Storage

[drbeer]

The light colour trim is my boat when the mods section is back up and running search Jack Sparrow/storage there are 2 parts to this mod.

don't you mean "if the mods section is ever back up and running"

I was kinda, sorta, really hoping to figuring out the right way to do this now. Otherwise I might be sailing around for a while with several huge ugly holes in the wall under the galley. Like I said it's a long story....

I will look into finding fiberglass at Home Despot to make a bottom shelf of some kind that I can possibly use as a mounting platform for the other modifications. In addition to figuring out how to cover the holes I'm hoping to box up the batteries and move them to somewhere under the galley slide so that I can put a bilge pump in the well under ladder on m6 26M (current pre-release label for it is "The Albatross")

thanks

dr.beer

dr. beer

[Jack Sparrow]

Moving the batterys to fit a bilge pump may not help in removing all the water, the batterys sit on a raised fibreglass platform to remove all the water in this compartment the pump needs to be positioned in the battery compartment on the starboard side next to the water balast tunnel (if you have side by side batterys move it fwd it is a tight squeeze) and bonded to the inside of the hull. This is where the compartment allows water to flow fwd under the sole the port side is sealed off so water can not amass there. It will sit on an angle due to the shape of the hull but this will not effect operation, to remove all the water via the pump apply engine power to bring the nose up and turn to the boat to starboard.

Jack Sparrow

[drbeer]

http://www.interstateplastics.com/materials/

this place looks like it has some interesting materials. Starboard that isn't outrageously expensive and other plastics.

I'm still in planning mode. The tough part is that the ballast tank has those ridges that run fore-aft which separate the boat into 3 separate wells. Some folks have mentioned a 3 bilge solution. Seems like overkill but how else can you get water pumped out in all locations?

Right now my focus is to get the batteries in boxes, get them and the system wiring setup so that I can switch batteries or group them to the engine, lights, etc. and get them to recharge via the engine, shore power charger or trickle charger. I want all wires off the bottom of the bilge.

Then with whatever space is left over under the sliding galley I want to put in some storage units.

I'm thinking of a combo of Sure Seal hatches, L brackets attached to the hatch and then to some Starboard to make the base board. On top of that we'd install some of those translucent and white plastic pre-molded drawer units that Ace HW and Target sell.

This would yield a closed off area for the electrical stuff and leave room further forward for general storage.

I'm still kicking it around...

dr.beer

[drbeer]

I have used fiber glass board from Home Depot. The thin stuff you use for showers. I have cut them to size and used silicone to secure them in place and separate the new compartment from the bilge. There are three departments separated by uprights out of the 1 mm fiber glass board. The board is resting on the outside hull as well as on the hump from the water ballast. This creates a real nice locker especially for food what you want to keep cool.

sounds about like what I want to do.
I struck out at the Home Crapot trying to find any fiberglass boards. Did you find them at your local one recently or was this a while ago? What section were they in? It's hard to get anyone to help you out at the one near me. The Loews is much better but also a lot farther. I only hit it when I have to go to the West Marine nearby, something I avoid since they're always out of stock on what I'm looking for....

[hvolkhart]

It was about spring 2007. I see these boards all over the place Menards, Lowes, Home Depot. The most luck you might have if you tell the people that you want to build a new bath room and need something for the wall. It comes in sheets 4’ X 8’

[drbeer]

I did ask around in plumbing, lumber, the bathroom section. I'm not sure most of the guys working at Home Depot even know what day it is. They all sure know when their breaks are though. Ever try to ask a question of someone at Home Depot who is headed for their break? The Sphinx is more communicative....

Do either of these look like what you used?

.900 In. FRP Wall Panel 4 Ft. x 8 Ft. - White

Sequentia Fiberglass Reinforced Wall Panel

that's all I could find for fiberglass walls.

