A27 - Engine Room Refit

[JT48348]

Yes there's no access from inside with liner in place. I see no leaks at deck joint from inside. Buy I want to be sure no damage under rubrail. My concern is creating more work by pulling and damaging rubrail.

[sail149]

If you do decide to remove the outer rub rail if you are carful it will come of without doing much damage the the inner plastic. If it's nice and warm from the sun it should flex off. Unfortunatly you won't see much except for obvious impact damage.
I have all the port side off , the stern and partway up the stb and partway back from bow port side.
I only have one obvious damage area which I expected from the damaged pushpit stb side near stern.
Removing the inner plastic cover exposed cracks in the joint that I have pried open , tried to open and clean with a hacksaw blade and then squeezed in some epoxy as an adhesive. That went well.
The reassembly is waiting. The orriginal inner was held on every 6" with an SS pop rivet. I guess I will do the same but Taco suggest using small bolts. I will also try putting the inner that I am replacing with 5200 under, then after riveting on and adding the outer rubber I intend to fill the gully between it and the tiny toe rail with self leveling black 5200 as I hate the dirt collecting in there and water trying to leak in as it sits there.
Prehaps my comment should be in a different thread?

[JT48348]

Thanks for that pretty good description.

So you say I won't see much other than obvious impact damage. That's my concern. My rub rail looks good. No obvious damage. My hull joint appears solid and I find no leaks below deck.

If there's nothing much I can add from the outside then I was thinking I should avoid messing with it. It doesn't sound like I can reinforce it much from outside unless significant damage already occurred. Right?

[Beta Don]

We had one impact point on the starboard side that I had to repair - Nothing obvious from looking at the rub-rail, but I knew the hull to deck joint was cracked from an impact with a pole because I did it myself moving the boat on the trailer

Our rub-rail easily popped off and was just as easy to pop back on, but then I didn't take it all off - Only 3 or 4 feet of it so I could get at the damaged part and repair it with epoxy and some glass. The hull to deck joint on ours was just a series of pop rivets spaced every 8 inches or so along the joint. No sealant of any kind that I could see

If you don't see any cracks and you don't have any leaks, I would leave it alone - It's a bit depressing to look at the way it's put together. It's very easy to crack and break, so be careful around docks or pilings. If you want to reinforce the joint (which I think is an excellent idea) and you have access from inside, that's how I'd go about it. I would mix up some epoxy and micro-balloons and fill the seam from the inside. This would add strength and make sure there would never be any water intrusion

Don

[JT48348]

I will look at this again from the inside. But where I can see the the joint there is sealant of some kind almost everywhere. It's not 5200. It's hard almost like a resin mix they used in a variety of other places. It almost looks like there was resin mix payed between the hull deck joint.

Some places I can't see the joint. It's too high up in a space between the liner and the deck. But I can see hard goo almost everywhere.

[Beta Don]

There is every possibility that your later model boat is put together much better than my early model one was - Hopefully when they found something wasn't working correctly, they changed the process and later boats were stronger and more watertight

Don

[smacksman]

...
The reassembly is waiting. The orriginal inner was held on every 6" with an SS pop rivet. I guess I will do the same but Taco suggest using small bolts. I will also try putting the inner that I am replacing with 5200 under, then after riveting on and adding the outer rubber I intend to fill the gully between it and the tiny toe rail with self leveling black 5200 as I hate the dirt collecting in there and water trying to leak in as it sits there.
Prehaps my comment should be in a different thread?

Warren, I bolted my inner section (about a 4 ft. repair job) and then found it difficult to get the outer rub rail to lie flat. Check the cross section of outer fitted over inner to see the clearance available. (not much)

The outer rubrail slides up and down the inner with thermal expansion and also when rubbing against a pile or slip. Any filling with black 5200 will split and trap moisture and dirt. Best to let it move and scrub it clean now and again.

The trouble with stainless pop rivets I've used is that they had a mild steel mandrill which then rusted. Somewhat defeats the object of using a ss pop rivet. I don't know if you can get ss pops with a ss mandrill.

Fair winds, Roger

[JT48348]

With the interior to-do list complete, and a final sanding of all surfaces to give it some teeth, it was time to pressure wash and clean the interior hull. Ended up doing the entire boat since dirt from outside just tracked inside every time I moved around.

I used a 1700psi electric pressure washer. Started with Simple Green but switched to Soft Scrub. And a whole lot of elbow grease. Took two days and approximately 8 hours to scrub the entire boat. This allowed me to find all the hull dings and imperfections that will need repair before the exterior paint job next summer.

The engine room was so dirty I actually thought the bullheads were discolored. The more I scrubbed the cleaner it got. The hard part is grime was in every corner under every eve and overhang and there's not much room for a fat guy in the engine compartment.

Cleanup water by wet vac and now it's left to dry.

Next up spraying primer...

[JT48348]

Clean as I could get it.

[Vic K]

Great job. Boy are you dedicated to this project.

Vic

[Beta Don]

Great job. Boy are you dedicated to this project.

I would say so too! He's going to have a much better than new boat when he's finally finished - I just *hope* he's not keeping track of every dime he's spending on it . . . . I know I didn't as I *really* didn't want to know how much money I had tied up in it!! If he counts his labor at $1 per hour, he's gonna have $10,000 right there, easily

Beautiful work JT!!

Don

[smacksman]

Cleaning off the crud is SO important in the engine room. I have been on too many old boats where Danbolin has been slapped on before cleaning properly producing the misery for following owners and it flakes off.

[WillieC]

Danbolin? I am about to embark on engine replacement on my A25 and I have heard horror stories about painted engine pans sloughing off into the bilge over time. I think I can get mine about half as clean as JT's before I lose interest. I know prep before paint is everything, but I am wondering if I wouldn't be better off leaving the gelcoat pan alone. The plan is to End All Leaks for All Time, but I know better. Don't want to make more trouble.
So, JT, what is your prep plan and what paint will you be using? Thanks for the great pics, and VERY nice work. Shames us all.

[JT48348]

Have already sanded interior surfaces with 60-80 grit paper. Washed and degreased. Now bone dry.

Will wipe down with acetone. Then I'm going to airless spray the interior of the fwd cabin, engine compartment, and aft cabin with Zinser Cover Coat primer bond coat. Will repair blemishes as noted.

Then overlay with Rustoleum Marine Topside white also via airless sprayer.

All surfaces will be painted white. The floor of the engine room, bilge, and anchor locker gray. The other lockers white.

[Beta Don]

Personally, I would go with BilgeKote gray for the engine room. I found it difficult to keep that clean and looking nice - I can't imagine trying to keep a white engine room looking shipshape

Don