Interior developments, 2013

I have not been on this site for some time!  Here are some photos of recent progress as this boat really is coming back together.

 

Anchor-rode lockers

I have long had the idea for relocating anchor rodes farther aft in the hull.  One of the biggest detriments to performance, especially in small boats, is in carrying heavy ground tackle at the pointy end of the boat.  Of course this is where it must be deployed, and from where it must pull; but nothing but some shortsighted concept of 'convenience' says it has to be stored there.  Ancient ships brought their anchor rodes aft to the foremast or even abaft it; but this was only because the ship was sufficiently wide there to allow for a human-powered vertical capstan.  When I designed Starchase (an 84-ft lug-rigged schooner) in 1981-82, I envisioned a whole full-width compartment aft of the foremast in which sails were stowed and through which the anchor rodes were dropped to a deep well under the sole, right in front of the ballast.  This is where such weight should be; but of course it entails the leading of chain aft along the deck, which can be a tripping hazard and much else. 

 

For Diana I had already given over the idea of using the V-berth for a two-person sleeping area.  Its foot is too cramped and the whole space is too hot.  And I had already committed the after outboard corners to plumbing and such for the toilet and holding tank.  Against the forward bulkhead is the toolbox locker (with microwave above, since it's the only place a microwave can fit) to one side and a hanging locker (the only one in the boat) to the other.  So I decided to extend these lockers forward and to make room for the anchor rodes as well. 

   

My first idea was to use common plastic trash cans for the rode bins.  They're cheap (and replaceable) and, if fitted with a plain nylon through-hull, can drain into the bilge or elsewhere.  I bought two trash cans; but after cutting out the V-berth hull shelf I realized they were just not going to fit.  So I concluded the sensible plan was to use the trash cans as trash cans somewhere else and to just drop the rodes into the spaces as they were. 

 

The two bulkheads are show here, each side, before the fitting of the longitudinal bulkhead that will finish them off.  Each side will be fitted with an access plate; but the bulkheads will be removable as well. 

 

This 'glass did not kick off immediately.  I suspect bad MEKP, or just an improperly light quantity of it, as my MEKP dispenser's pickup tube snapped off in the bottle while mixing.  (This happens with MEKP dispensing bottles when they get old.  No matter what it looks like, replace it at least every three to five years.)  These surfaces will be painted in gelcoat later; but for now this is what the work looks like. 

1. Port side 

  
The white stuff is 5200, with which I seal all edges of plywood before 'glassing them to the hull.  Water intrusion along the edges of plywood where they are 'glassed to the hull is the number-one killer of plywood bulkheads-- especially where chainplates are mounted. 
 
(If you think it's sealed against water, think again.  It's a boat.  Water gets everywhere. 

2. Starboard side  

  

Here is the toolbox locker, complete with fiddles to hold the all-plastic (no metal anywhere) Rubbermaid toolbox.  Ahead is the old rode locker, above which the rode deck pipe is removed.  Though I fitted a proper drain pipe in the pointy space, to lead dribbles aft to the through-hull sump, this will be dry.  Some light comes in through the 'eye' windows, where the old hull-mounted running lights were.  (More on that later.) 

 

The battery box fitted with a PVC tube and rolls of wire is my Wire-O-Matic (shop-use wire dispenser, typically made from a box or barrel).  It even has a proper lid (the lid from the battery box)! 

  

The hull-side shelf is cut out for where the plastic trash can was; but now it broadens the space so there is less chance of the rode becoming caught under its edge when running out by deploying an anchor.  

  

  

 Main cabin (aka 'saloon')

During one of the hottest weeks of July I came out to the boat each day at 6.30 AM before leaving at 8.30 for my contract job 50 miles east.  I managed to use up a whole quart of Easypoxy on the bulkheads, which has been a great relief because it's made the boat look closer to done.  
   

  
Nearly all of the brightwork was removed before painting.  The very intricate and delicate doorjamb seemed stuck to the bulkhead with varnish and I would not risk prying it off; so I masked it.  Along the baseboard to port some residual tape can be seen.  The baseboards are actually structural-- they help hold the sole joists down against the hull. 

