I took this week off work so that I could get the boat moved down to St. Catharines and get it launched.... But as I mentioned in my previous post, that isn't happening so I made up for the lost time by getting some work done that would have waited until we were at our slip in Hamilton. I had about 20 boxes of stuff in the basement at the house and over the last few days I have been taking them to the boat and putting the stuff away. With the boat where it is, there is a little more effort needed but each day this week I have been plugging away at getting this all done.
Here is a rundown, in no particular order of the jobs finished this week...
I got all the scuba gear sorted out and put away in the dive shop. I think that we will be in good shape when we are underway as everything seems to be pretty secure...
I also installed the solar vent (fan) in the new shower. This should run continuously and keep the moisture and mould at bay.
I also got some of the little electrical jobs out of the way. Both handheld VHF radios npw have a home and their chagers are connected to the 12 volt system on the boat.
I also got the new fan installed beside our bed and replaced the fan at the nav. station...
There is a large storage area behind the table in the main cabin. This week I organized all the stuff that will live in there and even find there is a little room for a few more goodies....
If you look in the top left corner of the picture below, you will see that we now have a home for all the service and instruction manuals for the boat. We have many of these on disk so we have saved a ton of space on shelves for manuals that we can look at on the computer or iPad...
This week I was able to get the workshop re-organized and discovered that the cupboard that we store stuff in was incredibly damp. To remedy this, I drilled 2 holes in the door and installed vents. Lets hope this solves the dampness problem...
The last thing that I noticed this week is a really big problem. After replacing the front windows in the pilot house 3 times, the newest widows have cracked! (like the rest)... I am at a loss as to what to do to remedy this. Tomorrow I will measure the openings and see if there is a hatch that we can buy that will fit in the opening.... the way things are right now is NOT a good thing...
If anyone has any ideas... Feel free to share them...
The plastic expands and contracts a lot with temperature changes. To avoid cracking you need to keep the fasteners from touching the plastic. Do this by drilling oversized holes in plastic and centering fasterners in holes on a moderate temperature day. Use washers under fastener heads to allow movement (cup washers or bonded sealing washers (with EPDM backing).
ReplyDeleteAlso be sure not to squeeze out too much sealant, if it is too thin it will shear due to the expansion/contraction. EPDM washers between the plastic and the fiberglass make good spacers. Dow 795 is good for this and inexpensive.
Cheers,
JM.
One more thing: Take care in the drilling: Use a special bit for plastic and water cooling to avoid making little cracks that will grow.
ReplyDeleteSome manufacturers just bond the plastic and don't use any fasteners due to these problems.
Last thing: Try to get Cast Acrylic It is much better than extruded. Most Acrylic 1/2" and up will be cast. Below 1/2" it would be a special order.
ReplyDelete