Storm boards

CPD

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My hatch is secure and in reasonable condition and I have made up a spare set of weatherboards from 12mm marine ply. I have also worked out how I am going to protect my windows, and I thought my idea might be useful to others.

The frames, and windows on my centaur are held in place using interscrews (look like screw heads from both ends, but actually screw into each other). Remove the interscrews and replace with bolts, the heads on the inside, the thread coming through the frame and appearing outside the vessel, with maybe 20mm excess thread length (the original windows still in situ). Use nuts/washers to tighten up the frame in the original position. The storm board (covering both windows and pre-drilled) can then be attached very securely to the vessel on the excess 20mm thread, secured in place with washer/nut.

Sounds like a good idea, simple so cant be that bad, inexpensive, and if I can do it (not that I have yet !), then you should be able to also !.

Bolts//washers/nuts from http://www.seascrew.com./ or http://www.a2a4.co.uk/

There you go, thats my good deed for the day /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
G

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A bolt sticking out the best part of an inch is just asking for someone to fall against it when going forward, or for a line to snag on it.
Suggest at minimum you fit acorn nuts over the exposed bolt ends to prevent any cuts to skin or clothing or, better still, suggest you make up a small removable fairing-piece out of wood (think 'truncated-cone'-shaped washer, with recesses for both nuts) for each bolt which will allow any rope (or clothing etc) to freely pass over the bolt without snagging.

Colin
 
G

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Yes - I assumed that - but what about the situation when the boards aren't in place ? Unless you plan on having the boards in place all the time of course ... (?)
Colin
 

Jake

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Hi Alan

It's a good idea to have a way of beefing up the windows. Just a thought - as SAE140 suggests, why not have another layer of perspex/acrylic through-bolted on the inside as a permanent arrangement. This will double up your windows. Not sure if you'll get any condensation problems with a double layer, but - with the bolts topped off with rounded nuts, it will look good too!

Good to meet you at SIBS, by the way!
 
G

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One problem with having exterior plywood storm boards permanently in place is the resulting lack of light - but this can be offset a little by fitting an upper wash-board made from thick perspex, and having a decent sized glazed hatch on top of the cabin.
Alternatively, make external storm-boards from 10 or 12mm polycarbonate (Lexan). I scrounged about 3 sq.yds. of the stuff for free from a scrap-yard recently - it had been used as machinery safety screening. The bloke was glad to get rid of it as plastics have virtually no recycle value (compared with scrap copper fetching over £3,000 a ton ...). It was a bit scuffed from kicking around against scrap metal for a few weeks, but the cost of new polycarb that thick doesn't bear thinking about.
Colin
 

maxiswede

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[ QUOTE ]
Hi Alan

It's a good idea to have a way of beefing up the windows. Just a thought - as SAE140 suggests, why not have another layer of perspex/acrylic through-bolted on the inside as a permanent arrangement. This will double up your windows. Not sure if you'll get any condensation problems with a double layer, but - with the bolts topped off with rounded nuts, it will look good too!

Good to meet you at SIBS, by the way!

[/ QUOTE ]

I have this installment on my boat and I love it. Safe & snug. Adds insulation too, for living aboard in colder climes. No condensation at all onboard with the hull and coachroof insulated as well
 

PacketRat

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I replaced the windows on my Pandora with 7.5 mm perspex (acrylic) a few years ago. Since then, I've read about polycarbonate and wonder why we use perspex.

For example, Gilbert Curry Industrial Plastics Co Ltd have this to say - Lexan polycarbonate sheet offers the highest impact strength of any transparent glazing product--250 times the impact strength of glass and 30 times that of acrylic.

Isn't polycarbonate is the right material for the job?
Robin.
 

webcraft

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Sounds like a good idea - you could use neoprene washers and SS dome nuts over the bolts when the stormboards aren't in place.

We used a similar system on our Albin Vega - but our windows are held in with rubber strips so we just drilled six holes each sie - one at each corner and two in the middle - and used 12mm ply with a 12mm x 25mm rim on the inside so they stood proud of the windows.

We put the pan head bolts through from the outside bedded on the neoprene washers and used dome nuts on the inside.

We had shorter bolts to fill the holes when the boards weren't in use, but ended up leaving them on all the time because it kept the boat cooler. I drilled 4 x 3" dia holes for light and sikaflexed and screwed squares of 12mm lexan over them.

- W
 
G

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[ QUOTE ]
Isn't polycarbonate is the right material for the job?

[/ QUOTE ]

Although polycarbonate is a very strong and impact resistant material, it's surface is relatively soft and will scratch easily and, unlike perspex, it's almost impossible to get such scratches out. Using a mild abrasive (like metal polish) only makes the situation worse.
Exposed polycarbonate also has a habit of turning an opaque white colour over the years.

I'd suggest staying with Perspex for permanent lights, and using Polycarbonate for storm-shuttering either inside (where it's protected from the weather), or for occasional use on the outside.

Colin
 

PacketRat

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With patio door sized windows, I have in mind to add supports so I have more, smaller windows. I think it will add some strength to the structure of the coachroof. I wonder if windows sometimes end up breaking because of a combination of overtightened fasteners and coachroofs that flex under the weight of a heavy breaking sea, rather than because the material is not strong enough.
As yet, I have no plans for storm boards, other than spare pieces of ply for general emergency use. But I've put in watertight bulkheads fore and aft so the boat will remain afloat in the unlikely event of the main cabin getting flooded.
It's good to get a bit of positive feedback for perspex, Colin /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif, as window replacement is another job I can well do without. Yachts have been abandoned half full of water with broken windows, even with the coachroof torn off, and have been found still floating after the storm. I'm not sure how practical it would be to fit storm boards during a storm anyway. I'd like to add that my thinking on such issues is conjecture, not experience.
Robin.
 

PacketRat

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Hi Mac77: One bulkhead lies across the boat where the cockpit ends. Here's a piccie I took a while ago, before putting in another piece of ply at cockpit seat level. My boat's going to have a "poop deck" at the cockpit coaming level. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
cockpit.jpg

If you like, I'll try and dig out a piccie of the main bulkhead. The forepeak is completely separate from the cabin, and I'm hoping this won't be an issue. At any rate, the boat is now in three watertight sections. The ply is 9mm with 2 oz glass cloth laminated on each side and it's then been laminated into place all round the hull and underside of the deck. Deep sea sailing is going to be a new experience for me, so I decided I'd have to do whatever was required to make the boat as seaworthy as possible. It might be over the top, but it will give me confidence. It has certainly created a workload I have to struggle with /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif, but all's well that ends well.
Robin.
 

Saddletramp

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Thanks for that Packet Rat. I was thinking of doing something similar with my cockpit to reduce the volume. All the weight is at the back with the engine. I also want to put some bouyancy ain the lockers and around the engine. Probably a combination of 1gall and 5 gall plastic cans.
 

peter60

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save yourself the agony of ripping skin off your precious body and fit 15mm macralon windows and forget about broken windows. cheaper in the long run and they will be in place when you need them not having to fit washboards in bad weather you have less likleyhood of going overboard
 

peter60

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carry spare water in 5 litre plastic cans this way you never get cross contamination if you get some bad water. and when they are empty they will give you possitive bouyancy and they fit in almost any locker
 
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