Replacing deck fittings

[CES]

Hi
I'm about to start replacing some rotton deck pads. The bolts have been glassed over on the inside. What would be the best way to cut the old matting away, I'm hoping to avoid a grinder cause of the mess they make! I'm thinking sharp chisel.

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

I used a sharp chisel for similar, and a junior hacksaw blade.... still made a right bloody mess though!

 

[Guest]

Have you a vacuum cleaner ?

When I have a mucky job to do that involves dust / debris falling away from such as this .... I have vacuum cleaner nozzle stationed just below and sucking up all the crud ... So you can get swmbo / another to help by holding that ... you chip away with chisel ... bobs proverbial. It also stops you getting the stuff on you etc.

Even a rechargeable Dustbuster is good enough.

 

[CES]

Thanks guys for that, I was thinking of taking a vacuum cleaner with me for when I scrape off the old headling backing foam, so am now fully armed.

 

[Jake]

See next months PBO (out 5 Feb) - there's a great powertool featured called the Fein Multimaster. It uses an oscillating action working through a 2 degree arc, and with the right saw attachment would be ideal for this job. (It is designed to cut slots, and is a favourite of flooring experts. It's also used to remove plaster casts, as human skin moves more than 2 degrees, so simply rides the blade.)

Not cheap (rrp £225 but currently in a kit for £131.85 from Power Tool Sales of Southampton) but a good investment as it is able to do dozens of other awkward jobs on board. It even has an attachment to tease out the caulking between teak planks. I know what you mean about angle-grinders, though, especially in the confines of a cabin. Best avoided if at all possible!

 

[tugboat]

If available you could try a Dremel type tool with a vac sucking up the mess. A Bosch electric chisel would work too. If using a hand chisel, I'd use an old one that wasn't going to be used for decent wood-butchery, as the GRP will wreck the cutting edge, and also you'll need to keep sharpening it so take an oilstone with you.

 

[oldsaltoz]

G'day CES,

Go with the chisel, much less dust, faster than a grinder; just cover the floor and surrounding area with a drop sheet and go for it.

You can use the standard resin too as the bond id not critical and will be in compression.

Things to do that will avoid doing this again:
Drill all holes 5 to 6 mm oversize then fill with resin and Micro fibres.
Soak your backing ply in epoxy only after all holes have been drilled.
Backing ply should have well rounded corners and a bottom edges.
Fill the gap between backing material and deck with Micro fibres, this will distribute the load and stick very well.
You can recess a s/steel backing into ply and avoid nuts protruding into the cabin.
An alternative is to use only s/steel or aluminium backing plates, then cut a frame from timber or ply with well rounded edges and corners topped with a thin cover plate hiding the nuts, this can be a sheet of timber or other material screwed to the frame that5 is glued using micro fibres.

Hope this all helps

Avagoodweekend......

PS Off to Cairns in the morning for some R&R on the Cat.

 

[Clyde_Wanderer]

I had to cut out the whole inner floor in the main saloon, and used a 4" grinder with a cutting disc for most of it, that was a week ago, just managed to find my way out of the boat today, when the dust finally settled.
All joking aside, I used the powercraft hand rotary tool from Aldi with the little rotary saw bit for some of the areas that the grinder couldent access, and must say only for it dont know what I would have done, it cut the grp like butter and only made a 2mm wide cut in it which is a lot smaller than the grinder cut, also the dust from it only moves about an inch or two away from the cut.
I would recommend it as you can use it with one hand especially if you are using the flexable drive, giving you the other hand to hold the vacuam hose directly below the job, a whole lot quicker.