Hi I’m doing some work on the Lintel of a friend and the biggest work is to fix the jib attachment points. The deck has pulled off the aluminium plate that is attached tot he bottom of the hull. Someone before made an attempt to fix it by opening the deck on either side of the deck at the jib pivot points. But it seems to be a quick job with a bit of epoxy been add in the hope of holding the deck to the aluminium plate but I can see through small opening between the underside of the deck and the top of the aluminium plate.
Hope I’m explaining my issue properly. The aluminium plate is the vertical plate epoxied to the bottom of the hull and onto which the to deck should have been attached to also but that process didn’t work properly and now the 3 jib attachment points are pulling out and the deck is pulling is barely attached to that plate now.
Because it is such a critical point of the boat with high load I want to make it solid and as clean as possible.
My solution is to mold the deck as is then to cut it open up to c15mm of the edge of the deck to give me a good enough opening to fix properly that aluminium plate and prepare to L shape fibre bands to epoxy on either side of the top of the plate onto which the new deck will be epoxied to and put in the new deck cut to the exact measurement of the opening.
Cant think of a quick solution that will be solid enough and relatively neat. Will try to take a pic of the problem today.
Here are some pics of the problem at hand and you can see how bad it is. Pictures speaks more than a 1000 words so here they are.
pic 1
Here you can see the general front bulkhead area of the jib pivot points. You can see the 2 openings that were done by the previous owner I think and the tape covers where there was a hook to attach the jib string that passed through the deck eye.
Pic 2
Here you can see from the opening the X shape aluminium plate and also how badly the deck eyes have been pulled.
Pic 3
here you can see how the deck pulled from the plate and the attempt of fixing it with some epoxy.
My Friend is looking to keep the boat cos it is a good boat apart from this so I’m looking to do a good job that will last.
Make any sense to allow the metal plate to sit just above the deck to be able to drill attachment holes for jib boom attachment? That way once you have the bottom of the plate secured to the hull you can fair it in along the deck line. Just a thought.
not a bad idea - so to have the jib hook directly attached to the plate so there is no effort on the deck ? I measured it and it seemed to have been cut to fit just under the deck so it won’t go through - it seems securely attached to the bottom of the hull
On several of Claudio’s designs, he has his jib attachments recessed just slightly under the deck. Perhaps use a soda straw or similar to fair the filler to each side of the plate - and then press the fillet down below deck level using the straw. That small amount of water retained in the “trough” would be minimal and would be a decent fix and fairing to the deck.
That is where I got the idea … from Claudio, the "Master". :smilebig:
True he knows his stuff and has good ideas too. that’s not a bad idea I’m gona see how I’m gona do it - would you have a pic handy on one of Claudio’s build that shows that recess. As for the water due to the recess I’m not worried cos I would expect it to move on in the natural movement of the boat.
What about using a T shape peice of alum. and invert it so the bottom of the T is through the deck pointing skywards, and the top of the is under the deck. with the load spread out…
drill some holes in the T for the jib attachment… you will need to slice the deck to do this though…
Still looking - it was under his designs for the M or maybe the 123 - can’t remember but he has used the idea several times. I’m kinda busy right now to take a long, in-depth look Sorry
I would open up the current openings so I could get to the problem area, then cut as much of the old epoxy off as possible. Including remove the jib attach wire fittings as they are bent anyway. Once cleaned up, replace the wire fittings then lay a strip (or a couple) of glass across the underside of the deck, covering the wire fittings, and down the aluminum plate about an inch. Rough up the plate, or even drill some holes in it for the epoxy to grab onto.
Cover the openings with sticky patches.
The newer Lintels use four fiberglass molded pieces in place of the aluminum, and the flanges where they attach to the deck and hull are about 1/2 wide on each side. The flange helps hold the wire legs in place.
that’s interesting. so they use 4 identical L shape fibreglass piece that they assemble to form that X leg to spread the load. Probably more solid as it’s fibre on fibre and lighter too.
I think I’ll go with a mix of 2 solutions. Thanks for your idea now I have more info to process.
Thanks all for your input and wish you all a very happy Xmas
Hi, I’m gonna take a mould of the foredeck before I cut it open to work on the jib attachment area. I have a quick question re the layers of fibers. How long to you wait to apply another layer of fibre ? wait until the first one it still tacky or touch dry ?
Normally when laying FBG you do it wet-on-wet depending on pot life, long pot life (30 mins+) you can take you time and with shorter life work quickly.
For taking a mould off existing shape I’ve stretched glad-wrap over the shape using it as a release…works well
Thanks Alan for this - I’m working with the west epoxy 105 /205 so I have 15-20 mins of working time at c18degree C. was thinking of using magic sheet for cooking as I used it before for a rudder and it worked supperbly
that worked pretty well - I used the epoxy and got just enough time to lay 4 layers of 110gr or 4oz of fibres before it started to become jelly like consistency. And I left it for 24 hours with the heater on to keep a temp of 18-20 C and I gently inserted a spatula to detach the piece from the deck and it worked wonderfully with the packing tape… definitely made the job easier… now onto cutting my moulding to the size of the opening I want then cutting the foredeck of the same size to start working on the new piece for the jib attachment.