  

The thermometer and hydrometer are from a cheap 'weather station' I found in the trash.  I dismantled the instruments, cleaned them and painted the shells in matte black.  They work great.  Above them, on the same centers, will go the clock and barometer.  Below them is a bulkhead-mounted compass (mounted in the bulkhead! --imagine).  I consider it vital to have a decent compass visible below, with which one can check courses and at-anchor bearings.  Below below this, above the drop-leaf table, goes a clinometer.
  

The second blue plastic outlet box is for a 12VDC outlet and USB-based chargers.  The stereo goes between the empty box and the (now absent) table.
  

The four-foot-long fluorescent shop light is, of course, temporary. 

  

  

In this view the saloon is being used as a varnish shop.  The large piece on top of the workbench is the top of the 'duffel-bag lockers' outboard of the toilet in the head.  The other plywood piece is the top of the galley bins.  The rest are just various bits of mahogany that go all over this compartment and in the head. 

  

Plugs have been added to the vertical grab posts (at last!).  Typically I varnish the main piece a few times before adding plugs so that the plugs receive a few coats less and so show as a lighter color.  This is just an aesthetic I happen to prefer; and I have always done it this way.  

  

The galley counter is still covered in cardboard.  I have decided to add ceramic tiles to that 3-inch-high bulkhead above the settee. 

  

The small red toolbox is the 'jewelry box', in which I keep all the cool rigging stuff (my favorite parts). 

  

Here too can be seen the side of the speaker box, at the forward edge of the hull shelf, and where I 'glassed the small athwartships bulkhead of it to the hull.  The white-pine stick, old iron C-clamp, and red-handled squeeze clamp (almost hidden from view) are currently holding this shelf up into position.  Like the ones in the V-berth these two did not match each other, sideto side; and this one sagged while the one to port tilted up.  The stick is forcing it up till the 'glass cures.  Hopefully this will remedy some of the problem; but the little mahogany block under the forward end of the shelf (partially painted white, because its proper replacement is undergoing varnishing) will assist in this.

  

Other stuff

Here is a pic I took, on my back, up at the new foredeck hatch with the old hatch, which fit only the original trapezoidal molded-fiberglass opening, on top.  Still waiting on white Sikaflex 295-UV to complete the new one.
  

The terminal blocks are junctions for the spar wiring.  These get screwed to the teak crossmember (now painted white) and enclosed in a cute little mahogany box with sliding door, currently undergoing varnishing.  

   

   
At the other end of the boat, I 'glassed a short bulkhead across the back end of the fuel-tank shelf, tucking it in just ahead of the fiberglass rudder-post tube.  The problem with all skegless rudders is that they are liable to catch something nasty, such as when shooting some dodgy inlet.  In this eventuality, there are two possible outcomes: one, the rudder will break off below the stainless-steel shaft (preferable) or, two, the rudder, tube and all will tear backwards and out of the boat (not good).  If this were to happen, there is little anyone could do to save the boat-- unless that water were able to be confined to a watertight compartment.  ALL rudder tubes should be isolated from the rest of the boat, so that intruding water cannot invade the rest of the hull and overwhelm the bilge pumps.  (We all did learn something from the Titanic; right?)  
  

 

This bulkhead is not high; and it will be fitted with a drain tube as well-- but in the event of a leak at a stricken rudder tube, the drain can be plugged and this compartment will contain much of the water before it is overwhelmed.  This may be enough time to shift weight forward, get something over or into the torn hole(s), or fix or reroute a pump to handle the inundation.  In any case it's far better a solution than that on most other boats-- which is to say it's better than nothing at all. 

 

The little block is just holding the bulkhead in place and gets removed.  In fact I painted this recently and probably should have taken a newer photo.

 

The little step in the foreground was added for climbing down into this locker through the cockpit-seat hatch, which I have done about 350 times since I have owned this boat.  I got tired of leaning over and lying upon the edge of a 3/8" piece of plywood.  Above this is the top of the under-cockpit locker, forward of the fuel tank, which is accessible through the quarter berth and, as of this writing, is now isolated from the rest of the under-cockpit space and its attendant gasoline fumes. 

