Ideas/Suggestions for 'Drying Out' Bulkheads

[tpenfield]

Re: Ideas/Suggestions for 'Drying Out' Bulkheads

Mid-winter update:

The 'hole drilling' in the various parts of the structure has not really provided enough evaporation of moisture. So, today, I took out the cutting wheels and opened up some surface area of the firewall bulkhead and center engine stringer, as those were the areas of highest moisture concentration.

Here are a few photos of the progress. . .

Cut-out lines made with the cutting wheel on the center stringer . . . this is the same area where I had drilled a couple of holes to get a direct moisture reading.


Then it was a matter for the hammer and chisel . . . along with a pry bar. Here is the wood core exposed . . . pretty wet.



I made a bigger cut-out area on the bulkhead. . . I was expecting to see some rot progression in this area, but it was still solid and managed to put up a bit of a fight.



I am glad that I am doing this now, instead of a couple of years from now . I will probably open a couple more areas next weekend, when I have some more time to 'play'.

The game plan would be to then apply heat and ventilation to these exposed areas to more aggressively 'pull' water out of the wood structure. We shall see how it goes. . .

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Ideas/Suggestions for 'Drying Out' Bulkheads

Go ahead and skin those things out like a catfish Ted, corner to corner and top to bottom. The more wood you expose, the quicker it'll dry out.

I suspect you'll be able to come back in a month and cut out another patch 6" away from those and you'll still find wet wood.

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: Ideas/Suggestions for 'Drying Out' Bulkheads

Looks kind black and rotted out to me.

Bummer mate.

YD.

 

[tpenfield]

Re: Ideas/Suggestions for 'Drying Out' Bulkheads

Looks kind black and rotted out to me.

Bummer mate.

YD.

Yea, I have a feeling that the lower part of the center stringer may be more 'black' than 'pale' in color. I'm going to expose some of the lower portion next weekend along with the starboard side of the bulkhead to see for sure.

Then it will be time to decide on the chemotherapy treatment . . .

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Ideas/Suggestions for 'Drying Out' Bulkheads

Then it will be time to decide on the chemotherapy treatment . . .

Have you considered electroshock therapy?... not for the boat, for you!:laugh:

Depends on how solid the black stuff is, after all you did make it drink the poison so hopefully the rot is dead.

I'd dry everything out completely and then start poking with a sharp implement, if the black doesnt go too deep you could fillet it off with a good sharp wood chisel and fair/fill over it.

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: Ideas/Suggestions for 'Drying Out' Bulkheads

Time to think about a full resto..

YD.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Ideas/Suggestions for 'Drying Out' Bulkheads

If I remember correctly, it was just these bulkheads that showed wet in the survey eh Ted? Transom and stringers were fine?

 

[tpenfield]

Re: Ideas/Suggestions for 'Drying Out' Bulkheads

Yup, just this bulkhead . . . it is feeding the center-mount stringer though. The main stringers look good, so that is why I am going after this to prevent the bulkhead from trashing the stringers, etc. ('cuz I've been there and done that)

 

[tpenfield]

Re: Ideas/Suggestions for 'Drying Out' Bulkheads

Have you considered electroshock therapy?... not for the boat, for you!:laugh:

Depends on how solid the black stuff is, after all you did make it drink the poison so hopefully the rot is dead.

I'd dry everything out completely and then start poking with a sharp implement, if the black doesnt go too deep you could fillet it off with a good sharp wood chisel and fair/fill over it.

No, just therapy

It was a bit hard to tell if the 'black' area was rot or if it was just the resin layer of the wood, because when I pried the FG skin, the plywood tended to fracture in some of the areas. Here is one of the pieces that I 'skinned' . . .



You can see it separated at the resin layer, which looks dark. The wood in both areas was very wet, but still solid. So, with the two other areas that I plan on opening up next weekend, I'll be applying heat and letting everything dry out for a while.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Ideas/Suggestions for 'Drying Out' Bulkheads

Kind of makes you wonder about the integrity of the plywood with those pieces sticking to the f'glass like that, or did you penetrate a little too deep with the chisel during skinning procedures?

 

[tpenfield]

Re: Ideas/Suggestions for 'Drying Out' Bulkheads

Kind of makes you wonder about the integrity of the plywood with those pieces sticking to the f'glass like that, or did you penetrate a little too deep with the chisel during skinning procedures?

