We don’t have an easy way on/off our sailboat SV Resande so we decided to make our own swim platform. Back in the 70’s when Resande was built swim platforms weren’t really a thing boat builders added. We weren’t sure exactly how it would turn out but figured it was worth a shot. We actually ended up really happy with it.
Our boat has a pretty narrow stern. We knew we didn’t want too big of a swim platform so that it didn’t look out of place. We actually used the seat from inside our dinghy as a reference point. It felt like a fairly good size, large enough for one of us to comfortably sit on. Having this seat to base our design off of also meant we could bring that seat to the boatyard, hold it up to the back of the boat and get somewhat of an idea what it may look like before proceeding further.
From there we made a wood form/frame so we could finalize the size we wanted. Once we were happy with our design we brought the wood platform to the boat to help ensure we liked the fit. We also needed to make sure we could match the angle of our stern so that we can actually install the swim platform and have it lay flat against the hull. Our stern has both an angle and a radius, making it a compound angle to attempt to match. We measured the angle (about 70 degrees) with a goniometer from Erika’s work, and measured a 2″ deflection over 24″ of length on the back (1″ per foot).
Back at home, we used a miter saw to cut the exact angle of the wood frame. For the radius, I’m sure there’s a great fancy mathematical way to calculate this, but I simply took a tape measure and created a arc on the floor until we found where a centerline meets a 1″ deflection over 12 inches… it was about 68″ if I remember. For this angle, we used a flexible piece of scrap metal from work, we screwed it to the wood frame to get both the miter angle and this moderate radius. We used some thin plastic sheeting (meant to cover windows to keep cold air out in the winter) to wrap the wood so we could fiberglass using the frame then “pop” out our swim platform. We also used some old plastic to draw in where our ladder would go to better size the swim platform up. We screwed the plastic and the wood frame to another scrap piece of wood so we could keep everything still and square as we worked.
Here’s the wood frame screwed to the scrap wood base, coated in plastic
We chose not to make the entire platform out of straight fiberglass but instead use some core material. We have used this form core for some of our re-coring projects and found it very easy to use. It was perfect for this project as well. For the ladder mount areas, we decided to reinforce with 1/4″ G10.
As a completely fresh build, we used vinyl polyester resin for this project. We first laid down a layer of wetted out 1.5 oz chopped strand mat, which form fits to the corners and started up the undercut angle. We then layered on layer of 1708 Biaxial, added in the foam core and G10, then two more layers of 1708 Biaxial
Fresh out of the mold, before grinding away the excessTo reinforce, we added two ‘ribs’ of foam and glassed over them with 1708 Biaxial and epoxy resin. The foam was only to create the angled rib for structure.
After a few layers of faring it was back to the boat to again check the fit and make sure we were happy.
Once the blue paint was finished we installed the swim ladder and then taped out were we wanted to add total boat non-skin paint.
Two coats of Total Boat white non-skid paint coved the blue well and we were very happy with how it turned out. We will be installing this soon and will then update this post with how it all ends up.
What do you think? We think it turned out pretty great, and can’t wait to put it to use this summer!
As I write this post, I’m sitting on my couch in the final months of our two-year refit that started in spring 2021. We purchased Resande, our 1976 Ericson 39B in September 2020 and got to sail her down to our home port of Muskegon before hauling out for winter. Starting with that trip, we started putting a project list together for what it would take to get her “Liveaboard Ready”. We broke this out by system, and looking back we were a little optimistic about the refit budget when we started.
We knew when we bought Resande we’d have some re-coring projects due to do. I won’t go in-depth on them here, but as DIY projects they’re time-consuming but not that expensive. only a couple hundred dollars in materials for all four areas we re-cored. Paying a professional would have been thousands since it’s all about the time it takes to make it look pretty again. Here is our entire Master Project List.
Cost of Purchasing Resande
We purchased Resande for $55,000 + 6% Michigan Sales tax for a grand total of $58,300. This was in the aftermath of COVID buying where Boats, RV’s, and most recreation was selling fast. We jumped on the listing almost right away after looking all summer. She fit almost all of our requirements and was actually more of a ‘blue water’ boat than we were even looking for. We did a partial survey where we found moisture in the foredeck, cabin top, and helm – all of which have been fixed as of this writing.
