I headed over to the shed first thing this morning, pulled the rear bulkhead out, lifted out the side decking and started making a parts list. Then it was off to Western Auto for more Bilgekote paint; two bilge pumps, a little automatic one and a much larger main one; and two more round deck plates and a larger rectangular one. The bilge pumps should never be used as the bilges are designed to be dry, but a $300 dollar investment to save a much larger one seems like good insurance. I also made a stop at my favorite store for a few more PVC joints and elbows and a couple more hole saws to fit and it was back to the shed.
I took the six remaining deck supports, figured out where I needed to drill holes for the remaining PVC pipe, drilled 'em, painted the inside of the holes with Bilgekote and set them aside to at least partially dry.
Next I grabbed all my 2" and 1-1/4" PVC pipe and cut pieces to the proper length to finish the four runs. I didn't have a full length piece of 1-1/4" long enough for the main run to the back so I joined two pieces together to get enough. I put the PVC through the holes in the deck supports and then worked them down into place, glued them to the existing joints and put 90 degree elbows on the ends.
With the three PVC pipes on the starboard side, the short one is to go from the front bulkhead to the rear bulkhead, the big one in the middle will be for control wiring and hydraulic lines for the steering, and the one on the right will be for main power to the power distribution in the forward bulkhead.
The short pipe on the right is to go from the front bulkhead to the rear bulkhead and the pipe on the left will be used to run the fuel line to the rear.
Epoxying in the deck supports with peanut butter was next. These didn't get any fiberglass as there's no horizontal strain, but where the deck support met the side support, peanut butter was inserted and screws used to pull the pieces together. I also finished raising the stringers in the rear deck area by extending forward the doubled up 1/2" plywood strips. Where those stop will abut the rear bulkhead.
The side decks were thoroughly cleaned and then set back in the boat. I made tick marks showing where the deck supports were, transferred those to the bottom, drew a line one half inch either side and a line denoting the stringers.
While I had the lines in place I figured out where the fuel tanks would be mounted, accounted for the 3% growth and drew lines. Now I told you a while back that I had found a way to securely mount the tanks and here they are sitting on the decking.
They're called Snap-Loc's. They're pretty cool in that they're the same thing you'll find on the walls of moving vans, however these are obviously singles versus the rows of them in the vans. They're ridiculously overkill as each one is rated for 2000 pounds, but they give me a great way to strap the tanks down. I'll glue small braces around the edges of the tanks to keep them from sliding and the straps will hold them down. I'm very pleased with these.
After the lines were drawn and holes drilled for the Snap-Locs I then painted those areas with epoxy that will contact the deck supports and stringers. Those areas will be structural so the epoxy applied tonight and the peanut butter applied tomorrow will glue everything together. The areas without epoxy, if they had knots, well the knots got some epoxy and then the areas were painted with Bilgekote.
Last I painted the last of the bilge areas. It was a royal pain painting around the pipes and in the small areas, but all the bilge areas are finally done and I danced a little jig when I finished. It was good that I bought the extra quart of Bilgekote as I needed it for the last three bays.
A long day, but very successful. Tomorrow I'll paint a little enamel (hmmm... come to think of it I'm out of chip brushes) under the Snap-Loc's and mount them in place, then epoxy the side decks down. They've got some warp, so the sixty pound tools will be used. I need to drill the holes in the rear deck for the PVC pipes, cut holes for the three deck plates and get a mounting plate in place for the bilge pumps I've got a pretty good idea how I want to do it, we'll see how it works out. And if I get far enough along I'll get the rear decks done like the side decks and maybe even installed. Would be an ambitious day, but we'll see.
11.5 Hours