Rebuilding the head and lots more behind

[Quetzalsailor]

Follows is text already posted on the LeComte Owners Site.

Well, I've spent my first full day working on Q this season. The goals are: new throughhulls and seacocks in the head, rebuild all the shabby wood under the head sole, maybe raise the stick by an inch (to get the heel ot of the perennial pond and reduce corrosion, rewire the 110v circuit (not because we need it but because it's there, disconnected, but really poorly done), paint the stick, rebuild the rudder.

So, I've begun dissassembly: the throne itself is in my basement, and I've pulled (or cut) all the screws I can find but the head cabinetwork did not come not apart.

The shelf cabinet outboard of the head was clearly made as a unit in the woodshop and installed in one piece. The countertop was a second piece. The angled-front of the sink cabinet was a third piece. There are a couple minor bulkheads inside the sink cabinet affixed with screws. The shelf in any of the cabinets will readily come out once the varnished shelf supports are unscrewed (LeComte did all the shelves in much the same way: there are cleats or plastic shelf supports on each side and the varnished support is usually grooved, but sometimes simply dadoed).

The catch is that I cannot see what holds the shelf cabinet to the front of the sink cabinet. I'd have thought that it would simply come out, based upon the screws that I could see and have removed. There may be a Sawzall in this cabinet's future! Of course, when it goes back together, I will not wish to see anything of the change.

Adding to the pleasures of demolition is the way that various POs had the holding tank and Espar heating ducts installed. These fellows were pretty free with hole saws! Additionally, there are really nasty-looking splices in 12v wiring, as well as in the 110v wiring. When I get everything apart, I'll rework this stuff to get it back together more neatly than they were able to since they did not take anything apart.

Under the head and extending under both the sink cabinet front and the shelf cabinet is a fiberglass floor. I imagine that it is fiberglassed in, but I cannot see; there are screws into the after bulkhead and there was a plywood splice plate affixing this floor to the fiberglass shower pan. I need to get this out to replace the head water supply as well as to fill unused holes from the previous head and repaint.

There are now-obvious problems in any wood that's been standing in bilge water. The NE 38 has a design flaw in that the bilge around the maststep does not readily drain; instead water stands there and keeps the maststep wet as well as any casework or blocking. On Q, no problem or bad varnish shows above the sole, but once you lift the sole the problems are pretty obvious. I will be reworking all this wood but the individual solutions for each place are as yet unknown. The splice plate and the support under the shower pan are totally delaminated and will probably be replaced with epoxy-coated wood.

An associated problem is that any screw in the sole or below, and a few which are higher, as well as the bolts holding the bulkheads to the tabbing, are brass and variously corroded. Some fall to pieces; others are very reluctant to come out; many have caused rot (nail sickness) in the wood.

One last issue of interest is the chainplates. Those for the uppers are readily accessible in the shelf cabinet and in the hanging cabinet on the starboard side. The portside shows a bit of corrosion. I cannot yet see the lowers' chainplates: where are they? Solely deck mounted?

The boat's bonding straps are evident everywhere. I presume I'll reassemble them wherever they've been left apart but I'd bet I'll never be able to get all the connection bolts replaced and the laps clean. Any thoughts?

[Rachel]

Any thoughts?

"I sure wish he would post some photos to go along with this..."

:D

R.

[Quetzalsailor]

Yup, my camera's aboard. But, as reported, the vast majority of the head interior still looks unaffected by the hours of work and is not yet photographable.

There are photos of NE 38 heads, including Q's, on the LeComte Owners site which would look very much like mine still looks.

[Quetzalsailor]