Cost of the Refit
Our initial estimate for the refit was $25,000, but we ended up replacing the (original to the boat) standing rigging for peace of mind, the electrical refit also ended up being quite a bit more than anticipated as the scope expanded. Below is a breakdown of actual vs. estimated refit costs. The total refit was about $34,400, bringing our total investment in Resande to just under $93,000.
Electrical System – $7,893
In deciding on a boat, we knew most boats purchased in the Great Lakes would need most of this list replaced or upgraded. The dated electrical system for any boat in our price range was going to need a complete overhaul especially since we planned to switch to Lithium. We ended up using the Explorist Life 200-400ah Diagram and following the videos and bill of materials almost exactly. We ended up with the following system:
400 AH Battle Born Batteries
2000w Victron Multiplus Charger/Inverter
525 Watts of Solar
Victron MPPT Charge Controller
Victron Lynx distributor
DC/DC Charger for dissimilar chemistries
All new AC wiring
New AC disconnect and Panel with Rev. Polarity
BMV 712 Smart Battery Monitor
130 Amp Balmar inverter, with Balmar charge controller and Perkins 4108 Serpentine belt kit
Standing Rigging – $7,200
This one wasn’t really on our radar when we bought the boat. Many boats in the Great Lakes never have standing rigging replaced. The previous owner told me himself you don’t need to replace standing rigging on a freshwater boat. In researching, I found all kinds of conflicting opinions on freshwater standing rigging. The common theme was that the risk is that with age stainless steel work hardens and gets brittle over time – for our boat (47 years young) you could make a good assumption that the rigging was well past its prime. Since we don’t have an exact plan for how long we’ll be cruising, the peace of mind of knowing we’ve got a brand new rig that can take us around the world if we wanted was worth the investment.
Water System – $4,400
We just ordered the 17 GPH Seawater Pro watermaker for about $4k. We also purchased an Acuva Arrowmax UV 2.0 water purifier since we’ll be drinking water out of our stainless water storage tanks.
Steering – $3,930
Our boat came with an old Raymarine X1 Wheel Pilot, which we removed (and actually sold piece by piece for about $700 on Ebay!) to install a below-deck Garmin autopilot. We went with Garmin due to a family friend who works there getting us a discount, and it’s worked great so far. We also bought a 40″ Lewmar folding steering wheel. The original wheel on Resande was only 32″ so it’s a really nice upgrade.
Liveability – $3,850
There were a few things we knew needed replacing if we were going to live on Resande. First off was the mattress – we ditched the thin old one for a big upgrade for about $750: DIY Boat V-berth Mattress: Step by step guide. We also got our cushions re-upholstered in our Saloon was $1900. Finally, a more fun one was putting Seadek in our cockpit was about $1,200
Davits – $2,200
We went back and forth on what to do about dinghy davits. Really the main contenders were between a tower (Towers in a box) or the Garhauer DD 6-2 Davits. We ended up going with the Garhauer davits since they were a lower all-in cost and I was confident we’d be able to fit them on our very narrow stern of Resande. Resande is only about 60″ wide at the stern, which is slightly lower than the minimum on the towers. We likely could have made it work with some side mounts a bit more forward, but combined with the overall cost I settled on the Davits. As of now we haven’t installed them so, we’ll still have to see how they turn out.
Ground Tackle – $1,950
The original anchor on our boat was a 35 lb CQR. Not a bad anchor by any means, but the newest generation anchors have made significant leaps in both holding power and ability to re-set. The two most important things you want in an anchor. Really the new generation of ‘digging’ anchors are essentially an inverted plow anchor. Instead of creating resistance by plowing the seabed, these anchors dig down into the seabed. We chose to go with a Mantus 55 lb M1 Anchor slightly oversized for our boat, as the calculator put us near that threshold between 45 and 55 lbs – we opted for the heavier option.
Attaching us to the anchor, we ended up with an all-chain rode – we ended up splitting a 550 ft barrel with another boat which netted about 275 ft per boat. Since this is arguably more chain than we really need in most cases (5:1 gets us to about 35 ft of depth with 175 ft) we actually keep about 100 ft (and about 100 lbs) of chain in the v-berth locker which is below the waterline and closer to the center of the boat. On the rare occasion we’re anchoring in deeper water we can always move more chain to the anchor locker, but this setup should get us through the Caribbean without issue. I’ll probably add about 50 ft of nylon rode that we can get to and cut off in an emergency.
