[C38] Cockpit sole hatch
Les
hlhowell at pacbell.net
Mon Aug 6 22:21:28 EDT 2007
Someone prior to myself put a hatch in the cockpit sole of JACE. It was
one of those plastic jobs. I weigh 260+/- and the hatch didn't hold up.
I replaced it with one I made from two layers of 3/8" marine plywood,
but now the hatch rim (also plastic) is showing some cracks. I will
have to go the powdercoated aluminum or stainless route as well I think.
I may have one made next year. I am leaning toward stailness, but am
open to suggestions?
Regards,
Les H
On Mon, 2007-08-06 at 14:27 -0700, Kerry Grimes wrote:
> Charles
>
> I bought my boat with the cockpit floor opened up and covered with a
> makeshift hatch made from the cutout. It took me a while, but I finally
> found an aluminum hatch with a stainless steel boarder to replace the
> fiberglass/wood hatch. I still need to make ring for the bottom side of
> the cockpit floor and have it powder coated. If you are interested I
> can send photos of what is currently there and the hatch I purchased to
> do the repair. But I wouldn't recommend doing the modification. No
> matter how well you install the hatch it will speed up the failure of
> the wood under the cockpit floor. Between the cabin opening and the
> steering pedestal there is not the room you would hope. Someone still
> has to hold you by your feet and drop you head first into the engine
> compartment. Feel free to make a trip out to Antioch California and
> I'll let you try to fix something behind the engine through that hole
> and you will not do the modification.
>
> Don
>
> I see you are out in Emeryville. Any chance of coming out to look at
> you spinnaker setup some time soon. Contact me off list at
> littlebreeze at comcast.net. Thanks
>
> Kerry Grimes
> Little Breeze #139
> Antioch, CA
>
> Charles wrote:
> > All of this reminds me that one of us had a problem with the cockpit
> > floor and fixed it my making it into an engine access hatch? As I am 6"
> > 5" and haven't been able to touch my toes for more than 50 years...
> > getting to this part of the boat is out of the question. If I am
> > correct, could whoever made the hatch in the cockpit floor tell us how?
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Charles Finn
> > Mighty Quinn, #114
> >
> > D. R. Strong wrote:
> >> Les:
> >> I have wrestled with the packing gland repeatedly, and finally seem
> >> to have mastered it. In my estimation, the cramped space for the packing
> >> gland is the worst aspect of our boats. Access to the gland is very
> >> difficult. The quadrant for wheel steering has to be removed to gain
> >> access to the gland. After having a good laugh at our expense, Cree at
> >> Berkeley Marine Center taught me how to replace the packing material. He
> >> assured me that it would be far better to replace the packing material
> >> properly than to screw around trying to install a gaitor; we simply
> >> don't have enough room for a gaitor. The main advantage of being too
> >> small for high school athletics is that (taa da!) I can work on my own
> >> C38 packing gland! Accessing the engine compartment through the sail
> >> locker, then wriggling sternward, one can remove the quandrant then deal
> >> with the front two bolts of the gland; the rear bolts of the quadrant
> >> and rear two bolts of the gland are removed through the stern locker.
> >> You should use 3 lengths of packing material. The key to getting the
> >> packing material right is to make a diagonal cut with a very sharp razor
> >> blade, getting the exact length by cutting wraps that have wound around
> >> the rudder shaft (which you can access in the cockpit by removing the
> >> bolting base of the tiller: THE RUDDER WILL SINK WHEN YOU REMOVE THE
> >> BOLTING BASE. SECURE THE RUDDER WITH A ROPE HARNESS). Then, grease up
> >> the cut length of packing material with water proof axle grease, and
> >> slip it into the gland from the stern locker. Space the cut ends by 60
> >> degree intervals, score the gland so you can remember where the ends of
> >> each length are. Then go back inside and tighten the two front bolts,
> >> then the two rear bolts from the cockpit. Then replace the quandrant.
> >> The whole activity should took 6 intense hours the first time. My mood
> >> turned so foul that Karin left the boat and went shopping. The second
> >> time took about 4 hours, and the third time, After Cree's instruction,
> >> when I got the cuts in the packing material right and used the axle
> >> grease method, took about 3 hours.
> >> I used a mirror on a stick to assure myself that the gland was not
> >> leaking, during a hard sail. With the mirror, I found that the hose at
> >> the bottom of one of those horrid rubber things holding the ping pong
> >> ball in the cockpit drain was loose and leaking. I replaced the cockpit
> >> drain hoses (which is another long story).
> >> Don
> >>
> >> Les wrote:
> >>
> >>> Hi, Everyone,
> >>> Sometime ago there was discussion of using a gaitor on the rudder tube.
> >>> I am curious about the effectiveness and installation cost, also if the
> >>> packing gland were removed, and did that affect the play in the rudder
> >>> shaft?
> >>>
> >>> We just had the packing gland adjusted for JACE. I am a bit too bulky
> >>> to get in there, and Nancy doesn't understand what needed to be done, so
> >>> I got someone skinnier and more flexible to do it. But that brought
> >>> home a point. What happens when we're out? How could I stop the
> >>> ingress of water from the stern?
> >>>
> >>> I feel I should mention that I did make a modification to the stern
> >>> locker floor inserts, using some bits of mahoghany 1x2. I cut the
> >>> existing pieces from port to starboard, so that it is now 4 pieces.
> >>> Then I added a support from aft to the rail over the quadrant to support
> >>> the intersection. Finally I added the 1x2 under the forward pieces to
> >>> support the aft pieces, set up in such a way that they 1x restricted the
> >>> support from moving side to side. This means the whole thing, the four
> >>> pieces and support fit together in such a way that they can be easily
> >>> removed from the top, but will not slide down into the bilge. I will
> >>> add fasteners to the pieces to hold them in place so that they will
> >>> effectively be one piece.
> >>>
> >>> I did this when I had my minor panic attack from the bilge pump hose
> >>> slipping off the thru hull and causing water to circulate, but I didn't
> >>> know that at the time, what I saw was a lot of water flowing into the
> >>> bilge while the bilge pump was running continuously. I thought I was
> >>> sinking.... What a rush!! Fortunately we fixed the hose and it turned
> >>> out to be "nothing". By the way, check the hoses, mine were just glued
> >>> in and the glue had dried out, which was the source of the problem. Now
> >>> I'm hose clamped good!!
> >>>
> >>> Even with this stern locker floor out, we can only reach one bolt of the
> >>> three under the quadrant on JACE. I don't know if all the boats use the
> >>> same packing gland or not.
> >>>
> >>> Regards,
> >>> Les H
> >>>
> >>>
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