Stormboard advice

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Our stormboards are made and now we have to work out how to attach them to the boat.

Simplest is obviously just bolt straight through the cabin topsides with 6mm bolts and penny washers but . . . we do not want to have them in place all the time, so how to seal the holes when they are not there?

The easiest solution would seem to be to put short dome-headed bolts through sealed with a rubber washer of some sort on the outside. The question is - what sort of rubber would provide the right amount of compressibility to make this waterproof? I have some nitrile left over from sealing the fuel tank, but something a bit softer might be better.

Second question . . . I have a piece of 6mm lexan and would like to make a couple of small ports in each of the boards so it is not pitch dark when they are in place. I would like to cut 4" or 5" lexan circles, mitre the edges then glue them over 2.5" or 3" holes cut in the plywood, but have the following questions:

~ How do I cut/machine the lexan?

~ Is glue the best way to fix it over the openings? If not, what?

All suggestions / comments / derision welcome as usual.


- Nick
 
Did you cut circles or rectangles? I was thinking of circular 'portholes', but maybe this would be too difficult - I have a feeling a hole saw would melt the lexan.

- Nick
 
On one boat I had aluminium channel fore and aft of the port into which the storm boards slid. I have seen a variation on this with the channel fitted above and below the port. On another boat I had small alloy blocks, tapped to take a bolt, located at each corner of the port. A thumb bolt (a bolt with wings on it) went through a hole at each corner of the storm board into the aluminium block.
All my storm boards have had a 6" long by 2" opening in the centre to let in light. A 5" diameter hole would do as well. I don't think it is necessary to put Lexan over the hole. The storm boards are to stop big seas breaking the ports, the ports themselves provide the waterproofing.
 
Well, it would be easiest just to make holes and leave them open.

3 x 3" diameter holes would give 21"sq of light admitting area, and would be very easy to drill with teh appropriate hole saw. IN fact, 2.5" would probably be adequate.

Just want to avoid the 'black hole of Calcutta feeling when they are in place.
 
Nick,

It may seem a silly Q but do you really think you even need them?

Appreciate getting things ready is sometimes as much or more fun than actually moving out - but surely in todays world with better forecasts and higher boat speeds leading to shorter sea passages, I would wonder if one needs to add storm boards to all the other stuff one carries around?

Cheers
JOHN
 
G'day Nick,

Storm board are easy to fit into an aluminium extrusion that looks like a lower case 'h' on it's side, the advantage being it can be opened from inside or outside.

Cutting lexan is good with a variable speed jig saw fitted with a diamond coated blade, a standard router will give a clean rounded edge when the have the shaping done.

Hope this helps.

Avagoodweekend......
 
[ QUOTE ]
do you really think you even need them?

[/ QUOTE ] Shorter sea passages . . . hmmm . . still up to 30 days from Bermuda to the Azores even in an Albin Vega. Even if we don't do the Atlantic, La Coruna from Southern Ireland means at least a 5 day crossing of Biscay, well out of reliable forecast range and across a particularly notorious piece of water.

The windows in a Vega are a known weakness - they are basically held in place by a rubber sealing strip (car windscreen technology)

There are two instances of long distance Vegas which had windows stove in - Anne Miller in 'Rupert' lost a window and very nearly sank in a knockdown about 200 miles East of Bermuda on her return to the Azores, and Jarl Andehoy in 'Berserk' lost a window in Drake Passage - even though he had stormboards. I have had an e-mail correspondence with Jarl and asked him what the problem was - he told me that Berserk's original stormboards were 6mm ply - they have now been replaced with 12mm, which is what ours are made from.

If we had more time/money I would have had aluminium framed windows fitted and not worried - but we didn't have either the time or the money, and no-one around here to do it except ourselves . . . so we will be taking our stormboards, and if we never feel the need to put them in so much the better - we can always use them as fender boards or water skis.

- Nick
 
Hi Nick. If your windows are as you described and held in place by a car windscreen type rubber mount, I think in the event of wave damage the whole window is likely to be knocked out rather than being broken or cracked. If so, it might be worth considering making your stormboards of heavy duty ply, putting a good rubber seal on one side and a couple of big thru-bolts through a heavy strongback on the inside of the cabin. It might not be pretty, but in that situation methinks safety will be your uppermost consideration.
 
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