I would say that I went into the wood with the cutting wheel or chisel in some places. . . as you may imagine, it is hard to make an exact depth cut and there is some unevenness to the fiberglass layer.

As I had mentioned, the wood put up a fight as far as wanting to separate from the glass skin. It would probably be a bad sign if the glass just peeled right off.

I'll be interested to see how they look next weekend, in terms of dryness, etc.

 

[tpenfield]

Re: Ideas/Suggestions for 'Drying Out' Bulkheads

Update - March 10th . . .

I cut two more openings in the fiberglass as planned. One area on the center stringer . . . I finally ran into some "dark meat" as I had suspected. . . still solid, but dark.

So, the rot is starting from the bottom up as per usual.

I also skinned an area on the starboard side of the bulkhead . . . looks similar to the other side of the bulkhead . . .



Then, I put a small piece of tarp over the area and started the heating . . . I have been maintaining about 130 degrees air temp in the area . . .



So, it looks like the lower section of the center engine mount stringer is going to need some 'chemotherapy' . . .

. . . I'm thinking that I will drill a series of holes at a downward angle and fill them with E. G. so it can absorb into the stringer over time.

I'll post some more pics once the thing has been drying out for a week or so . . .

 

[tommays]

Re: Ideas/Suggestions for 'Drying Out' Bulkheads

I feel your pain

For lack of two hours of care over 40 years a fairly important part is comprised badly

Careful probing found it had gone with the vertical grain but not much horizontally

Some strategic painting and looks and holding up the mast was saved

 

[tommays]

Re: Ideas/Suggestions for 'Drying Out' Bulkheads

In other areas i was not so lucky

But you chip away sat it and bit by bit you get your boat back

And after the paint the pain is gone

 

[tpenfield]

Re: Ideas/Suggestions for 'Drying Out' Bulkheads

Is that on the Cal 29 ???? Looks like the forward bulkhead . . .

I'm trying to head-off a replacement by addressing the problems now . . . sailboats are sooo much easier to work on than powerboats; at least from my experience.

 

[tommays]

Re: Ideas/Suggestions for 'Drying Out' Bulkheads

Yes its on the 29 and believe me if you spent the 20 months it took to bring back to life you would not be thinking anything was easy about it

Just different issues like a steel mast step being placed in a wet area of the boat

It was just no fun at all doing that in 13 degree weather

But like i said just keep going

 

[tpenfield]

Re: Ideas/Suggestions for 'Drying Out' Bulkheads

You might want to post all of that work in a thread . . .

 

[tpenfield]

Re: Ideas/Suggestions for 'Drying Out' Bulkheads

Quick 'End of Weekend' Update . . .

The larger areas seem to be much better in terms of drying things out. The wood has dried on the surface with heat applied, but there is more moisture behind the surface still to be pulled out of the bulkhead and stringer. I'll be applying more heat next weekend . . . then maybe some moisture meter readings.

 

[tpenfield]

Re: Ideas/Suggestions for 'Drying Out' Bulkheads

Another update on the bulkhead and stringer drying . . .

The cold weather is so not helping with the drying process. I have put a box fan blowing air through the mid section of the boat's structure and into the bilge. the exposed wood areas are now dry to the touch. I took some moisture readings today, just to see where things are at . .

The center stringer is showing some nice improvement . . . Moisture levels were in the 30-40% range and now are in the 20% range.


The lower portion of the exposed wood was quite wet & black when I first peeled off the fiberglass. Now, it does not look so bad . . .

The firewall bulkhead still seems to have a fair amount of moisture in the layers of wood . . . still in the 40-50% range


This will need some more work and heat to lower the moisture levels sufficiently.

I patched the crack that was in the starboard side after drying that area out . . .


Looks like the bilge is gelcoated and fairly thick . . . my prep sanding did not go into the base glass. So, I will probably gelcoat the other patch areas once I am buttoning things up.

I need to send the weather authorities a PM, requesting 70 degree days over the next month, so I can finish this project soon.

 

[Bondo]

Re: Ideas/Suggestions for 'Drying Out' Bulkheads

I need to send the weather authorities a PM, requesting 70 degree days over the next month, so I can finish this project soon.

Ayuh,.... Lookin' Great Ted,.... Yer soundin' like Deb,...

We were out to the river house Saturday, 'n she's plannin' her flowers for the summer, 'n Refuses to acknowledge that the plantin' season is Still 2 months off....