Samphire Bulwark Removal

[big_s]

Hi,
I recently bought a Samphire 26 in need of some serious tlc. The Samphire design is notable for its teak plank(strake?) surround at the top of the hull between the rubbing rail and the capping rail, the latter two sandwiching the first in place:



While removing the headlining contact adhesive from the interior of the hull I noticed that lots of the screws securing this and the rubbing strake to the hull have penetrated right through the hull. It looks like a previous owner may have tried to cure the resulting leaks with additional layers of fibreglass and gelcoat. Unfortunately much of this was done on top of areas that had not had the contact adhesive or headliner foam backing fully removed! The result is a total mess with pockets of water found between layers of glass and the hull. Here are some example holes in a just small section of the interior - yep that is daylight!:



I don't like the plank/bulwark construction as 200+ screw holes is 200+ potential leaks so I want to remodel this upper part of the hull. Having removed the outer teak plank, rubbing strake and capping rail I found this:



The lower screw holes are where the rubbing rail was secured. Behind the plank was a recess into which another thin section of teak was secured all the way around the hull - I removed a small section to the right in the photo just to understand what was going on behind. I believe the screw tips visible to the right are possibly joining the deck to the hell? - they are not accessible internally. These screws screw in to the teak in the recess and these as well as the grey adhesive tape hold the teak in the recess in place . I believe the top two layers of glass are the joint formed at the edge of the hull and the edge of the deck?

So my thinking is this: can I leave the teak in the recess in place, continue the deck layer of glass out a fraction and then downwards so that if covers this recess and the teak in it, and then joins with the hull just below the recess.. I can fill and fair this glassfibre joint edge to be visually acceptable. In doing so this whole recessed area and the edges above it would be encapsulated in glass/epoxy (?) I will fill and seal all remaining screw holes in the hull - I will not reinstall a rubbing rail.

As for the capping rail, I am undecided as to whether a replacement of the current rotten capping rails would be subsequently necessary.

Finally I may create a kind of hawse hole that passes through this recessed area, one on either side of the yacht, to allow easier deck drainage as the current deck level drains require internal plumbing and drain skin fittings in the hull that are cumbersome and undesirable.

Any and all advice welcome as to whether this is a sensible/feasible course of action, or not!

Many thanks!

 

[LittleSister]

Welcome to the Forum.

I know a fair bit about Samphire's (I've had two, and used to run a Samphire Owners website), though not much about the attachment of the teak strake, etc., so if you have other queries specific to Samphires do not hesitate to contact me.

They are generally sound and strongly built boats.

I have not heard previously of people having problems with leaks from the attachment of the strake and rubbing bands. (I am also struggling to mentally match up your photos - the numerous holes shown in the internal pic don't seem to tally with the larger, apparently regularly spaced lower holes in the external photo, and the apparently more numerous, less regular holes in the internal picture seem more like those in the upper, recessed part in the external photo, but those would presumably be above deck level.) I will have a look next time I visit a Samphire to see if I can see anything about the strake attachment that might be of help to you. If only the lower holes were the leak problem, these could perhaps be filled and replaced with Big-Head type fittings [ Core range | bigHead Bonding Fasteners ] by which to resecure the strake(s), which would presumably be a lot less work than what you are proposing.

Turning to the deck drains, the standard (?) internal routing of the drains' piping is somewhat convoluted, exacerbated in the case of my Samphire 26 by being joined to that of the deck drains by 'T' fittings, which both limit flow somewhat and substantially increase the likelihood of blockages. On my Samphire 23, which was moulded by North Sea Craft but fitted-out beautifully by the first owner rather than the yard, the deck drains go straight downwards and exit via skin fittings a few inches above the waterline, which works well. I wanted to change the arrangement on my yard finished Samphire 26 to match, but internal furniture made it difficult to route the vertical pipes that far down, so they drain through hull skin fittings towards the top of the hull sides, perhaps 9" below the drain holes in the deck - perfectly effective, but not so aesthetically pleasing.