PS It occurred to me (with some help from the guy at West Marine) that you can make your own mounting points within the compartments. Take some Sea Glass fiberglass mat, wrap it around a small block of pressure treated lumber, goop up the whole thing in fiberglass resin, then smush it down at the bottom of the compartment. When it dries, viola, you have something held down to the interior of the hull bottom which you can tap a self tapping screw into that won't put a hole in your hull or your ballast tank. This sounds too easy, there must be something I'm missing...

!	kmclemore:
	Shortened URL's.

[bastonjock]

dr beer id use plastic for an idea like that,wood might start to "brew" if it was encased in an airtight wrap,if the holes that you have ,have got cracks in them, you must drill the crack at its end,other wise it will travel

another product that can be used with fiberglass/resin is aluminium mesh and be carefull when you are mixing the resin and the hardiner,i over did it once and the plastic cup that it was in started to spit and make rude noises,i tried to pick it up and it was too hot to handle,i was alarmed and worried that it might explode into flames,it sounded like someone had just chucked water onto a chip pan

[tangentair]

It occurred to me (with some help from the guy at West Marine) that you can make your own mounting points within the compartments. Take some Sea Glass fiberglass mat, wrap it around a small block of pressure treated lumber, goop up the whole thing in fiberglass resin, then smush it down at the bottom of the compartment. When it dries, viola, you have something held down to the interior of the hull bottom which you can tap a self tapping screw into that won't put a hole in your hull or your ballast tank. This sounds too easy, there must be something I'm missing...

Just a few steps, I would do it in two parts, first make the blocks up, I would use West systems ('cause I have it) epoxy and some glass cloth, coat the wood well with epoxy, wrap the cloth around and coat again so that you have a well wetted block, then comes the prep of the hull - use soap and water, then windex, then acetone (OK that is overkill) but you have to clean off real well the mold wax and accumilated oils and when resin cures it sometimes produces its own kind of waxy stuff also. Sand the area to roughen things up a tad and then clean again. Then more epoxy but this time with a filler to make a peanut butter like mix. You want to work the block "hot", that is do not give it more than 4-5 hours to dry depending upon the temperature and before it can form the waxy outer surface. If you let it get that far wash off the wax with soap and water and sand the blocks surface a little. Slap that peanut butter on and apply enough pressure to make it ooze out the sides and then the excess up the sides so you have a filet around the thing. Keep pressure on for several hours till everything is set. Use wax paper between the weight and the epoxy and it will not stick. And you will have a pretty strong attachment point as long as you coat the screws so no water can migrate into the block. By the way, WM has a CD on how to do all this made by West Systems - it is sort of OK if you are a first time user. Make them give it to you if you buy the epoxy - the epoxy is expensive enough.

[drbeer]

Hi all,

thanks for the tips on installing the mounting points. I haven't done much fiberglass work before, just small bits patching up cars I've previously owned. I have read up a little and was definitely concerned about some of the points a couple of you raised.

I've already gotten some glass mat, but now am thinking I might swap it for glass cloth instead since I read that the mat can shred more easily. The info on the wax paper and the tips on surface prep were also especially useful. I was wondering about how to make the blocks up since they have 6 sides and wasn't sure how to seal all of them and still be able to set the thing down to dry without it sticking to something

Of course after reading the comment on using plastic instead of wood I'm now thinking I might have a better idea. Take some sections of 2 inch PVC pipe, cut them in half, turn them upside down and lay them down parallel to the ballast tank ridge. Then either epoxy them down, or better yet put the fiberglass cloth over it and epoxy that to make a sort of strap to bond the pipe to the bottom of the storage compartment.

That might solve a couple of problems. There would be no wood to potentially rot. I could drill into the PVC with self tapping SS screws or even reach underneath it and use nuts and bolts. This would allow any water that might get into the compartment to still be able to drain back toward the stern.

Which reminds me I forgot to thank Jack for his comments wrt to raising the battery. While my boat is in the shop now I do recall that the ballast ridge breaks the bilge into separate sections as he mentioned, and that the sides of the outermost section slopes. I don't expect the bilge to stay perfectly dry. I'm not sure what he meant by the "sole". Is that the ridge that runs across the width of the boat just behind the battery compartment?

