Posted by George Huffman (thatboatguy2@…>)
Well our budget took a hit and I couldn’t get New Found Metals to give
me any better break than Jack Tar off the freakin’ dock. So we
decided to only do the ports we had to do this go around. So I went
to Fuller Brush proposing that they make me a distributor… same
story. So I went into shopping mode and found that Beckson has a nice
product and with my price on them at a steep discount for being in the
trade, we bought 6 of them. This will be fine for replacing the 6 in
our main salon and I’ll take the best of the Fuller brush ones to
replace the one leading aft from the galley into the cockpit… the
one we have dubbed the “dumb-waiter”.
I’ll take some pictures as I go. What has happened is that the old
ports leaked and no one delt with the problem in a timely manner. As
in, they seeped water into the plywood for a decade. Of course with
the cheesy vinyl wall covering to keep the moisture in, the wood was a
mess.
Step one was to dry things out. I ran a dehumidifier last fall and
dried things out well and sealed the boat for the winter. Lately I
have run the dehumidifier constantly and the old dry rotted wood has
become paper in most places. The grinder makes fast work of it to
expose good wood and the fiberglass. Of course this reveals a strange
and weaving road map of good wood and fiberglass uneven surface. I’m
now ready to scotch in some new wood using epoxy and fiberglass cloth.
I’m also going to have to shim the sides of the port openings with
wood/epoxy composite. Fortunately the new outside seal rings will
dress over the old hole so no cosmetics on the outside of the house.
On top of the new wood/old wood/fiberglass I’ll glue down a new layer
of 1/4 inch teak plywood. Much much prettier than that nasty old
vinyl. 
I hope to load up some pictures tomorrow.
Meanwhile since I’ve got epoxy mixing going on I’ll glass the extended
footprint for the new water heater. 11 gallons… I know Steve… I
know! But it’s not a Navy ship, it’s a pleasure boat! heh heh And
in any case we will be stepping very lightly upon the planet once we
are on board full time.
George