  

 
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What it's supposed to look like....

These illustrations are from an early brochure done by Hunter marketing based on my dad's 1972 drawings of the Mk-1 Hunter 25.

My dad's idea was to have windows like an airplane, aluminum frames having the right shape and then just installed in the cabinsides. John Luhrs later thought it was best to use the same commercially-available portlights all other boatbuilders used; and the design went downhill from there.

It was my idea to extend the settee berths under the bulkhead-- I had seen it on some more-obscure boat before. By doing this we got a 5-berth 25-footer that still has a decent cockpit.

The wrap-around coaming was my dad's idea but we all (Bob Seidelmann, my brother, Warren Luhrs, my dad and I) contributed to it. It is good-looking, if awkward functionally, except for at the back where it finishes off the cockpit very well.

The semi-flush deck (cabinsides tapering into nothing ahead of the mast) made my dad call this initial edition the 'blister-canopy' (as with the Supermarine Spitfire) or the 'bubble-top' (what they called the North American P-51C with Malcolm hood). Once a fighter pilot, always a fighter pilot....

The rig is tall and the boom short, typical for an IOR-influenced boat of this period-- it's technically high-aspect. The narrow stern is an IOR feature as well, meant to get the smallest-possible girth measurements to 'defeat' the rule. Still the boat rates 19.4, not 18.0; and so it is not a quarter-tonner.

The narrow stern actually makes the boat appear and behave very much like a double-ender, being responsible for the boat taking a following sea rather well and leaving the water close to the way it found it (if the outboard is not too heavy or kept down).

Notice that the mainsheet in this drawing goes straight down to where Diana's bridgedeck-mounted traveler goes. ;) Also the plan drawing appears to indicate a bridge deck, which was not as-built.

I just noticed that this drawing shows the deck having scalloped handrails, not those little teak sticks that went on production boats. They also appear to extend a little too far forward. By some bizarre coincidence (for I did not examine this before I made them!) the handrails for Diana look exactly like the ones in this drawing.

The parallelogram keel is a sign of the times (1972). In 1974 it would have had a vertical trailing edge. The semi-skeg in front of the rudder is as well; in 1976 my dad would eliminate all but a minor dimple there on the Raider and by 1978 he had said he should have done without it entirely.

Other than this, the Raider 33 looks like a direct descendant of the Hunter 25. Both boats are noted for early heeling, stability once heeled, good pointing ability and the tendency to be driven hard by the jib (throttle) and steadied by the main (shock absorber). I call this a 'hellandback' boat, because that's where it'll take you.

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The crucial duty of the compression post.

A Hunter owner asked me about rebuilding his compression post; and my comments on the Hunter Owners Web in response are probably worth something; so here they are--

http://forums.hunter.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?p=996161#post996161

And here are some pics that go with it--

 

This is what Hunter gave H30 owners-- it is NOT a compression post.  This is the view looking through the bilge.  Apparently this corroded object purports to support a piece of mahogany, which supports a piece of aluminum, which supports the plywood sole, which supports a teak block of some kind-- and all of it transmitting the load to precisely the wrong place-- the top of the keel.


Here is my post; and below is how it is supported.

The pic below shows Diana's bilges before I installed the sole (half of it is in place to starboard). Thejoists are all 5/4 mahogany, cut and fit to the hull and bonded with 5200; the post stands on a doubled one abaft the main bulkhead. Note that none of them are in contact with the actual bottom of the hull. The goal was to spread each one's load to as much surface area as possible. Note the limber holes and bilgewater spaces, access for keel bolts, and the central joist having cleats to accommodate the leg of the drop-leafed table (looks like a tripled joist). The part on top of the can that looks like 2/3 of a joist goes in the head compartment.

The electric bilge pump goes in the space farthest aft in this view.  The manual pump's pickup goes in the farthest forward space in the main cabin.

