"Bridges" for new traveler

[MarkW]

Have purchased a new Schaeffer traveller for our Elite 32 as I plan to move to mid boom sheeting with the traveller in front of the companionway, others have done it and no reports of snapped booms yet.

Anyway, we purchased this setup from Defender :

http://www.defender.com/cgi-bin/Web_sto ... &store=yes

and silly me didnt read the print, just looked at the picture, I dont get those nifty risers with the kit and am not prepared to stump up $180 each for them (Hey, Im a sailboat owner, someone said we are all cheap !)

So I was thinking of building risers to raise the traveler so it clears the camber of the deck and was thinking of using king starboard. I will need a block about 3" high on the outboard sides and 2?" high on the inside to cope with the camber. Bedded in 5200, holes drilled/backfilled/redrilled etc etc and then the whole thing through bolted into the coach roof with 4" SS Machine screws and SS backing plates. My question is :

Can I build up 3/4" King starboard in layers and then machine it like I would normally, I am thinking of doing a king starboard glue lam with West system epoxy, cutting, routing and sanding it and then finishing it with Brigghtside tip'n'roll"

Any flaws in this plan ? Anything I should be looking out for in working the KS like this ? Anything else I should be considering ?

Thanks all

Mark

P.S. Tim, nice prep job on the Etchels

[heartofgold]

Mark,

I recently replaced my nylon bushing for my pop top with new ones created from 2 layers of starboard. Though I will attest that I did not attempt anything as elaborate as your project, I had no problem cutting, drilling, shaping and sanding 2 layers of starboard, though mine are only held together with screws. Even so, you can hardly tell that it is not a single piece.

I began by running the boards through the table saw, delivering 2 equal width pieces. Then I ran my pieces through my joiner before I secured the 2 layers, ensuring a perfect fit. After joining each side of the board to the needed thickness, I "drew" out a rough outline of each bushing (I needed 4), and secured screws in each piece before cutting them apart. Finally, I smoothed and rounded each bushing on the bench belt sander, which worked much better than I had originally expected. The end result was a double layer of starboard, looking every bit as professional as the original bushings.

Hope that helps.

[Tim]

My only concern with Starboard is how effectively you can glue it together. Not having ever tried, I'm not sure how well epoxy or other adhesive will stick to this smooth, slippery stuff, especially in the long haul. At a minimum, I would abrade the mating surfaces with some coarse sandpaper first.

That said, if you stacked pieces together and used throughbolts, as you would have to anyway, I don't see why it wouldn't work--with or without the adhesive.

Speaking of adhesive, don't use 5200 to bed these pieces to the deck--use a less permanent material like polysulfide. However, you might have good luck using 5200 as a laminating adhesive between your layers of Starboard.

The effectiveness of painting this product is something else I question. I think paint might not stick too well in the long run. Plus, the whole advantage of Starboard in the first place is that it needs no protection or finishing. I would leave it natural.

Other than these concerns, I see no reason why the general plan would not work. To save further money, rememember to check with your local plastic supplier to see if they sell Very High Molecular Weight (VHMW) polyethylene--which is the same as Starboard without the brand name and high price.

[Mark W]

Thank you gentlemen, one and all

Interestingly I have some Trex (actually the HD generic version) left over from a deck project at my MiL's, I may try using that, althought it's somewhat heavy for its size.

Tim : you got my 2 concerns, adhesion for the lamination and also paintability, time to run some real world tests and see what comes out.

Keep you all posted

Mark

P.S.
We recently had new plexiglass side windows made up by modern plastics which I installed last weekend, interstingly enough the guy at MP was adamnat that we should use one of GE's Silicone based products to bed that, I forget the exact one but it was a black, UV resistant "Silicone II"

[Figment]

I think that your plastics guy sells a lot more product to the building industry than to the marine industry. GE's "Silicone II" does have much better UV resistance and adhesion than earlier silicone sealants, but I still wouldn't trust it to perform well on a boat over the long term.

The sealant industry is accustomed to having their products fail at the bond with the glazing, not the (typically aluminum) substrate, so when a new sealant comes out that bonds better to the glazing, it's the Miracle-Of-The-Month product... For the past year or two, that's been Silicone II.

On boats, the bond to the glazing usually isn't the source of the leak, it's the bond to the frame or to the house that fails, or the sealant fails cohesively (not adhesively) in the middle of the joint because of all of the movement that happens there. Polysulfide and butyl are better at withstanding this movement.