Finally, the M1 anchor didn’t quite fit with the original bow roller. we ended up buying the Mantus Bow roller and fitting it onto the bow of the boat. to this day, we’re still trying to figure out how to get it to roll off without hitting our jib furler, but that’s a different post altogether.
Other – $1,690
This is a bit of a catch-all. Epoxy, paint, coring material, lights, fans, wires, connectors, pumps, rebuild kits, spare parts. The dozens of random projects we’ve done to get everything ready to go. This is probably much lower than the real number.
Safety – $1,070
For Safety, we added an AIS, Jack lines, and a bunch of random smaller projects to make sure we stay on the boat and upright.
Running Rigging – $400
Not a huge surprise, but we had several lines that needed replacement: Main sheet, overhaul on the reefing system, furling line, etc.
Waste – $250
Our initial plan was to buy a Composting head from Nature’s Head or C-Head. Due to dimensional constraints, we ended up making our own version for a fraction of the cost and probably ended up with something a bit better since it’s exactly what we need for the exact space. We detailed the process we went through here: DIY Composting Head.
What do you think – would you have made the same upgrades or did we miss something big that you would have done? Leave a comment below!
We did some research and heard several bad stories about boat toilets breaking at the worst possible time. We decided to remove our old holding tanks and go with a composting toilet aboard SV Resande. Our first choice after looking into several different brands was Nature’s Head. We quickly realized that the Nature’s Head wouldn’t fit into our space. Of course, this lead to another DIY project for us.
The actual components of a composting toilet are fairly simple:
Solids bin – you want to keep the solids and liquids separate, you can even go as simple as a five gallon bucket. We ended up making ours out of plywood, fiberglass, and gelcoat to the exact shape and size for our boat. We did add an agitator to give a good ‘fluff’ to the solids and mix everything around
For the agitator, we ended up buying a replacement for the Nature’s head. This worked perfectly for the width we were going with, and was easier than fabricating something ourselves. We bought it at: Nature’s Head Agitator Kit
Diverter – The urine diverter is really the difference between a composting toilet and a porta potty. The goal is to divert the urine away to a separate tank so it never mixes into the smelly sewage that’s in the holding tank you’re trying to get rid of. There seem to be a few options out there, but we went with one from a UK Ebay seller strumpetandtrollop, they also have a website https://www.strumpetandtrollop.com/. They have some pretty unique stuff – shipping was expensive, but I liked their diverter the best (fiberglass and gelcoat) plus it had a ‘modesty bung’ which is pretty nice
Toilet seat – pick your favorite from your local hardware store – we went with and oval shape
Pee Jug – The counterpart to the solids bin. You need it to be lower than the bottom of your diverter if you want gravity to work in your favor. We used quick-disconnect hose fittings so we can easily remove the jug or solids bin without tools. We went with a 2.5 gallon (10 liter) option which should last several days and is easily emptied
Pee Jug Vacuum System – in early testing of our system we found it’s possible to outpace the drain rate of the urine diverter. We also found it doesn’t drain when heeled to the port side. Our solution is to put a small 12v vacuum pump on the vent side of the pee jug to create a moderate vacuum inside the jug. This will remove air bubbles and allow faster drainage
Ventilation fan – links directly to the solids bin to keep air flowing and remove moisture and unpleasant smells. I found a nice option on Etsy including the 12v fan for only $20 :JohnnyCompostToilets
The first step was to draw out what we thought would work best in our space and then proceed with building a cardboard model.
Once we were happy with the fit of our model we proceeded with making the real solids bin out of wood. We used wood glue to secure the sides together. Tape was necessary initially until the glue was dry. Once we were satisfied with the wood bin we used fiberglass to make the bin more sturdy and last longer. We then used white gel coat to seal and protect it.
Next was building a toilet top for the urine diverter that we had purchased to sit on. We did this also out of wood. We fiberglassed the urine diverter to the top once we were happy with the size/shape. From there we used gel coat to seal and protect the top.