Under each settee is a water tank and a house battery, so all this weight goes here, not to the ends. The red and yellow wires tie the batteries together as one bank.  The orange wire is for the voltmeter.  These will be restrained in fairleads later.

The PVC freshwater manifold (second big space from bottom) connects the two tanks, one under each bunk.  Unfortunately the head sink will feed from only the port one.  There are independent shutoffs, port and starboard.  The valve to the back is the drain, so either tank can be selected to either drain or supply the galley sink.  The black thing is a particle strainer.  Under the galley sink goes a proper cartridge filter.

The hull drain has since been added, under the tanks' drain.  It is removable from inside-- the better to facilitate inspection and maintenance (and to streamline the underbody).

The brown dirt is pretty much bonded into the spilled epoxy and will have to be sanded off and painted in Bilgekote.

 

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Visit from Santa Claus!

The Cherubini boat shop was graced with a visit from our very own Santa Claus on Friday, 14 December 2012.  This is James Turrell, noted artist and new owner of C48 hull no.8, Amazing Grace, now renamed (after Mr Tyrell's ouevre of choice) Light Reign.  Pictured (in front of one of the former Atlantic City billboards that Dave acquires for use as heavy-duty covers, dropclothes and curtains) are me, Mr Tyrell, Lee, Steve and Dave.  Photo taken by C. Michael Lawrence.

Happy Christmas to all!

Where have you been, naughty girl?

Once upon a time, my uncle and aunt got a dog from a New York pound and discovered that at some point in his former life Bruno had been taught to stand on his hind legs and walk about.  It was eerie to see because we had no idea of how he had come to learn that; and of course Bruno had no way of telling us.  The knowledge added a mysterious sort of depth to his personality that, in part, helped make him a most interesting and entertaining little guy.


As I was stripping the bottom of Diana I uncovered (literally) this.

It's a patch in the hull, not badly done (though it could have been better faired), apparently from when something holed the boat.  I imagine it may have been some ugly metal angle-iron or something poking up along a bulkhead when the boat rode there during a tidal or storm surge.  For a fin-keeled boat to sustain a hull holing in a location like this-- under the quarter berth-- for any other reason suggests some kind of funny business.  Any puncture from sharp impact afloat would have occurred forward of the keel; right?

My fear is that the boat was allowed to lie over on her side, which could (but not conclusively) account for a hole here as well as the PO's having had to rebed the keel, since that is how a fin-keeled boat sustains damage when it goes aground.  But the keel has been fixed (by me), the rest of the hull is sound, and so there is really no way of knowing at this point.  It's like undressing your lover and discovering a scar from an injury or some surgery-- it begs a question; but at least in that case you could expect some sort of answer to either set you at-ease or put you off trusting her, if only for the present.


And so this shall remain as a mystery, documented in my (very poor) photos and very soon to be covered over for ever by the epoxy barrier coating, a piece of Diana's past that she is unwilling or unable to tell me about and which inevitably, however unfortunately, imparts at least some little skepticism as to her former reputation. 


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Custom cooler

This is my really cool customized camping cooler for Diana.

Here shown holding what it usually does-- iced tea-- is the interior of the cooler as I modified it.  The divider is Plexiglass left over from the cabin windows.  It slides down into place between Starboard fiddles mounted in 5200 (to seal the screw holes so water doesn't get into the foam core; it does not stick to Starboard).  The side corners are cut out to let water reach the drain fitting, a plastic one I installed in the forward end.  The drain deposits its dribble into a PVC receptacle in the floor of this compartment which in turn carries the dribble forward into the bilge.  The drain in the cooler is cut off flush with the bottom so the cooler will sit level (and thus structurally sound) on a flat surface like the dock.

Beyond the divider Starboard fiddles hold a grilled shelf for smaller items.  The bagged ice goes under the grill.  (This cooler is not big or strong enough to hold a full block.  Nevertheless, with a plug in the drain it will hold some residue of ice-- not merely cold water-- for 5 days.)  With this configuration, there is a place that remains free of ice cubes to hold taller things, like full gallons of water or iced tea, wine bottles, etc.  The smaller stuff goes above the ice in back.

