Care to 'talk story'?

[Mo]

Check this site out....you can check everyday and see the progress...so I am told. I sailed on the Bluenose II just for a couple of hours. This is the rebuild...well from what I know they started from scratch.

http://www.novascotiawebcams.com/south-shore/bluenose-ii.html

Enjoy.

[ndutton]

Neil, when you pulled your keel bolts, what shape were they in?

I haven't pulled my bolts.
What I have done is chisel off the old ferrous nuts to examine the threads underneath. The threads above the nuts were/are rusted to the point of being untrustworthy. To my great surprise, the threads under the nuts were pristine like the day they were new. I replaced the nuts with stainless (I know, dissimilar metals) for the time being. I rationalized the dissimilar metals issue by keeping my bilge bone dry. That is, no presence of an electrolyte.

There is a plan afoot to sister up the existing steel bolts with stainless lags and transfer the loads off the keel stump (for reasons unique to the Catalina 30) up to the hull at the turn of the bilge. I've done the engineering calculations and also had them done independently by a professional engineer. Our figures were within 1% including a 3:1 safety factor. The required custom stainless castings are currently on hold waiting for the next planned haul out.

Hope this addresses your question. Apologies to anyone else bored to tears.

[lat 64]

Re. Keel bolts:
Maybe that was me he was thinking of?
I posted this before but here is the story on the Boat design.net forum:
Very nice guys there.

http://www.moyermarine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3860

I am still curious about the chainplate repair/inspection on these Columbias.

Rus

[domenic]

Russ, the two bottom bolts on the port side (upper chain plate) were put in before the liner. I had to make a hole to reach the head of the bolts. This is on the C28.
I did not remove the whole bulkhead. The inboard part was okay. Just saw, or cut it right down the center, and pull the bad section out. I took some paper, and traced the shape first. Cut a new section, and seal it with resin. fiberglass both sides, and cover with 1/4" sheets of wood.
I covered the hole I had to cut with a inspection plate. Be sure to seal where the chain plate comes through the deck.

[lat 64]

Drill baby drill!

Thanks Dom,
I have some rot in the bulkhead too. I stopped it but someday it will have to be replaced.
I think the two boats are similar like we talk about last year. I don't mind opening up inspection ports for this kind of thing. A guy has to see to fix things and I like the idea of just popping off a plastic cover to see the chain plates.

Go to bed

[domenic]

Russ,I told you this last year...Didn't I? No? Sorry, I thought I did.

My tabe was bad also, so I peeled the 1/4 top from it (by hand) and used it to cover the cabin side of the bulkhead. That table was junk. I'm building a solid wood table.

DON"T sail with rot in the bulkhead, you could pull the chain plate through the deck.

[ILikeRust]

One of the several things I like about my old Pearson is how easy it is to access, inspect, and remove if necessary, the chainplates.

It's on my list of "to-dos" - the surveyor recommended I pull them one at a time (so I won't have to take down the standing rigging) just to make sure there's no crevice corrosion or anything. Just eyeballing them from within the cabin, they look perfectly fine - there are no rust streaks anywhere.

But yeah, on the list... sigh....

[ndutton]

Neil , I am going to drill holes into the bottom of the inside extrusion joint, and drain it. It there is nothing in there, I will seal the holes with sheet metal screws. If I do find water, which I think I will, I will leave the holes open near the transom.

The hull and deck joint extrusion was called H-metal. Caulking was placed in the crux of the H, it was slipped over the hull edge and pop rivets were used in holes drilled through the extrusion but not all the way through the inside cosmetic piece. The deck was then installed the same way. The rivet heads were casually caulked to prevent leaks prior to installing the rub rail into the extrusion ears. As I recall, the ends of the extrusion were not sealed. Any water in there should find its way out without additional permanent drainage holes depending on the slope of the extrusion.

This is one of those building techniques where I prefer to keep my opinion to myself if you get my drift. Dang, I installed a lot of these.

Drawing attached, you'll probably have to rotate it after opening.

[domenic]

Neil, you are a gold mine. On the drawing in Columbia Yacht Owners Association, It looked like it was two sections. Thank you.
You might want to think about writing a how it was done book for the guys who own Columbia boats. It could be lose pages...I'll be the first to buy one.

Domenic

[lat 64]

Yea, thanks for that . It clears up a bit for me too.

[ndutton]

Their drawing is of course much better than mine but in my defense I threw mine together this morning from memories of 40 years ago.

I was fortunate to live in the area and during the time the fiberglass sailboat industry began, fortunate to work in that industry during its heyday and fortunate to be associated with a forum where I can share the experiences.

What can I say, it's what I bring to the party. Thank you for the compliment though.

In addition to Columbia and Coronado I can provide similar info for Newport, Cal, Ranger, O'Day, Islander, Freeport and Westsail sailboats, Luhrs and Defever power boats. Plus I have plenty of stories of what went on at the plants, conversations with naval architects, mishaps, etc.

One day a Columbia 45 burst into flames right in the mold. I stood 5 feet in front of the conflagration in pitch black smoke manning the only fire hose with the engine man on our line, a retired navy fireman. The mold was ultimately repaired and back in service within a week while he and I, after returning from the hospital for smoke inhalation, were called into the office and severely reprimanded for foolishly putting ourselves at risk.

Stuff like that.

[weephee]

Care to 'Talk story'?

On the 8.3 Columbia the chain plates are bolted to the bulk head and are easily viewed and accessible behind sliding door cupboards in the head and in sliding door cupboards above the starboard locker. I have never experienced any water leakage between the hull to deck joint. There is a fairly large aluminum toe rail along this joint. One of the best of many goods features in the 8.3 is the access to the Atomic 4. There is no part of the engine that I can't see, touch or remove. Only the mechanical fuel pump is a bit of a bi---h to remove which I have had to do twice now. Neil, did you ever work on construction of the 8.3 and do you have any constructive criticism of this craft.
Larry

[ndutton]

The 8.3 was after my time so I'm afraid I can't contribute. The last new product I saw at Columbia was the center cockpit Coronado 32 from tooling through hull #1. By mid 1972 I had moved on.

Columbia had a penchant for bringing new products to market that weren't new at all. They would take an existing hull, add a bustle and a different deck and shazam, new boat. The bustles were actually small molds that were bolted onto the original mold in lieu of the transom. Each hull had a seam line on both sides at the stern that had to be cosmetically repaired. Take a close look at any of the following models and you'll see the telltale repair.

The Coronado 27 was the Columbia 26, even used the exact same interior. The Coronado 32 was the Columbia 30. Coronado 35 = Columbia 34, center cockpit Coronado 41 = Columbia 39, Columbia 45 motorsailer = Columbia 43 hull. I can't say whether the 8.3 was a clone of anything else.

No other company I worked for did this. The only other boat that came close was the Newport 28. The original hull plug started as a Newport 27 and it's true they added a 1 foot bustle but they also added about 8 inches of freeboard and widened the hull for a little more beam. Sighting the sheer curve carefully you can see the effect of spalling out the beam. Unlike Columbia, the Newport 28 hulls were laminated in their own mold.

[ndutton]

Eight years later I re-read this thread and felt a better H metal (hull and deck joining system) drawing with more detail was in order for our Columbia friends, attached here.

[lat 64]

Weekend update

Wow, memory lane.
I did finally replace my whole bulkhead and with new chainplates in the last two years. Cut some inspection ports and just put a standard plastic vent in the hole. Ill post some pics soon here. Im in Homer this month working on the boat. Stay tuned.