Rebuilding "i550"

[Bfrancis]

Hi all,

As of today I am the latest custodian of hull 336 "Elroy". I am aware that this hull has been controversial from a rules perspective. Can I be in your gang anyway ?

Having put her in her new home I have had a look at what I am dealing with, good news is that I'm probably ahead of the game compared to starting from scratch, bad news is that a fair amount of of this boat that has yet to launch is ready for the dumpster. Quite a lot of the ply has gotten wet and disintegrated.

Cockpit floor, foredeck, transom and fwd edge of the cockpit/companionway bulkhead are toast. The aft 6 inches of all the hull panels are done for possibly more, this will be easier to see once the cockpit floor is removed.

My initial plan for your critique is to get the boat off the (borrowed) trailer and onto some kind of supports / cradle, then remove everything that's rotten. I am not sure how elaborate this cradle has to be, for now lets assume I end up cutting out the aforementioned wood an some largish sections of hull panels and leaving the bulkheads and stringers alone. I'm a bit worried about the hull losing shape, do I need to build some kind of jig to keep it all straight or do the hull and deck panels not provide much in the way of stiffness.

Second question, can hull panels be repaired ? For example I mentioned the aft 6 inches of the hull panels. I think I can cut off the rotten wood and use butt blocks to extend the panels back to their original shape with out losing strength, obviously there will be some weight gain. Anyone agree or disagree ?

Thanks in advance.

Ben

[jray]

Sounds like a lot of rebuilding, hopefully it isn't past being salvaged. The hull side panels are intrical to holding the hull shape. My advice would be to build a cradle to set her in before cutting and replacing bottom or side panels.

[Bfrancis]

Thanks Jon,

I think that there is enough salvageable material to make it worth a shot. Probably with a normal boat, it would be considered too much work. I think the i550 crowd are happy to take on big projects. Someone obviously put a lot of time and effort into this boat once, it would make me sad to cut it up.

So, I think i will build a basic cradle and gently remove the deck and inspect the hull panels, if I need to cut into these I will upgrade the cradle so it all stays aligned.

Thanks

[jray]

I will see if I can dig up the cradle offsets for each frame for you, I've got them somewhere. Though you don't need to have the cradle supports under each frame it may help you keep things straight as you rebuild.

[Chad]

Our cradle shapes won't be useful for Elroy; he'll need to trace/scribe the shapes to create a cradle. But maybe it's not needed:

How about flipping the boat upside down first, supported on a couple tires/padded milk crates or whatever, and getting the hull panel repaired first. The intact hull panels and frames are really what define the boat's shape- once those are sorted you don't need a full cradle. Get the bottom strong and smooth, then build some trailer bunks directly on the upturned hull, and you will then have a simplified build cradle when you flip the boat for the deck work.

edit: here's a pic of Kevin making trailer bunks on his upturned hull:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_P6KsR1WcOjQ/S ... C_0707.JPG

[Bfrancis]

Seems like cutting the foredeck and cockpit floor away won't alter the shape much, I will need to do this to be able to inspect / repair the hull panels.

I think I might have to cut off deck and floor. Inspect/cut away bad bits of hull panel, repair/reinforce from inside ( even if it's temporary reinforcement ), flip boat, finish hull repair and any interior work. Once it's determined hull is both repairable and repaired flip if back and add new deck/ cockpit floor.

Thanks for your help.

I think buying a set of plans would help me repair it, just having an understanding of how it was built and maybe how if I could get it into class shape.

[i550sailor@aol.com]

I have not kept up on Elroy, so I may be missing a few points. I agree with Chad though and work with the bottom up. I would try detecting the bad areas by sound (hammer) to find the bad areas, a moisture meter may help to define areas that may have problems.
Get the boat on the water, quote: " I am aware that this hull has been controversial from a rules perspective. Can I be in your gang anyway ?"... if it looks like an i550 you will always be welcome to race with us in Colorado,,,, if you beat us too much from the design change, we may make you buy the beer.

Cheers

[admin]

How about it you just use it as a plug, turn in over and use it to make a female mold, then layup the hull shape from the mold with structural foam and glass (or CF)...cut coosa-composite frames and you'd have one helluva i550. Toss the soggy wood in a dumpster, you're done!

& Welcome to the club!!!

