Bulkhead Replacement-Advice Needed

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by rhr1956

Well...that didn't work. Tonight...DYNAMITE!

I think it's stuck .

Personally I would go for the 2 (or even 3!) part solution I described earlier - don't mean you can't use brute force as well. just that way less needed and more of a chance to see WTF the problem is (likely very simple!). I suspect that at the moment, for some reason (bulkhead simply wedged?), you are trying to bend 1/2 inch plywood - good luck with that .

[rhr1956]

UPDATE....UPDATE...I got that sucker out. Two things kept it stuck in there. 1) It turned out I had not cut all the way through some of the tabbing. 2) There were three large screws that attached the bulkhead to the interior cabin liner. The screws were buried under a 1/2" of fiberglass tabbing. I removed about 90% of the bulkhead, all but the small piece stuck by tabbing and screws, and then used a 5lb sledge on the stubborn piece. It didn't provide much resistance at that point. Now I have the two pieces on the floor in the garage at home. I am going to use them for a template on a piece of cardboard. I'll check fit with the cardboard and then transfer the final to wood.

[SkiprJohn]

You're on your way!

[rhr1956]

AS Sarah Palin would say..."You Betcha" :-)

[rhr1956]

UPDATE SOME MORE...
I am about to put things back together. New bulkhead is test fitted and perfect. New white oak compression posts are made and newly veneered header beam are ready for stain and varnish. The original bulkheads are 1/2" plywood with a teak veneer. I want to change the appearance of the cabin. It's too dark and feels smallish. I want to prime and paint all the bulkheads a shade of white to brighten up the inside. I don't want a harsh high-gloss finish from a polyurethane type paint, but I don't want a flat latex type house paint either. I was thinking of using the oil-based Kilz to prime and follow up with oil-based semi gloss trim paint. What would you think?

[Cheechako]

I have found Kilz to be very hard to get a nice finish with. There is probably no reason to use it on a boat. It's good for sealing stains in a house because (i think) it contains shellac. Just use the same brand/type of primer as your oil based paint. A good quality satin should look nice.
If you are trying to get a nice finish on plywood it will be a long haul.... I would prefinish outside the boat until you get the smoothness you want. (at least the exposed art of the bulkhead that doesnt get tabbed.) Then maybe final finish after installation. Using a good quality hardware store paint like Rustoleum is fine, in fact, I prefer it to the "yacht" paints for this type of work.
On my 30 footer years ago, I tried to finish ply bulkheads in the head. I finally gave up and bought satin white formica and it was great in there. But I'm not very patient with painting work...

[roverhi]

Interlux, for one, makes flattening additives to take the shine off their Brightside one part polyurethane. You mix it in with the paint to whatever finish looks good to you. For painting plywood, start with a plywood other than a fir veneer. You can buy prefinished plywood designed for painting that makes getting a good smooth finish painless but it sounds like you are past that possibility. The marine paint manufacturers make high build sandable primers that really cut down on the prep time to get a good finish.
Pre-Kote Boat Paint Undercoat | Interlux
They fill the grain of the wood and sand smooth with very little effort. Have tried the oil based primers from HD and Lowe's with crappy success. They are very prone to brush strokes and just load up the sandpaper. Forget latex anything, the stuff won't sand.

I discovered a trick that probably many of you have known about for years to get rid of brush strokes when applying paint. Just painted the underside of my hatches and was getting bad brush strokes with Interlux Brightsides. After applying the paint, dipped the brush in thinner and rebrushed the paint with frequent dipping in the thinner. Voila, the brush strokes disappeared.

Really like a painted interior with flat surfaces painted and highlighted by varnished wood trim. It's called a Herreshoff finish after the Wizard of Bristol who apparently spec'd it on the boats built or refinished in his yard. Makes for a bright airy interior appearance that highlights the wood joinery on the trim.

[rhr1956]

Rover, thank for the tips and ideas.

[Cheechako]

Good point Roverhi, if you have Bruynzeel mahoghany ply or etc... it'll finish alot easier than fir!

[rhr1956]

Here is the new bulkhead. I will remove it for painting which will provide a little extra room for painting the other three bulkheads. New white oak compression posts and header beam with new veneer after one coat of stain.

[Cheechako]

Very Nice! Super fit job!

[rhr1956]

I was able to salvage 95% of the old bulkhead in one piece. I can't take credit for the great fit. Having a perfect template and a brand new bad-ass Bosch jig saw, it was easy peasy lemmon squeezy. Notice the sledge hammer in the pic...that is what persuaded the stubborn SOB to come out nearly intact. :-)

[Cheechako]

That's exactly the hammer I had in mind in my earlier post. In fact have the same identical one hanging here.... Looks like pretty nice wood in the plywood. Sure you dont want to just varnish it? Did you have to cut the top corner off to get it in?

[rhr1956]

No the top corner was like that on the original. The header beam fills in that space. To re-assemble everything it goes like this.
1) Bulkhead slides into place.
2) Header beam is attached to ceiling with two long lag bolts through the center of the mast step from the outside.
3) Compression posts fit into place and are bolted to the header beam above and to the fiberglass cabin liner down low near the sole.
4) Bulkhead is screwed to the compression posts with about six screws and to the outboard edge of cabin liner with three screws.
5) A few more screws secure the bulkhead to to edge of the settee.
6) Fiberglass tabbing (several layers of cloth) secure the outboard edge of bulkhead to the hull and cabin liner.
7) Paint the tabbing. DONE!

[David_Old_Jersey]

Looking good!