Pioneer 9

[pmnfernando]

When I had to rebuild the cross beam on Zeeforel I discovered that the bulkhead didn't actually meet the underside of the deck so I had to epoxy hardwood wedges in to the gap to prevent the deck sagging.

i would have to go back to my photos and check what was happening exactly, i do remember it not being a flushed endind lets say. there was a small gap.
i do remember filling that gap and laminating with 2 layers 1700 biax cloth on the and aft and fwd face of the bulkhead.

said thickened epoxy filling had 2 objectives: filling the gaps and providing a fillet, thus a better radius, for the lamination of the cloth.

 

[Zeehond2]

i was writing my reply as you posted this.

i like your solution, i think it works.
and you made sure you are dispersing the load onto the hull, that is smart.

the old arrangement i had on the boat was a metal goal post which dispersed the loads to the hull bottom, transforming a deck stepped mast into a "almost" keel steeped one.

i initially tought about following that route, but i also noticed that the failure occurred at the horizontal bit of the goal post. it was bent, not by much, but it was bent.
it was this that made me opt for reinforcing the mast step option, seeing how the bolts, which connected the bulkhead to the goal post were straight. this can only tell that the top section failed first, it cant really tell how, if any, load were being dispersed thru thw bulkhead.

this made me think that, whatever load created the failure, it wasnt all that of a mammoth one, given the boat was sailing for a decade with that failure in place (the last owner wasnt even aware of it).
with all of this in mind in opted for a more localized reinforcing solution

your solution has another positive, it brings the weight down. mine concentrates it at deck level which is first worst place to have it

Hi, I am looking for G10 in the UK. It seems really expensive here. I am thinking of using G10 to spread compression loads around the keel bolts, under the stanchion bases and to in place of foam in the deck where high compression loads will be located. Do you have a cheap source?