Happiness is a Warm Spool Gun

[Panope]

Probably no noticeable performance gain, but I sure like the looks of it!

Steve

[GILow]

Mermaids are bound to find it more attractive, so that's a gain.

[Panope]

I'm all about keeping those critters happy

Steve

[Pauls]

Very nice work Steve. You obviously enjoy metal work and welding.

Cheers, Paul

[Snowpetrel]

Great work! Thanks for sharing.

It will be interesting to hear if it makes any difference, I always wanted to try something similar to this on my folks boat.

A real Icebreaking and rock crushing bow now. And it will look good on the gopro as the anchors come up.

[Panope]

Good point about the anchor video's, Ben.

Let's hope I never test the rock-crushing abilities. A little ice breaking could be fun.

Steve

[Panope]

I tore out the forward 1/3 of Panope's interior. An accurate weight tally was made as it all came out. Unbelievably, the total removed weight is 700 lbs. I feel confident that the replacement interior will weigh less than half of this.

Next step is to bash out all the lead and cement, then re-cast the lead 'pigs' into shapes that better fit the keel box. Then re-bed in epoxy. The entire ballast will be more compact, lower, and shifted forward to (finally) counter the weight of the pilot house addition.

I'll mention that numerous aluminum boatbuilding 'rules' were broken in the original build, 40 years ago: Cement is in direct contact with aluminum, Bare wood is in direct contact with aluminum, Insulation is extended into the bilge, Ferrous and even Bronze fasteners are attached to the aluminum. All this BELOW the cabin sole. So far, I have found nothing but PERFECT metal.

Steve



I would never have guessed that a small head, V-berth, some storage shelves, and a bit of cabin sole could weigh 700 lbs.

[GILow]

Speaking as someone who has removed two tons (yes, that's 2000 kg) from our boat so far, I think you'll be amazed at the weight reductions you can make.

My theory is that it is all too easy to lose track of weight when fitting out a boat. When you come back later with weight foremost in your mind you are much better able to spot the weight savings as they present themselves.

Best of luck with the refit. Strangely, aluminium has featured pretty strongly in our refit, but I guess there's no need for me to espouse its virtues to you. :^)


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[Matt Johnson]

Overbuilding of furniture is all too common with amatuer built boats. Unfortunately, I'm guilty of this too, but it's difficult to know just how little or much a load will be without a lot of experience. We tend to error on the side of caution and the waterline pays the penalty.

Matt

[Panope]

Progress.

I have smashed, pounded, pried and Jackhammered 600 pounds of cement and 1100 pounds of lead - thus far.

I broke a wrecking bar while jumping.


I built a replacement pry-bar with a 4 foot section of 2 inch square tubing and a leftover chuck of Manson Supreme Anchor shank material (Bisalloy 80). Works great.


This bay had a total of 450 pounds of lead and 150 pounds of cement. This area will be re-filled with about 700 pounds of re-cast lead - set in epoxy. A cover plate will be welded on top to permanently encapsulate.

My Father had painted the keel box (but not the hull plate) to isolate the aluminum. The coating was breached, however it did not seem to matter as the aluminum is in great condition. I even found a pocket of water down at the very bottom.


The fruit of my efforts.

[Panope]

Welcome to hell.

The forward 10 keel bays had ballast lead that was laid HORIZONTALY and were relatively easy to remove at least the top course of lead/cement.

The last 2 bays (aft) had the lead installed VERTICALLY making it ABSOLUTELY F@#%ING IMPOSSIBLE to remove the lead pigs in one piece. I tried every tool in my possession to saw, grind, chisel, route, pound, etc. etc. etc.. NOTHING worked. Drill bits (twist, paddle, forstner, hole-saw) clogged. Grinder wheels disintegrated, Saws-all blades clogged/bent, Skill saw blade could not reach the work (this actually could remove material quickly), Router (used free hand like a die-grinder) was slow and sprayed umpteen f@#%ing million little lead shavings EVERYWHERE. Wood chisels were to small and weak, Cold chisel made some progress but was VERY slow. Roto-hammer with chisel bit worked but was VERY slow.

The answer: Rent a REAL demo hammer and chisel 1 inch thick slices of lead. The machine (Makita) is brutally heavy. Just what you want for hammering vertically. For horizontal work, it is a back-breaker.



Got about 200 pounds of lead chiseled out. Tomorrow morning, another 75 pounds of lead and finish up some pure concrete demo - up in the bow.

[Panope]

O.K. New Plan.

I am not going to remove ALL of the ballast. I will stop (soon) at 1500 pounds of lead (removed) and about 750 pounds of cement (removed).

Stopping the demo now will mean that the goal of LOWERING the ballast will be only partially achieved.

However, the other goals will be fully realized:

CHECK FOR CORROSION: Enough ballast has been removed to convince me that the condition of the aluminum under the ballast is satisfactory.

TRIM: Enough lead has now been removed from the AFT END of the keel to correct the stern heavy condition that has plagued the boat from the day she was launched in 1981.

BILGE DRAINAGE: Ballast has been removed in such a way so-as to allow water to drain properly from bow to stern.

CREATE BILGE STORAGE: The loosely placed top layer of lead/cement was spilling out of the keel-box making the bilge a very poor place to store stuff.

CREATE A SMOOTH, CLEANABLE BILGE: The nasty, rough concrete with lead ingots sticking out, bilge surface as been removed. Aluminum plate can now be welded over top the lead/epoxy/cement ballast leaving a proper, ship shape bilge surface.

Steve

[GILow]

Wimp! Suck it up man, and keep hammering!


:^)

[Panope]

Originally Posted by GILow

Wimp! Suck it up man, and keep hammering!


:^)

Ha, I want to go boating in May!

Steve

[Panope]

Numbers.

I have exposed enough lead to be able to make a fairly accurate survey of the remaining Ballast. Here are the numbers:

Original LEAD (installed by my father in 1975) = 4600 lbs.

Original CEMENT (installed in 1975) = 800 lbs.

TRIM CEMENT (installed after 1981 launch) = 400 lbs.

Total BALLAST (prior to my recent demolition) = 5,800 lbs. Tom Colvin designed this boat to use 5,000 lbs of ballast.

This 800 lb. "over ballasting" helps explain the 2,500 pound over-weight condition of the boat (Displacement was recently 16,600 lb. whereas design displacement is 14,100 lb. The remaining 1,700 lb. overload is easily explained by my Pilot House addition, robust equipment, and the heavy construction techniques employed in the interior fit-out.

LEAD removed by me, recently= 1,500 lbs. This lead will be reinstalled well forward in the keel.

CEMENT removed by me, recently = 700 lbs. This cement WILL NOT be replaced (approximately 100 pounds of epoxy will be used to re-bed the lead, however).

Interior WOOD removed by me, recently = 1,000 lbs. I am confident that the replacement interior will weigh less than HALF of the original.

PROJECTED WEIGHT OF THE BOAT AFTER MY CURRENT MODIFICATION: = 15,500 lbs.

500 lb. less interior wood.
600 lb. less ballast.
1,100 lb. TOTAL weight reduction.

Steve