bulkheads

[John Hinners]

I am a happy CP-16 sailer.  Made an improvement that makes the boat safer and the lazaret more useful.  I had water-tight bulkheads installed by a good boat builder to isolate the lazaret from the cabin and installed a Vetus vent in the cover.  The cabin now will not flood from a serious pooping, and I can now keep a gas can in there without fumes in the cabin.  Any one else done this?

[crbakdesign]

John,

I had considered this for my CP 16 when I worked on it last year.  I had considered the hatch cover a safety issue, since a strong following sea could cause the boat to take water over the transom.  I would be concerned about the gas below simply because of the way fumes do find ways of getting below and if you are equiped with a battery, the odds are that a spark could cause a fire.  But as you said, a professionally sealed compartment is an option.  Never did like sharing the cockpit with the tank either.

Clemens

[John Hinners]

Thus far, I can detect no fumes in the cabin or quarter berth from the can.  And while the vent I put in the hatch cover is effective, I am considering a couple of small clam vents, or even a grill on the front wall of the lazaret.  Battery is forward (I use a jumpstart).

John

[crbakdesign]

I'm sure as you are being careful and observant you shouldn't have any problem.  You might want to take the extra step to use a hose to get your pressure relief vent piped out of the lazarette.  I found an interesting idea from another sailing website on how this could be done.

This is an excerpt from an article on the site www.practicalsailor.com regarding water and fuel tanks.  The article discusses venting locations for fuel tanks and water tanks for offshore racer/cruisers, so take this suggestion with a grain of salt.

(
Fuel Tanks


Fuel tanks present another problem.They cannot be vented inside the boat, since the fumes would be dangerous. Venting them in the topsides, however, is asking for trouble. The only advantage in venting a fuel tank through the top sides is to keep spilled fuel off the decks certainly an advantage, but not enough to offset the potential forwater getting into the tank throughsuch a vent.The most protected location for afuel tank vent is likely to be the cock-pit. The risk in venting a fuel tankinto the cockpit is that overflowcould turn the cockpit into a skatingrink, creating a potentially danger-ous situation.A simple but ingenious solutionto the fuel tank vent problem has been developed by Paul Skentelbery, a boatbuilder from Plymouth, England. The tank uses a copper tubing vent line, which goes through the deck up into one of the uprights of the stern rail. A drain and vent hole is drilled in the up-right near the bottom, well below the end of the copper tubing. Water would have to fill the stanchion inorder to get to the open end of thevent.The only problem with this arrangement is that should the stemrail carry away, the vent would be exposed. It presupposes an extremely strong stern rail, which his boats have. In addition, the opening in the deck through which the vent tube passes must be securely sealed.The obvious advantage is that it makes it possible to get the vent very high, so that overflow through it is impossible in anything less than a roll over. )

Just a thought.

[Craig]

What year is you 16? Mine is titled as a 1980, made in '79, and has the lazarrette cover. I have some support members (stringers?) that could be the foundation for a bulkhead. What material did the installer use? Did he cut out plywood and glass it in? I think what you've done is an excellent idea. On more than one occasion I've needed something (like a bumper) that was supposed to be in the lazarette but had migrated to the foot of the quarter berth, which meant I about had to stand on my head to reach it or crawl head first down the berth. Can you take a picture or two and post? I'd like to see the bulkheads from both sides.

Craig

[John Hinners]

The bulkheads as are you guessed, marine plywood glassed in and coated with gelcoat.  My boat is 1986.  I don't have a current image site but if you email me at songofthepaddle@earthlink.net  I will send you images.

[multimedia_smith]

You could post your pics on the Image Gallery section of the ComPac site..
I'd be interested in seeing them and it makes a good place to share pics.

Here is the link:  (my stuff is mostly on the "owners pages")

http://www.com-pacowners.com/4images/