If so then it's not sealed anymore because the chuckle-heads that installed my (factory installed) Evinrude engine drilled through that ridge in order to run the power cable from the engine to the battery. It's egregiously stupid that they did this since the engine power cable could have been fed through the same place that the wire to the main switch panel goes through or further towards port without having to drill anything.

Mostly my concern is with the worst case scenario. You sound like you're pretty experienced so I don't need to remind you that a bilge pump only works as long as the batteries aren't submerged. If you're taking on water the bilge pump is buying you time. If the batteries aren't boxed and the boat is pitching sloshing sea water can short them out. By boxing the batteries the likelihood of this happening is reduced. If the batteries are also on a shelf above the ballast ridge then any water collecting underneath them will spill over into the center compartment which is where I plan to put the bilge pump. By raising the boxed batteries up above that ballast ridge I'm buying some more time.

I know it's a tight squeeze but I'm hoping I can pull it off. I just wish they'd made the shelf under the galley an inch or two higher. Why is every one of those compartments only 10 inches deep? No way to even get a cooler in the ones under the dinette seats (yes, I know I've been reading the separate thread on that)....

Maybe I've heard too many disaster stories while taking US Power Squadron classes and reading books on maritime disasters (I have a sort of fascination with these) but in an emergency seconds matter. That extra 2-3 inches in height multiplied by the width of the boat works out to quite a lot of gallons of water. So while it may seem like overkill I'm thinking that in the worst case scenario having that little bit of extra time before the batteries are inundated could mean the difference between life and death....

cheers

[Boblee]

You don't need to worry cos the Macs don't sink

[drbeer]

You don't need to worry cos the Macs don't sink

sink, no.

take on water? possibly. The manual warns that the boat is unstable wrt to balance and can easily overturn when it has taken on water. It's tough to cling onto an overturned boat in good seas. So the boat may not sink, but you might be in the drink watching it float away. Heck, even if it doesn't overturn, the water round here never gets much warmer than 60F. Hypothermia can set in fast.

Overly cautious? Paranoid? Maybe, but while I know it isn't completely possible, I try to prepare for the worst. If I'm taking on water I want as much time to get out a mayday, fire flares, set off die markers, etc. as I can get. hence the desire to move the batteries.


In a related vein, I think I've found a source of a material more reasonably priced for building storage compartments, etc. than the Starboard marine lumber which goes for on the order of $12 per square foot.

The site is www.usplastic.com and they sell a lot of stuff with potential as construction material for a marine environment. I haven't tried to compare their prices on sheet plastic to other places, but the HDPE or Polypropolene
is around $3.50 per square foot or slightly lower for 1/4 inch thick and about $5.20 for 3/8 inch thick. Not sure which one to go with but I'll probably use 3/8 since the 1/4 "Starboard" used around the boat seems awfully flimsy to me.

My current plan is to attach some PVC pipe with fiberglass tape and resin to the bottom of the various compartments I want to put shelving into. For reasons I won't go into now I'm putting in two 13x23 Sure Seal hatches below the galley. I plan to use the screws which will mount the hatch to also hold some right angle brackets on the inside so that I can screw the front of the shelf into the right angle brackets, and the back of it into the PVC pipe mounted to the bottom. If all goes as planned this should make something which the batteries can be mounted down onto as well as drawers, additional shelves, etc....

I'm still working on the plan to get a cooler into the space below the aft dinette bench. I'm considering buying one and cutting it down, or trying to use storage tubs and foam to make a custom one.

BTW I'd love to see the dimensions and plans of those nifty little under stair compartments in the photos (Jack's boat if I recall correctly). They're the bomb!!!


It's such a lovely day here in New England today. I'm really bumming that the boat I ordered way back in mid-March is total train wreck. I've missed a half dozen beautiful sailing weekends already and am not sure when the thing might be sea worthy. In the meantime I'm limited to planning mods and pining......

[hvolkhart]

Drbeer,
The ling from LOWES is exactly the material I used. It is light, stable and easy to work with