'Oh Joy' Restoration - 10/21/09

[CharlieCobra]

We finally tracked down all of the hidden screws that attached the bulkheads to the house. It wasn't easy....

Here you can see the house sitting on it's rods.



Here's a picture of the bare foredeck.



The house front.



Here are some shots of bulkhead attachment points.





A hollow header used for a wire run.



My Sonicrafter threw it's washer and bolt so we had to go ahead and pull the tank early to find it. The tank had a pipe leading into it that had been repaired with a giant glob of JB Weld or something and had been leaking.

Tank bed.



Rot on the lower hanging locker bulkhead from the water.



The house is a disaster now and will look worse before she's done.









Now I've gotta figure out how to get the house on the ground without tearing it up.

[SabreKai]

I'd suggest a couple of 4x4 timbers thru the port openings and then up with a couple of chain hoists or comealongs if your building structure will support the weight. Using 2 hoists you can lift directly up, and then using a second pair off to one side you can take the load and move it sideways by alternately taking up on one pair and releasing on the other pair.

I've installed a lot of heavy shafts n equipment in factories using this method.

If your building won't take the load, then perhaps some strong lads lifting it up, putting one side over the edge and then lifting the other side until the low side reaches a pair of 4x4s place on an angle against the side of the hull. I can't tell for sure from the photo but the house seems to be well made, and not too big. it looks about the same as mine, which is 14 foot long by 6 foot wide. Four people ought to be able to man handle it fairly easily.

Oddly enough I have a similar problem with Espina. I have dry rot all along the base of the house, front, back and both sides. I need to remove a strip of material about 2.5-3 inches wide from the base of the house and replace it. My house bolts in with horizontal bolts to an L frame around the opening. Front and both sides is fairly easy, I'm just going to put my skilsaw against the side of the house and run a cut all the way around. Remove it in pieces and put in the new material. Once it gets warm again I'll spline the joint, sand flush and refinish. The back wall is a real problem though. The previous owner welded a plate to the bridge deck on an angle and it butts against the house wall about 2 inches above deck level. Then just to make it interesting he epoxied and bolted on a massive 2 inch by 6 inch beam across the bridge deck. I can't get at the rotted area unless I cut away all that stuff first.

At least I have the advantage of knowing that someone has done it once before.



The side of the cabin heads off to the left, and you can see the splice mark. The back wall is to the right, evidence of the rot is visible. That section of counter top against the hull rotted out long ago and was removed when water started getting under the hull deck joint. The builder or who ever did the last repair brought the cabin side down to the steel deck instead of leaving a gap for water to run under. Then he complicated things by epoxy coating the cabin so any water would be trapped.

Its going to be an interesting winter.

Sabre
44 days n a wake up

[CharlieCobra]

Thanks for the suggestions. That looks like an interesting problem. The house was likely brought down to the deck to keep water out. I would bring it down to the deck again but set butyl tape under it and then seal the edges on both sides with LRB from Sanitred to seal it. I would also CPES the crap outta the edges to seal them. Sanitred rolled on the deck would seal it from moisture for a very long time and double seal the house - deck join.

[James S]

great pics guys....Your making good progress Charlie.

[Blue Stocking]

Charlie,

If you are thinking of sitting the house down on the deck on butyl, might I suggest that you keep in mind that butyl has a lot of "creep" when warm. We use a lot of butyl for glazing curtain wall and storefront in building construction, and we normally use a type that has a vinyl spline incorporated mid-width of tape. I have used this on Bluestocking where movement between 2 surfaces might allow water ingress. You might investigate using a round bottom flute bit to cut matching semi-circular grooves in the meeting surfaces and let the vinyl act as a well bedded o-ring type of compression seal. Tremco (with whom I am only a past customer) has a very successful line of this product that I describe.
Keep those photos coming, us restoration junkies are hooked

[CharlieCobra]

Thanks for the suggestion. Knutson had used polysulfide under the canvas as a seal. It worked well for almost 50 years as that part of the boat never leaked. I may use that but am still exploring options.