[Public-list] Cockpit coamings.

[Jonathan Whittingham]

George Dinwiddie wrote:

> Jonathan Whittingham wrote:
>
>>     1. The coamings are attached with bolts that "disappear" into the 
>> space bewtween the deck and the underside of the locker. There 
>> appears to be a cavity in there that now has the nut that must have 
>> dropped off when I unscrewed the bolt. Hmmm! What recomendations for 
>> re-attachement? I am thinking about drilling say a one inch hole from 
>> below into that cavity right where the horizontal hole will be to 
>> pull the new boards into place, so that I can slip a washer and nut 
>> in there.
>
>
> I'm not sure what cavity you mean.  On Calypso, #543, the nuts are 
> mostly accessible by reaching up inside the locker.  There are a few 
> that were embedded in the layup, but not in a cavity.

    Well. George, trust me on this one. It would appear that there is 
indeed a second layup from the hull to the topside of the cockpit sides, 
thus creating a cavity and my lost nuts.
     

>
>>    2. I am considering rebuilding the coamings out of marine grade 
>> plywood and fibreglassing them before installing them. Aside from 
>> possible aesthetic protests from the purist faction, what opinions 
>> about this method?  Any other suggestions.
>
>
> Having used glassed plywood to make some El Toro rudders, I think 
> you'll find that much more work than doing the job right with a 
> board.  If the cost of teak or mahogany is what's giving you pause, I 
> would fall back on "Chesapeake Teak" (pressure treated yellow pine) 
> before plywood.  You might also find that you can rejuvenate the 
> original coamings with a little ingenuity.

        Actually, after seeing the splits I have concludede that 
plywood, whilst I agree the extra work is, well, extra, that the plywood 
will be a whole lot stronger as long as it retains water repulsion. 
However what kind of Mahogany are you proposing? On theWest Coast 
purpleheart is gaining some popularity as a replacement for teak. I am 
told that it wears the elements just about as well, probably better than 
Mahogany and costs a fraction of teak. Regards Jonathan

>
>  - George
>



 1134959000.0