treated 2x12 with an additional 2x4 underneath.

I used cardboard to make a pattern, being careful to match every hull contour. It buts up against the forward edge of the keel housing for an additional anchor point. Once I built it, I gooped on shorthair epoxy along the bottom edges and slapped it into place. Hardening time is about 10 minutes. With clean-up and repositioning, you have to move fast.

That was a new shopvac when I started this project. It is already starting to wheeze with the effort.