Filling in cockpit floor gap

[rsallo]

Hi everyone,

On my Halcyon the aft part of the cockpit floor, where the drain is, is lower than the rest of it. Here you have a couple of photos:

I'd like to raise it to the same level as the rest of the floor, or at least a bit higher (while keeping the drain open of course), but don't know how or with what.

I guess I could use a piece of wood, but it would be difficult to shape it to leave as little gaps as possible. Another alternative I can think of would be to fill it in with epoxy (with or without thickener), but I'm not sure it's the best way to do it, it looks too big to me.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[seasolutions]

if you just fill it, the filler will crack over time....

a few suggestions, hope one helps

GRP repair:
1 lift teak sole in surrounding area
2 grind back gel coat to expose laminate
3 roughly shape a piece of marine ply to fill gap
4 bond in with epoxy / micro fibers
5 over laminate with epoxy and sevral layers of rovings (say 900gsm total)
6 fair with epoxy microballon mix
7 paint
8 re-fit teak sole

it would in theroy be possible to do the overlay (5,6,7) with polyester and csm, then repair the gel-coat and fair it in to look invisable, but would be quite an undertaking if you've never done GRP work before.

alternately you could cast it full of epoxy microballon mix, building up approx 20mm at a time and allowing to cure (much thicker will exotherm too much) and cover with light glass and paint.

the simplest is proably to get a piece of teak (or iroko) shape it roughly, (power planer / angle grinder) and bed it down on loads of s(t)ikaflex. the sika will allow for any less than perfect fitting.

good luck

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Perhaps a silly question, but why? As it is you have a sump for water in the cockpit, so that the main cockpit sole is kept dry. If you remove the sump effect, then water will remain in the cockpit sole to a much greater extent than it does now, potentially causing problems with rot in the wooden floor.

 

[oldsaltoz]

All you need is a small hole, say 8 mm on each corner, epoxy a small tube of stainless steel into each and add a length of hose.

The hose/s can be inserted into the top side of the normal drain hose.

I have done this on a couple of boats that held water in the forward corner of the cockpit seats.

Avagoodweekend......

 

[simonfraser]

fill it in with ply, epoxy it on all sides.
cover it with treadmaster, done well will last longer than you are likely to own the boat.

 

[michael_w]

Teak grating would look nice.

 

[lw395]

All you need is a small hole, say 8 mm on each corner, epoxy a small tube of stainless steel into each and add a length of hose.

The hose/s can be inserted into the top side of the normal drain hose.

I have done this on a couple of boats that held water in the forward corner of the cockpit seats.

Avagoodweekend......

Good solution.
1mm wall aluminium tube works well, as epoxy sticks to it (rough it up!) better than ss.
B&Q sell it.

 

[rsallo]

Thanks for all the suggestions, I'll probably go for the wood option (teak/iroko, ply or teak grating) as I've never worked with GPR before.

AntarcticPilot:
Not silly at all. The sump is just as wide as a foot, and deep enough to put your foot up to the ankle. A few times, when having to move quickly, my foot got stuck there and I almost twisted my ankle.

Maybe the solution is to raise it just a little bit to leave a small sump, or to put a piece of wood with at an angle rathen than flat, lower on the side of the drain and higher on the side next to the wooden floor.

 

[rsallo]

oldsaltoz: Apologies but I'm not sure I've understood your system, I don't know if you'd have any photo or could describe it in another way (apologies again!)

 

[ShaunG]

Oldsaltz idea sounds easy to me,

insert a couple of additonal drains in the sump (ss tube) then tee these into the pipe that is attached to the current drain pipe inside the boat.

You will end up with 3 drains, 2 small 10mm? drains in the sump and your exisiting drain 38mm? all using the same through hull outlet.

if i wanted to fill it in, i would shape foam, glass over and then gelcoat. Easy to do but proabably not the first job i would try if playing with G/Glass

 

[mainmarine]

you could make a laminated strip using uPVC built up to the required height, you can get a 5 meter x 40mm x 6mm thick piece of uPVC for around £5 from a plastic building materials supplier or Wickes etc for a bit more money

 

[oldsaltoz]

oldsaltoz: Apologies but I'm not sure I've understood your system, I don't know if you'd have any photo or could describe it in another way (apologies again!)

All you need is a small hole through the cockpit floor, one at each end of the wet area so it will drain when heeled over or during rain at rest.

To protect the exposed fibreglass after drilling you need to seal it, use an epoxy resin or even araldite to secure a small tube in each hole with enough left on the inside to fit a small hose.

Any water that drains through the tubes can be directed to the high side of the existing hose on the centre drain.

Is it clearer now?

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Thanks for all the suggestions, I'll probably go for the wood option (teak/iroko, ply or teak grating) as I've never worked with GPR before.

AntarcticPilot:
Not silly at all. The sump is just as wide as a foot, and deep enough to put your foot up to the ankle. A few times, when having to move quickly, my foot got stuck there and I almost twisted my ankle.

Maybe the solution is to raise it just a little bit to leave a small sump, or to put a piece of wood with at an angle rathen than flat, lower on the side of the drain and higher on the side next to the wooden floor.

My dad had a Halcyon 27 called Peristella. I can't for the life of me recall whether the wooden cockpit floor on yours was standard or not; I don't recall it on Peristella.

Very nice boat!

 

[rsallo]

oldsaltoz: now I get it, I was so focused on ways to fill the sump that I couldn't figure out how your system would do it. Now I see you were talking about ways of draining it instead.

 

[Scotty_Tradewind]

Depending on what is below and around the drain hole out of view, I would consider lowering the drain a little so there is no sump at all.
Water sitting against the join between timber and wood could eventually find a way between and do harm.
Cutting out and reforming the grp is not that difficult and West System have a good website and also do relatively inexpensive day courses for those who need help.
good luck
S.

 

[rsallo]

Thanks Scotty, the problem with lowering the drain is that the Halcyon has a very low freeboard and the cockpit drain is just above the waterline. It's not unusual to get a bit of water coming in from the drain when sailing with two people in the cockpit.

 

[colvic987]

easiest way of sorting out the sump is to make a nice teak or iroko piece to fit above the space, above the drain, so you can lift it out when needed, but it will also stop you putting your foot in the sump.

 

[Ubergeekian]

Thanks Scotty, the problem with lowering the drain is that the Halcyon has a very low freeboard and the cockpit drain is just above the waterline. It's not unusual to get a bit of water coming in from the drain when sailing with two people in the cockpit.

The Hunter 490 has a cockpit drain about 3" above the sole, for the same reason. Since I am a well built chap, I have become used to bunging it up when sailing with crew. otherwise we're soon sloshing around. Of course this means unbunging it afterwards ... last autumn I left the boat on her mooring for two rainy weeks and, on the way out to her, though "Oh. The back end looks a bit lower than I remember." Ten inches.

I'm now planning to add a second, unbungable cockpit drain about 3" above the first ...