Next up was figuring out how to funnel the urine from the diverter down and into our pee jug. We tried a few options before we found a funnel the correct shape and size for our application. Once again the fiberglass came out and we used the funnel as a mold so we could make a fiberglass funnel the exact shape and size we needed. The fiberglass funnel is molded to a 90 degree elbow connected to a bulkhead fitting. The bulkhead fitting has a quick disconnect fitting, so you can disconnect the solids tank for complete removal without any hose clamps. We’ve got a quick disconnect on the pee tank side of the hose as well for easy removal of that tank.
Finally, we added some polyester straps so we can easily remove the whole tank and carry it off the boat to empty.
Finally it was ready to install! We got our last ever pump out, removed the old holding tank and toilet and voila!
Finishing Touches
Well, almost voila.. we had a slight issue with the funnel draining to the pee tank when heeled to port. To solve this, we added a small DC vacuum pump, and attached it to the vent of the pee tank. To create a vacuum/siphon effect to encourage the drain.
For the solids bin ventilation, we used some 1.5″ sump pump hose connected to a 12v fan and housing from JohnnyCompostToilets. This takes odors from the solids bin to the stern locker, which is well ventilated.
We are using Coco Coir bricks to help facilitate the compost in our solids bin. Overall, we’re still figuring out how to make this system the easiest and most efficient for us. We can say it definitely smells better in our boat now that there are no old holding tanks! If you are living on your boat, you are going to have to deal with your waste at some point. We much prefer doing it this way with no sewage and doing so on our own terms!
Tell us what you think? Do you have a composting toilet on your boat? What other options do you think we could have considered? Leave us a comment below.
Below is the running list of projects we’ve done and are planning to do on Resande. Where relevant, we included links to blog posts tied to projects on the list
Our 1976 cabin cushions were quite worn out when we bought SV Resande. The cushion covers looked nice but after a few nights sleeping on them we soon realized we were in need of an upgrade/change if we are to spend any significant amount of time living on the boat.
We are on a cheap/cruising budget so we decided to look for a high quality memory foam mattress we could cut to shape ourselves. Here we go with another DIY project!
Our cushions that came with the boat were at a height of about 5-6 inches. Most mattresses we found were around 10-12 inches high. We measured and determined that a 10 inch mattress would work in our space. We chose a mattress that is 100% memory foam so that it can be cut through without messing up the structure of the mattress. After much consideration, we ultimately chose the Lull . We read another blog post from another cruiser who had used the Lull successfully. That gave us confidence it would work!
Before you cut anything, try the mattress for a few nights and make sure you like it! You can return it without additional fees for up to 365 nights. It comes in the mail tightly packaged making it easy to order and set up.
Be sure to measure your boat mattress and chose the size you need before you order. Our v-berth is pretty wide so we initially thought we may need a king. With some creative thinking we determined we could use a queen instead by using the scraps for the forward-most triangle piece. This option was much cheaper and we had a lot less left over material than we would have if we used a king.
Time to cut!
We laid out our boat cushions as a template and carefully measured. We placed the queen mattress laterally along the front/wide edge of our v-berth (the widest part). We then cut along each side to follow the triangular shape back. We used the foam we cut away on each side to fill in the bottom portion of the v-berth which is the skinniest part forming the triangular shape. With this method we had very little waste.
It is important that you note the angles of your cushions as they sit against the hull and take into consideration the difference in height (original cushions compared to mattress). We actually used a goniometer from Erika’s work as an OT to help us get the correct angle. We measured how the cushions were angled at the bottom and cut our mattress along that same angle. We made sure to cut a bit wider initially- you can always trim it more to size but once you cut, you can’t undo it!
Please note – if you’re increasing the thickness of your mattress, the total width of your mattress will be wider than the original.
We were left with one large mattress cushion and then the smaller foot mattress cushion. We used the cover that the Lull mattress initially came in for the larger portion. Using safety pins we pinned back the areas we had cut to “shape” the cover around our new cushion. We ordered a twin size mattress cover which we cut and sewed as a cover for the smaller foot cushion portion.
All in- this project cost us $799 for the mattress and $15 for the twin mattress cover and only took a couple hours start to finish. It was not easy to get this back onto the boat! We recommend using a ratchet strap to tighten the mattress down into a smaller shape (fold it like a taco) to get back through the companionway.
Our last step in this process was to cut down a piece of wood to support the middle of the widest part of the mattress in the front. You can kind of see it in the picture below. Our old cushions angled back on one side with a small cushion piece that fit in to connect either side of the bed. We chose to cut our new mattress on more of a straight edge so we just needed a final support to go where that original small cushion piece went.