[Bfrancis]

Seriously, how much harder is this in comparison to skills, money and time compared to building from scratch in ply is this ?

[Tim Ford]

I think from what you've described you are well ahead of the game.

Tabbing in all the frames takes a long while and it sounds like those are mostly intact. Yes, butt joints will repair the hull panels. I think all of us used butts joint on our hull panels, as I don't know of any plywood 18 feet long ....some may have made scarfs but that's a lot of work. Incidentally, there's a video somewhere on line where a guy shows how strong his butt joints are related to boatbuilding. He basically torture tests the small panel he put together and the plywood gets destroyed while the butt joint remains intact...so I trust this method of joinery. You can always sister another piece of ply on to anything that seems flimsy, there are some placces on my boat where I did this.

So, yeah! Resurrect the Elroy! Are you in Savannah? I can't remember where you said you are located. Send us some pictures! and best of luck, too.

[Bfrancis]

Thanks Tim,

Yes that's me in Savannah, we PM'ed a bit on SA talking about donor boats.

I haven't had a lot of time this week, but my weekend mission is to get her off the trailer and start cutting away the bad. I will get some pics, I think the boat is really out of shape, just eyeballing for now but it seems the joint down the middle of the foredeck and the one down the middle of the cockpit floor are not at all straight.

I will get some pics.

Thanks all.

[i550sailor@aol.com]

Maybe some pics, before cutting,,, could save you some time, money and effort, it is so easy to just want to jump in and go to work, but with the wealth of knowledge and help on this forum, I would take some photos and get a few opinions. May save you some time.

[Bfrancis]

Test

[Bfrancis]

So, she's not pretty,

The port transom and cockpit floor are visibly worst. There is quite a bit of rot to be removed and replaced.

However check out the blue tape, I ran it along the foredeck and cockpit floor seams to enhance the pics, they don't really line up ?!?

[Bfrancis]

More

[Bfrancis]

Transom and cockpit floor

[Bfrancis]

More

[i550sailor@aol.com]

I don't think I have ever used the term OMG, but OMG!

[Bfrancis]

Please note that the alternative is starting from scratch ! I don't think I have a lot to lose by cutting the rotten out. Like I said I think the bulkheads are ok, maybe I have to disassemble to to it and wind up with a kit.

Do you think the "kink between the foredeck and the cockpit was a build error or it somehow warped later on ?

I'm thinking I simply "dissect" the boat until I figure it out. That will only cost time from here on in, I have a saw !

[Chad]

It's a build thing, not hull warp, dollars to donuts. There's no reason to join the deck panels exactly on centerline for a smoothly curved deck (other than neatness).

Hope not too much of the wood behind that fancy carbon is mush. Surely the inside was sealed before the deck was installed? And only the deck's coating (if any) has cooked away in the sun?

[Bfrancis]

I think some of the inside wasn't sealed, will find out soon, I was surprised at that. It seems like there was no way to seal it after installation.

The boat was upside down I think the deck is screwed because there was one screw driven in to the hull, to locate the keel slot I think. I think the water entered through it, caused some water damage to the hull panels and sat inside the for deck and cockpit floor so they were rotted from the inside out.

But who really knows, I hate to say it, but a tarp might have made all the difference. Time to start cutting !!

[Bfrancis]

Foredeck gone, everything fwd of the companionway bulkhead looks good to me. There appears to be a marked contrast in build quality and sealing, fwd of the bulkhead it all looks pretty good, aft of the bulkhead things appear to be a little more hastily constructed. I even found a rasp under the floor in a section that was never meant to be seen again!

[Bfrancis]

All of these bulkheads except 1 look ok there is an obviously curved on that will need to be replaced. I think this would be doable. Is it still called a bulkhead if it runs fore and aft ?

You can just see in the top of the pic that the top few inches of the companionway bulkhead are gone, the rest looks ok, I think i could remake the top and butt block it on.

[Bfrancis]

This area of floor is toast, the inner carbon skin looks good. I was wondering if it's possible to attack it from the outside, cut away the outer carbon, scrape out the rotten ply epoxy in new ply and glass over ?

[Bfrancis]

This section of hull panel is also toast, was wondering the same thing, scrape out the rotten ply from the inside and glue a new piece the the outer glass ?