Bulkhead between the port cockpit and cabin rotted ..

[Jasper Windvane]

My Bristol 32 ,, the bulkhead between the port side cockpit locker and the main cabin is partly rotted.

The previous owner,, him again ,, he attached, ran wires over,, and the water got in.. at the area closest to the outside or hull.

I can't really get at it from the cabin side.. But I can sit in the port locker and work from there.

My thoughts :: cut out the bad ply, 3/4, from the locker. I will need to peel back the tabbing. Take out the bad piece. Use the bad piece for a template, cut new 3/4 piece. Fit in ,, put tabbing on from the cockpit locker..

But,, what about the cabin side? And what about the tabbing on the cabin side? And how will I attach the new piece to the existing piece?

I hope I am clear.. think sitting in the port side cockpit locker looking forward. The bulkhead right in from of you. On the other side is the icebox, a shelf, that sort of thing.

One good thing .. if I can get into the area on the other side of the bulkhead,, I can properly insulate the icebox. As it is now? I doubt there is any insulation around the old icebox.

Any other "now that you can see into the other side" ideas?

How hard is tabbing?..

Thanks all.

[Quetzalsailor]

The hardest part is starting.

I doubt you can work solely from the cockpit side, unless it does not matter much what it looks like from the other side. It would be difficult to make neat straight cuts in the easy portion of the work and clean up the chips, etc. Even more difficult to extend the cuts out to the hull. I think you could, if you insist, leave the tabbing undisturbed on the inaccessable side. Your new infill could be fitted, then bonded to the tabbing, buttered along the butt edges to the remainder of the bulkhead. You could then add a backer, or spliceblock of plywood glued and screwed along the joint. Replacing the tabbing is a piece of cake, but messy in the doing.

All tools are fair game. I would have my collection of Sawzall, Fein Multimaster, saber saw, hammer and chisels, 4 1/2" angle grinder, etc. within reach. Of these, I think the Fein, with its selection of saw blades, to be the most flexible, effective and genteel, but not the fastest nor most powerful. The Sawzall is fast, but bulky. You have to be perfectly aware of what the other end of the blade is doing.

When I remove tabbing, I cut it at the root, the inside corner, and along the wood to which it's bonded. Then I peel; I want to limit the damage to adjacent tabbing since the weakest thing about tabbing is its susceptability to peeling. Then I grind the tabbing off the hull right down to the hull. That's fast but very messy. The tabbing is a 'cold bond' to the hull and I don't see much point in putting a new cold bond on a cold bond.

[David]

The port cockpit locker bulkhead is not structural, so I would look more at a cosmetic effort on the locker side--I'm assuming it shows there. I assume you have stopped the leak. If you feel you need to remove the original piece, you can finish off the cabin side of the bulkhead in vertical mahogany planks or a finished plywood panel. The locker side where the rot is most evident could be easily trimmed away with a Fein Multimaster, the damaged area saturated with epoxy to seal it and a new piece installed and tabbed to the hull.

Good luck,

David