Chain Locker Bulkhead Complete

I'm a little behind in my postings. But life and working on the boat are keeping me busy. Here is the finial version of the chain locker bulkhead repair. I ended up painting it white because I think the white will help brighten up the space. With all the dark wood a little paint won't hurt. If I end up not liking it I can put veneer over it. All in all it turned out well. To recap the bulkhead had rot in it from the Samson post deck opening leaking. I cut all the rot out and made a patch for the bulkhead. I did make a new forward piece for the V-berth floor as it was cut too narrow. I epoxied the new bulkhead patch and the new V-berth piece in. I used 2 layers of 4" tape to attach the v-berth floor to the hull. 

Deena did all the painting. It was stinking hot the day we were working, but we did really enjoy it. We can't wait to be done so we can take Nellie Jo sailing.

 I figure since we are up there we might as well paint that area. I used premium exterior enamel. I did some research and pretty much decided it should hold up as well as bilge paint. I did prep all the surfaces properly. Time will tell.

Chain Locker Bulkhead Part Deux

Do remember that the bowsprit was rotten, one of the Samson post was rotten and the bulkhead at the chain locker was rotten? So if you look back at part 1 you will see what I had to deal with it was not pretty...but doable. Here is a picture of the what was left once I cut back to solid wood.

 

 

I had to make a template of the bulkhead and where the hull was so I could figure out how to repair this.  As you can see above I was making a cardboard template to see if I could replace the whole bulkhead in one shot. As it worked out I found out that I would not be able to use one piece of wood. Soooo, I sat back and looked again. I could just make a piece that would replace just the rotten wood. Below is the first template I made to just replace the rotten wood.

(Man, did I itch after that. I was wearing shorts and the fiberglass is not painted where I was sitting!)

 

Below is the piece I cut out of 1/2" plywood. The original wood was 1/2".

 

 

I fiberglassed in the piece with 4" wide cloth at all the edges inside and out. I also fiberglassed it to the deck above, it was not installed that way. I figured it would only help.

 

I will also fiberglass it to the new v-berth front piece of wood (The bed floor). Look at the pictures above. You can see where the wood has pulled away from the hull. The piece was cut too narrow and the fiberglassing on the wood was not that well. I have removed that piece and have a new wider piece ready to be installed.