Having a comfortable bed definitely goes a long way in making SV Resande fell like home. What do you think, what updates have you made inside your boat to make it feel more comfortable? Leave us a comment below.
As part of our refit on Resande, we decided to splurge a bit and go with custom SeaDek nonskid in our cockpit. After re-coring our cockpit (see post here) we knew we wanted to put SeaDek over the cockpit floor so it would blend in better. While we were at it, we might as well do all the seating with SeaDek to complete the look and have a much more comfortable cockpit. SeaDek has some common templates on their website, but with only 18 hulls ever made Resande is a pretty rare lady -even if there was another owner that’s measured, your relying on their work. As you’ll see, it’s not that difficult just do measure it yourself.
This is right after we painted the floor where we re-cored, painters tape still in place.
SeaDek has two options if you’re looking for a custom template layout:
You can hire a professional to template and send in the measurements for you – finding one nearby can be tricky depending on your location. The nearest one to us was about an hour away and they’ll (rightfully) charge for mileage & time for the initial measurement and the dry fitting. When I looked into it, it was actually pretty reasonably priced – you can find a local dealer here: https://www.seadek.com/seadek-certified
You can do it yourself! There are some great videos online for how to do it, and they actually make the process really seamless. I was really impressed. This is the option we chose, and the subject of the rest of this post.
Step 1: Estimate the size of your templates
Your going to order a template kit from SeaDek https://www.seadek.com/template-kit.html, which they will mail to you in a tube along with the instructions, a sample pack of SeaDek swatches with all the different colors, and several sheets of Mylar. You need to know approximately the size of your templates so you know how much Mylar to order. Each Mylar sheet is 40″ by 80″, which is also the maximum size SeaDek is able to cut. we’ll keep this in mind later, if you have large pieces that will need to be cut in two – the SeaDek designers will figure out the best looking fit, but it’s something to consider. For our cockpit, I calculated that we’d need 4.5 sheets of Mylar, so I ordered 6 to be safe. They are inexpensive to add, and you’d hate to run out – so order extra
Step 2: Template kit arrives, prepare to measure!
Our template kit arrived pretty quickly – make sure you keep the packaging! They include a prepaid label to send the templates back so they can scan them. Before you get started, make sure you have the following:
Masking tape to hold down the Mylar
Mylar sheets
Sharp scissors
Fresh fine point sharpie – included with the template kit
An extra set of hands (optional, but it really helps!)
Step 3: Cut mylar to oversized shapes and tape into place
Once leave 1-2 inches around the desired nonskid area, and tape into place. You want it to lie as flat as possible so it’s not distorted when they scan it in.
Step 4: Start labeling, tracing and marking piecesfor hardware
You can now trace the old molded nonskid on your project area. The better job you do, the better it will turn out. We messed up a few areas in the re-cored area that didn’t have non-skid to reference and we just did a squiggle line through it to cross off the error – they figured it out in the design process. SeaDek wants some pretty specific labeling on each mylar piece:
Name, Address, and Phone #
Write TOP on the top side of each part
Write “Bow”, “Stern”, “Port”, “Starboard” on all four sides of the template
Number each template piece
Note any hardware, hinges, latches, etc.
We had 11 different pieces in our cockpit, so it was a lot of labeling, but it also helps everything be really clear for the designer as they put your project together.
Step 5: Take pictures of everything while it’s in place
To help out the SeaDek designer put your puzzle together, you’ll send them pictures of your project traced in place – make sure they can see the template #’s and orientation. You’ll email this to endusersales@seadek.com – once emailed they’ll respond with a confirmation email detailing the designers that will be helping you with the projcet
Step 6: Fill out the SeaDek Material Information Sheet
They will include a format that looks like the image below that you need to fill out all of your information, the boat’s information, all the template #’s and descriptions, color, thickness, a sketch of your template, and other info:
This is what the template worksheet you need to fill out looks like
Step 7: Roll it up, tape it up, and ship it back to SeaDek!
The next step is that simple, mail it back with the included prepaid label and the designer will reach out to you. It was about 2 weeks between mailing my templates back and getting the initial design drawings! I know timing can vary based on the projects they have, but that was my experience.