The grill is a leftover section from the light baffle material I got when installing a work light in my mother's kitchen.  It is not very strong and was annoying to cut, as a jigsaw only shattered it and a bandsaw did only a little less damage.  I resorted to cutting it by hand with a very fine hacksaw blade.  Of course the sides are not parallel, due to the cooler's shape, and the back edge is slightly rounded.  And then there is the issue of ensuring that the square holes, when cut through, allow enough support along the fiddles.  As can be seen I got it aligned so that one long strake rides on each side fiddle.

The cooler is not a 'marine'-spec one but a standard Coleman '5-day' campers'-spec one.  The marine ones all have top hinges along the side.  As seen here Diana needs one hinged from the end-- or, as here, not at all.

The cooler sits under the ladder; its top is covered by the bottom step (which I personally never use, as I step on the quarter berth edge when entering or leaving the cockpit).  This step is hinged at the back.  I do not yet have it rigged but I want to have a Fastpin slid through the ladder side(s) to hold up the step.  Then one can lift the cooler lid without having to hold up the weight of the step.  The step does not protrude far enough beyond the upper one to allow anyone to accidentally step on it and break it or bend the Fastpin.  If it's pinned up, you will see there is no step below (or just the cooler lid) and step onto the quarter berth instead.

The pencil scribble on the not-yet-painted right side (left in photo) is marking where the recessed red LED footlight will go.  With the step and lid down, it illuminates the step.  With the step up, it illuminates the cooler.

The heavy fiddles screwed to the sides support the step, which is 1/2" plywood with a 3/4" step plate epoxied to the front edge.  It was varnished about 7 years ago with Captain's Varnish and is still holding up well.

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Cockpit drains

Hunter, in their infinite wisdom (read that: attempts to save money) devised a simple way to install cockpit drains in the back of the H25 cockpit.  I really cannot fault this too much because they spared the cockpit sole itself from the potential for damage; and indeed my 38-year-old balsa-cored cockpit floor is one of the soundest parts of the boat.  But by installing the through-hulls through the vertical after bulkhead of the cockpit they kept much of the water from running out.  You always had to sponge out the last 1/2" or so while people stood towards the rear of the boat to get it all to run down to the drains.

This was something I meant to remedy from the start.  I found some nylon drains by Starboard East (that's the brand name) having a flattened side, meant to go in a vertical bulkhead down low to the floor; but they are nylon and subject to UV-exposure damage and stems' cracking and this is not a place one wants to risk that.  After searching high and low I found what the plumbing guy called 'bar-sink drains', at 1 inch diameter (though I have 'bar-sink drains' in the head and galley sinks and they are 'standard' at 2 inches).  They are rugged, heavy brass, but not stainless-steel and will go green unless I paint them.

Here is the mess I started with.  In this photo the starboard drain has already been chopped out.  I left the port side one for later as the boat on its stands is sort of tilting to that side and rainwater will have to go somewhere.  I had once removed the old Marelon (nee RC Marine) through-hulls and rebedded them with 5200 to stop leaks when I first got the boat.  Now I just hacked them out with a chisel.

The flange itself, now separated from the stem, is standing next to the hole.

All the tools used are in the picture!

The next step was to fill the hole.  Here are shown the 'communion wafers' of fiberglass to be used for the fill.  I used about six of these for each hole. These are of 1708 biaxial, because it was what was available.  For a small job like this really any 'glass will do.  I would not use cloth alone; but if you had at least most of it done in plain mat it would be fine.




The smaller ones are for the other holes in the cockpit getting filled at the same time. (Yes; I used the one with the bite out of it.  It doesn't matter.)



My simple 'mooyock' system for this is to apply duct tape to the back or harder-to-get side (the outside of the hull, for example) and to fill from the front or upper side.  Why make life hard on yourself?


This photo shows the power of 5200-- the gash to the left of the hole itself is from the through-hull's parting from the 'glass and its 5200 taking some 'glass with it.