I do know of another former Samphire owner who cut scuppers in the upstanding bulwark around the deck to aid drainage, but I never found a problem with the standard drains in use - they quickly drain even any green water coming on deck. (The bulk of any substantial volume would, of course, just drain over the top of the bulwarks.) If you do that do make sure you effectively seal the inside edges of the new openings so that water cannot get between the deck and hull mouldings, which, I believe overlap here.

Where you do have to watch out with the drains, though, is when the boat is ashore, when leaves tend to accumulate in the recessed deck drain holes and block them. I have on occasion fashioned a short tube of mesh to put in the drain hole recess, which keeps leaves out of the hole, and water can drain through or over the top of them. I have also had occasional problems when the boat is propped ashore on sloping ground. The deck drain holes are positioned at the lowest point in the deck when the boat is level. If the boat is stood bow down or stern down enough, or too much to one side, some of the rain water will not go down the drains, but accumulate on deck.

 

[big_s]

Hi and thanks for the welcome and the great response.

Very kind offer - I almost certainly will for other issues!

Just to continue this thread, I should have said in my initial post that the woodwork is in an appalling state. The teak capping rail had not been cared for; eventually a central groove was chiseled out along its length, this groove filled with epoxy and then the rail topped with poorly applied glass fibre cloth and painted brown - yuck! The rubbing band wood is bone dry, brittle and contains very lengthy cracks. I know nothing about recovering such poor condition wood but presume it would need either completely replacing or using a wood free alternative approach, possibly like I described above?

The bottom of the rubbing band is secured by a series of screws, and these lie under the wide recess at the top of the rubbing strake which itself is secured by a row of screws - the rubbing strake has an approximately 'L' shaped cross section. These two overlapping rows of screws align. There are a few odd misaligned extras positioned vertically along the scarf joints of the strake and band. Hence the slightly odd looking spacing of the holes in the photo - the vertical row is the location of the port scarf joint in the band. The last photo shows a more regular row of holes port side aft, just before the transom. Both lower rows of holes in the two pics are below deck level, and sizing differences are just due to distance from the camera - few feet vs few inches.

Unfortunately both the rubbing strake and the band have been secured using the same length screws but a shorter screw should have been used for the lesser thickness rubbing band. My Samphire was not fitted out by North Sea Craft and so the consistent use of overly long screws for the band was either an original error or a replacement error.

As for your suggestion of using Big-Head type fittings, I like this. If I was to reattach a strake, would these fittings be surface mounted on the outside of the hull or passed through a hole on the inside of the hull and the fitting surround made watertight? A big issue with rubbing band replacement is the cost of the wood. Teak is too pricey these days. Any suggestions?

Regarding the drains, I really like the idea of scuppers. Minimising skin fittings, simplifying the plumbing and avoiding the issues you describe re level is desirable. Currently I have these dack drains attaching to four dains from the cockpit and the bilge - it's a confused mess of plumbing and mostly unnecessary!

Cheers.

 

[LittleSister]

As for your suggestion of using Big-Head type fittings, I like this. If I was to reattach a strake, would these fittings be surface mounted on the outside of the hull or passed through a hole on the inside of the hull and the fitting surround made watertight?

I was thinking externally - i.e. fill and seal the holes, epoxy BigHead (or similar) fittings own place on the outside of the hull, to take the screws (or whatever) holding the strakes in place. It's just an idea, and would require further consideration (e.g. is there the depth to accommodate them?).

Good luck with your project.

 

[LittleSister]

p.s. Wider selection of BigHead fasteners shown here -
Extended range | bigHead Bonding Fasteners

 

[DownWest]

Friend is working on his 29, I will alert him and see if he has any comment. Plymouth area.

Iroko is not cheap, but affordable compared with teak. Bit rough on your edge tools, but glues OK.

 

[Wing Mark]

p.s. Wider selection of BigHead fasteners shown here -
Extended range | bigHead Bonding Fasteners

They are very expensive for this kind of job.