Step 8: Review the initial designs – approve them to send the dry fit templates
You will receive the drawing design a few weeks after mailing the templates in. If you’re comfortable with the design and don’t see any glaring issues. We sent them back a minor adjustment to make the pieces in our cockpit mirror images of each other – these were done free-hand, so they fixed them up and had them print the dry fit templates.
Step 9: Receive the dry-fit templates, cut and tape in place
They will send you new mylar sheets that are laser printed with your templates on them – including grain direction and spacing. It gives you a good idea of how they will look in place. Again, cut around the templates, leaving a few inches around the entire template, and tape them into place to make sure everything lines up with the nonskid on your boat. From here, you can mark major errors and send them back to be scanned again, or email them approving the designs. We had one angle that we had slightly modified, but we just told them to make it a straight line and bump it out .25″ because the nonskid wasn’t a perfect line and we didn’t need it to be that exact to the original.
These are the dry-fit templates taped in place so we can see how the final product will look
Step 10: Order the Seadek!
Once you’re happy with the design, you can place the order. When we were ordering, they were offering a 3 year warranty that covered pretty much everything. We weighed getting it because we plan to live on the boat and give it a lot of abuse – we’re even bringing cats and it covers pet damage! We decided against it, because it ended up being about 20% of the cost to replace the SeaDek – realistically I just didn’t see us ripping out the old SeaDek within 3 years in nearly any scenario. There may be some cat scratch damage, but I don’t know if we’d actually want to spend the time ripping it all out to put in new SeaDek. Time will tell if we made the right decision.
Bonus: Design Considerations
Remember drainage! You do not want to interrupt the natural drainage flow of the cockpit. This was one of my biggest concerns, and if you look at the location of the drains in the cockpit, you’ll notice there is a direct path to them that’s because outboard of that channel, the cockpit floor starts sloping up. If we didn’t do something, the water would pool somewhere around here and not drain out.
Use a straight edge: Free hand drawing will have imperfections, especially with how our nonskid was laid out.
Don’t be afraid of coloring outside the lines: you can use your non-skid as the template, but you can add additional areas easily, or expand the non-skid area. Don’t be overly constrained by the existing non-skid.
This video does a really nice job of showing exactly what to do
Step 11: Installation!!!!
This is the exciting part. We are working on putting together a video with instructions and tips/tricks on how we installed our SeaDek. We are super happy with how it turned out! We will link the video once we have it completed.
To install the SeaDek:
Use a glue primer to help the pieces adhere. Using a foam paint brush to brush along the edges, we applied this before placing each piece.
While giving the glue a short amount of time to become somewhat tacky, use a razor blade to cut along the middle of the back paper cover of the SeaDek piece your going to place
Fold over the edges on each side of your cut.
Dry fit/place the piece without removing the paper backing, this way you can ensure you have to piece exactly where you want it.
Use painter’s tape to secure one half and help keep it in place
Slowly peel back the paper backing on the half you didn’t tape in place
Press down, start in the middle and move out towards the edges to avoid bumps, bubbles
Make sure to apply firm pressure to ensure you have the piece secure
Remove the tape and repeat the process to stick the second half down
Repeat this process for each piece of SeaDek
Step back and admire your new SeaDek!!!!!!
Final product installed!
What do you think? Would you DIY or hire an expert? Let us know below!
Similar to the cockpit, we knew our foredeck was wet when we purchased Resande. It’s a common issue on old boats where hardware goes through the deck if the owner isn’t keeping up on leaks. We decided to tackle this project in Fall 2021, after hauling out for the season. We’re also not planning to add back our staysail boom. We’ll have a post about how we’re rigging the staysail without a boom in the future. Most of the steps are identical to our Recoring the cockpit post, but we decided to do something a bit different for the high-load areas that have the highest risk of future leaks. As you can see in the pictures, we used 3/4″ plywood just like the cockpit. The difference is we made inserts out of 1/2″ thick G10 fiberglass board and glassed these inserts into the plywood prior to laminating.
The areas we did this in are the high load areas: windlass bolts, new port & starboard cleats, and the staysail tacking point. These areas will all have thru-bolts and will benefit from the high compressive strength of G10 (plywood or balsa core will deflect under a highly tightened bolt).
