pilot house rebuild 006

Comment

Comment by bob mitchell on July 26, 2009 at 7:42am

PILOT HOUSE REBUILD: As mentioned in Leaky Windows Repair and Coaming Details, leaky pilot house windows had destroyed the area shown. It is important to realize how serious these leaks can be. Since the plywood sides are fiberglassed on sides and bottom, and painted with fairly waterproof paint on the inside, the 2 layers of 3/4 plywood actually form a bowl that accumulates and HOLDS water forever - and since the inner sheet of plywood stops at the corner and junctions with the end grain of the backwall there, you can get the water migrating into those sheets as well. The outer sheet runs on out to form the outside wall of the coaming, so the water runs on out there too, so the deck can be damaged in that area. SO now you can understand the pattern of my repairs.Leaky windows better get repaired!!! When I cut out for my new windows I will take West System epoxy with filler and saturate the plywood endgrain that forms the window opening, so even if the window leaks it will not soak into the plywood.
The side piece shown is the inside layer. Thank you Clyde for pointing out the curve and bevel required to fit the deck!!! (last entry, at present, into Clyde information blog) To get a good fit I scribed the bottom in place, cut the curve with jigsaw and beveled with small plane on an oversized sheet FIRST. Then I put the oversized sheet up and marked the forward BEVELED edge (beveled for strength) and got it to fit right, then put it back, marked the top, and then the aft corner edge - that way I knew I would get a good fit. Consider the narrow wood extension between the windows after the windows are cut out - I took my hitachi side grinder and cut out two or three plys of plwood (like you would do with a biscuit joiner) and then splined it with 1/4 plywood spline so it would have inherent strength. Next the outside sheet goes on.