Here is a close-up of the port-side hole before filling.  Apparently I missed a little with the duct tape (doing it by feel with arm down port-side seat locker).

Here is the port-side hole filled.  This-- like all the rest of these holes about the cockpit-- will get sanded and faired with Microlight before Epoxy Primekote and paint.

There is nothing wrong with overfilling it, so long as it's with 'glass.  A patch like this is easy to sand flush and it's reassuring knowing you've got solid material completely filling the hole.

As ever proper preparation is key.  Scrub the back and front sides with sandpaper and clean thoroughly with acetone before mixing up your resin & hardener.


The holes in the bulkhead above were from something the PO or the factory had here.  I really don't remember.  The smaller one is the lower drain hole of the port-side seat locker's drain, which I eliminated when I made the replacement drain trough (which now only uses the upper hole).

In this photo the right side (to the left) is already done (more or less) and the left side is to be filled.  Some days passed between these stages, to allow for a weather window which would let the port one cure before rain might leak through the cover.

You can see how Hunter's money-saving scheme for these did not include ensuring that they were mounted symmetrically.

The ugly patched place to port is from where the PO had installed his bilge pump's Auto-Off-Manual switch-- right into the bulkhead, without sealant, and without cognizance of what happens when these electrical things get wet.  In this photo it's been filled with 'glass and begun to be faired with Microlight.

The big round hole to starboard is for the Whale manual bilge pump.

 
Here are the drains newly installed.

These nifty little fittings came with very good flanged nuts for the other side.  (I did not use the rubber gaskets.)  The surface-mount flanges are not too thick-- certainly much thinner than the flanges of normal nylon or Marelon through-hulls would be.  When I drilled out these holes I was relieved to find that they would miss all the balsa, which starts about an inch or two forward of the holes, and would go through solid 'glass.  It did occur to me that I might rout out the 'glass to set the flanges flush; but what tool would I use for that in this tight corner and how would I get them smooth and level enough?  I have lately decided I will mask these off and fill the space behind them and around to the outboard edges with Microlight, so as to keep water from pooling against the edges of the flanges.  Though I set these in with 5200 I did not get as much 'ooze-out' as I would have liked.  Most of it is between the stem and the hole I drilled for each one, where it should be.


My yardmate Roland made a very good point that these 1-inch drains are probably too small for offshore work.  I don't expect to do much sailing far offshore in this boat; and boats with cockpit drains of this size or worse have done successful passages.  But his point is well taken; and once I have fewer tasks in front of me I may look to replacing or adding to these with larger ones.  My choice of size for these was governed by only the existing transom fittings; but they could be changed too.

After discussing with him I did decide I will not install check-valves in these lines.  They are almost straight runs and are subject to pooping from heavy water directly aft, which would lead to not only water shooting into the cockpit but the water already in the cockpit not going out.  But the check-valves would further restrict water flow.  The H25 is pretty buoyant aft and would probably rise away from heavy swells; but who is to say what happens in such conditions?  People with experiences about cockpit flooding at sea are encouraged to comment!


I don't have a photo of the underside, but the Marelon elbows I meant for the bilge-pump outlets screwed onto these brass fittings perfectly (with plenty of Teflon thread-seal tape) and I was able to hook them up using the old hoses.  I did, however, wait for the 5200 to fully cure (about a week).  Shields no.148 hose can be a monster to fight on and off; and experience has shown it is strong enough to work loose the 5200 on recently-bedded fittings and through-hulls.  So-- proceed gently, with patience.

I reused one of my old hoses for this (just temporarily) but found the other was too short.  I hacked off a piece from the (as-yet) unused bilge-pump lines, not measuring very well as I was doing all this from lying inside the starboard-side locker, and got it almost too short again.  For now one clamp is sufficient; but these will all be done properly before the boat goes in.


The very dusty state of this cockpit is due to its being prepared for Epoxy Primekote and paint.  The nonskid of the sole did come off with scraping from a chisel; but it is adhered really well and since I don't need to bed down any more hardware to the sole I may only rough it up enough to take the Primekote and paint over it.  The same goes for the deck/cabintop.

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