Resande’s foredeck has a lot of hardware due to our staysail. We aren’t planning to continue using a staysail boom, but we do plan to add a second foredeck cleat. All of the hardware now removed, we start to understand the scope of the water intrusion. After cutting the top shell of the fiberglass off, we scrape out the wet and rotten wood. We used an angle grinder to remove the top shell. Scraping, then sanding down to the lower fiberglass shell to make sure you adhere to something solid when you put the new core in.This is the new core piece. As mentioned before, we added pieces of G10 where the high load hardware is located. Above in the picture is the layout: Staysail will attach in the top insert; the two small inserts in the middle will be cleats, and the large one at a diagonal is where the windlass will bolt through.We used multiple layers of 17oz biaxial fiberglass cloth to build up the 1/4″ difference between the 1/2″ G10 and 3/4″ Plywood. this was on purpose, and we beveled out the plywood so we could build the layers up and larger in diameter.Not shown, but we made relief cuts on the underside to help contour to the shape of the deck. The deck is slightly crowned, so we needed to flex the new core down on the side, we used pieces of wood to help clamp them down as the resin curedAfter the core is in place, we ground the edges to a bevel to make a smooth and seamless transition. Our goal is that this new edge is nearly invisible.As with the cockpit, we did 3 coats of fairing. This step is much like mudding drywall to try to get the seamless transition from the old to the new. We used the West Systems. Fair, sand, repeat until happy.The final layer of fairing we used micro-balloons, which sand even easier for a nice final finish before gelcoat.
We used Total Boat topside paint instead of gelcoat. We decided to go with white and not try to match the foredeck color to the rest of our non-skid. We are planning to paint total boat non-skid in this area when we get a warm, dry day.
We also decided to go with a cleat on each side and not just replace the one center cleat we had previously. We moved the placement of our winless buttons and added a wash-down pump on deck. A final look with everything back in place. Completely done except the non-skid paint.
What do you think? Questions on our process or suggestions for our next project? Leave us a comment below.
On our sail down to Muskegon from Bowers Harbor, we noticed flexing under the helm when steering hard. We knew moisture was high from the survey, but we didn’t think of the practical concern and thought it would be a ‘someday’ project. After that sail down, we knew it was a critical project for the safety of the boat, so it was the first place we decided to tackle.
The area that was wet & rotten was the entire helm area, to just forward the steering pedestal (which we had to remove. The 4 bolt heads aft of the pedestal hold the steering brackets on our Ericson. All the steering hardware had to be removed prior to recoring the deck here.
Chiseling out the rotten and wet core. Our cockpit has end-grain balsa core which does a nice job of isolating water intrusion to close to the hardware. We were able to get all the bad stuff out with a chisel, hammer, crow bar, and anything else that can do some damage. We also found a straight bit on a router set to the right depth can help make this process quicker when you hit the high moisture but still bonded areas.
After the core is removed prep the area: Sand, remove any old fibers or wood, and wipe with acetone.
The final product before the new core. We ended up extending it forward more than our original tapping.
We cut the core to shape, ground down the edges with an angle grinder, and used West Systems 403 filler to epoxy the core down to the bottom layer. We tried to grind a groove into outer edge to make sure when we were done with the project, the water still drained well to the corners.
After the core was bonded and ground out, we glassed it in with 1708 Biaxial fiberglass, which is basically a three-in-one fiberglass material for additional strength.
After the first fairing with West System 410 Fairing filler, we had to add an additional layer of fiberglass mat to build up the area to make it level. After each layer of fairing, we sand smooth and find low spots and imperfections. Expect 2-3 fairing layers to get the finish you want.
After the third layer of fairing, we sanded heavily. While it doesn’t look smooth visually, your hand is a much better gauge.
Once happy with the fairing, we reinstalled the steering pedestal to get the boat ready to go in the water.
We primed the repaired area with Total Boat Topside Primer, then finished with Total Boat Wet Edge Topside Paint. We used a foam roller with moderate success (it disintegrated pretty quickly)
To be continued… we are getting Seadek in our cockpit! This is a picture of the templates we made and sent back to Seadek to be scanned. The process overall was very smooth, which we’ll show in a future post!
Hope you learned something, let us know if you’ve ever done core work on your boat. If so, how did you do it differently, and have any advice for us in the future? Let us know in the comments below!
