Hatch Gutters

[matt ciarpella]

I've been helping a friend out while waiting on parts for the bertram. Anyhow this is what i came up with.
Without mentioning the brand of boat, he had to repower but the salon wall and rear of engine box were molded as one and glassed into the floor.
Came up with this plan from sources here and a little creative engineering so as to make what I cut out a hatch.

After cut this is what was below



Cleaned things up a bit. Cut back the foam core and any built up cloth


Used fiberglass c channel from Mc Master Carr to create the shape. Epoxied in 1x1 inch solid stock inside one edge
This is the main attachment point for the channel under the deck as well as the cored thickness that was cut back to fit along the outer edge
Set in fiber reinforced thickened epoxy


So far so good with out cloth on yet the channel edge supported a 175 lb point load. The line load spead along the edge of the hatch should be collectivly lighter
I will be laying cloth to build the channel edge wall thickness and tying it in under the deck
The channel is essentially the form to be reinforced when finished. seams to be working out sofar

I will send more photos as things progress

[CaptPatrick]

Matt,

Glad you got the images thing conquered....

Be sure to glass in those inside corners. Gotta' love Open Heart Surgery!

[Yannis]

Matt,

Nice work you've done there!

I have a similar problem: My B28's previous owner who installed the new 240 Yanmars realized (I assume) at some point, that the motors were a bit too tall to fit in the space available.
What they did to obtain this little extra height needed, was to cut and remove the motors' hatch reinforcements which were glassed underneath the gutters around the hatch openings. As a result, the whole deck surface which comprises the two motor hatches and the smaller middle hatch flexes way too much and has eventually cracked at the gutter corners (6 out of 8). Therefore, the gutters are now cracked and leak raw water onto the engines. At some point they realized the problem and tried to glue the cracks with some substance which, you guessed right, cracked again ! I wonder how to fix this without having to cut and remove the whole upper deck, strengthen it and put it back. Needless to say that the motor clearance (especially the port side) under the deck is a few millimeters !!

[matt ciarpella]

Yannis
If you can post photos of what you have I'd be willing to bet that someone here can design you a solution

[Kevin]

http://bertram31.com/newbb/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=10129

Yannis,
Did you check out my hatch project? I needed height also after repower. Even fresh water will mess up the paint on the motors over time. I had to make one modification after the last picture in the post and I can post some current photos if you need ideas. It is worth it when you are finished.

[Yannis]

Matt, thanks, I think you're right, I'll post a pic or two and we'll see !

Kevin, yep, I saw your pics and got scared !! You're a pro man, nothing like me... I'll go back to your thread and meditate a bit.
Oh, and you had to remove the ...mezzanine, right ? Did you cut all around ? Because I don't think that part of the deck is removable.
Like I said, I'll put up a few pics and you may perhaps give me your lights. Thanks.

[Kevin]

Yannis,
My project was a little different than what Matt is doing. Matt is adding gutters, which quite frankly looks to be more difficult than what I did. I simply filled in my gutter with "L" or angle fiberglass to create a lip that sticks up. I used quarter inch nuts and bolts. The remaining void in the gutter was filled with wood and thickened resin right to make it flush with deck. I then put bi-axle glass over it for strength and to tie it all together and used thickened resin to put a radius in it. There was no cutting or removing mezzanine like on Matt's project. I am no pro, just not scared of screwing up cuz you can grind it away and do it again if you don't like it. I am more stubborn than anything.

[Yannis]

Way to go Kevin!
I looked at your pics, I'm now more scared than before !
What the Captain suggests tho, is perhaps a good solution for me; to take good care of the corners cos i don't want the deck more elevated, and I don't want the hatches to open together. Anyway I'm so taken up by the solar/reefer/galley/rewiring/head project that I can very happily live with a flexing deck until next September. Nevertheless, I will have a hard time accomplishing what you did, hey, what happened with your angled head and the miz?