Rotten Engine Logs

[easterly38]

I'm new to this forum, so forgive me if this has been covered before.

I'm working on an Easterly 38 and recently discovered the engine logs are completely rotten. They were wood encased in glass, now they are water, mud and termites encased in glass. I have cut the tops off the glass encasements and removed all the debris. My question is, can I fill the encasements with fiberglass and resin, drill pilot holes then fasten the motor mounts with lag screws? Will the threads hold? Or, do I need to rebuild by epoxying more wood inside the fiberglass and glass over the tops, as they were originally built? The all glass idea apealls to me as it won't rot and I won't ever have to replace any wood, but I don't know if the all glass approach poses unforseen problems.

[James S]

Welcome to the forum.

My first thought would be to replace them as originally built.
But there may be some room to consider your solution, however the lag bolts won’t work in solid resin.

It may be that if you could "cast" the guts around the bolts as long as they had some good mechanical way of not pulling out....like the head with a washer around it…or some type of matrix...you may get away with it.

You'll want to be sure and use some micro balloons or other filler mixed in with the resin....resin by its self is way too brittle.

You'll have to re-fiberglass the top and be sure that the "fill" is completely encapsulated with no voids.

You should be VERY careful when filling with large volumes of resin...it gets really hot and could damage your hull...fill in layers.

The bolts you cast in will be difficult to replace if they fail later so put in the biggest you can get away with and not SS

[David M]

I would consider epoxying in some rot resistant wood...like mahogany for example. You could then run lag bolts into the wood quite easily. You do not want to use a material that is brittle or does not accept threads very well.

[Vasco]

I have seen that fake wood made out of old plastic garbage bags used. Just glassed over.

[SkiprJohn]

If you go the all glass route then you could tap the bed and use regular bolts (not lag). I kind of like Vasco's idea.
I rebuilt mine using plywood on edge and encasing it in fiberglass. So far not a problem but I really overdid the fiberglass and first soaked the heck out of all the plywood construction in epoxy resin. I don't know if I'd go that route again because now that I type this it does sound a bit dodgey.
regards,

[Jesse]

I had to deal with the same problem. A local boat repair shop recommended a product called RICHLITE, they had good luck with it replacing waterlogged transoms and were using it for decking on their fuel dock. I layered it with epoxy using woodworking tools and then drilled and tapped the mounting holes and installed studs for the engine mounts. Still solid after 16 years.

[Solitude]

Yeah I hate filling the engine log in too.

[easterly38]

Well it appears unanimous, wood. Now I just have to see what is available in my area as I'm ready to get this job done and get the engine out of the salon. I appreciate all the words of wisdom, you guys have helped me avoid a mistake.

Thanks, BAB

[Blue Stocking]

When re-building Blue Stocking's beds, to ensure the closest coupling alignment beforehand, I used a piece of plywood on which I laid out and accurately drilled the 4 engine bracket holes, and mounted the rubber engine mounts to the template.
Using the engine, I measured back from the gearbox/propshaft face and let this coupling face be the aft most edge of the plywood.
Sat the template on the new beds and marked the 8 bolt positions. Removed template, drilled holes oversize in the beds, filled them with epoxy with high strength additive, wrapped the bolts in 3 layers of teflon plumbers tape, and set the whole template in place, faced up to the propshaft coupling. Next day backed the bolts out. Teflon tape stops the bonding to the bolts.
When I put the engine back, and faced the coupling up, I was within 3thou. Adjusted that out with the mounts. Hope the helps.

[easterly38]

BS,

yes that does help. I will keep that in mind when we begin to re-install the motor.

Thanks, BAB