Fixed my leaking bulkhead

[HeaveToo]

So I did a lot of boat work today.  My main and first project was my cabin bulkhead.

The P.O. removed two instruments.  He covered it with plywood.  Problem is that the plywood started leaking because it was degrading.  There was a piece of plywood that was saturated and rotting so I am glad that I did this.

The fix:
Replaced it with Starboard. 

Here are the pictures of the repair:

[Mas]

Nice Heave. What is starboard? Thought that was the opposite of port.

[Bob23]

Rick, Rick, Rick. Port is wine. Starboard is beer. C'mon, get with the program here!!! Hahahaha!!!  Heave can chime in here.
I had a small hole where an old depth sounder was installed...same situation as HeaveTo had. I cut a small circle of leftover white Corian with a hole saw in the drill press. Glued it to another piece and held it in from the inside with a stainless screw. Back caulked, it has never leaked and is removable. I did the same with an unwanted hole on the mast deck but glued it down permanently. While Corian is not porous, won't yellow and has a bit of flex to it to deal with temperature variations. A nice material to use for a cutting board as it does not harbor bacteria. If that sort of thing worries you.
Bob23

[Mas]

So Bob, you aren't an any port in a storm kinda guy are you? I'm kinda picky about my Ports (prefer dry) especially if holed up somewhere!

So....as you all have begun to realize I am a less is more kinda guy coupled with if it ain't broke don't fix it mentality. I have two old analogue bullhead mounted instruments that don't work, a knot meter and a depth gauge. They don't leak they just don't work. The fix, leave em. Installed a chart plotter on a swing arm that handles those functions and mounts on the inside of the bulkhead. Hey the old gauges look cool and woulda replaced them with identical units if they hadn't stop being made two centuries ago!

Well this is a topic for another time and place, but there is an entire generation coming up that cannot tell time (really, can't read analogue clocks thus no sense of time), can't use maps (have had Siri telling them where to go and when to turn, thus no sense of direction), or read or write cursive (thus the inability to reflect upon their words prior to delivering them to someone). These are not the deprived children of inner city families, these are the realities of our digital world. Must admit, it was with mixed feelings that i got the chart plotter. I am now considering a sextant even though i know it would not be accurate to anything less than a nautical mile and kinda silly for coastal cruising.

Where was I ....oh, yup thats how i kept my bullhead from leaking! Heave, after reading your posts on this thread and the getting more work done thread, i gotta go back to bed, I'm exhausted!    Nice job.

[BruceW]

That's a BIG danged Garmin in the first photo!

I have nothing on the bulkhead. The swing arm I have does have the fishfinder depth gauge on it. Maybe I could just replace that with a combo chart plotter/gps/depth gizmo with a huge screen so I can see what's going on.

So far, I can use the iphone to track & save current conditions.

Oh, back to the repair part of this; glad to see starboard and corian mentioned as good materials for if and when. I might be taking out my VHF antenna holder that is flush on the rear port stern corner; can't find the actual antenna to mount in the holder. I use a handheld when I remember to use VHF.

I might put some of that corian on my old wooden hatch board half, because I do want to put that on the bridge deck to hold the stove and be a cutting board.

[HeaveToo]

Starboard is synthetic material that sands and cuts like wood.  Good stuff as it won't rot.

The Garmin looks big.  It is a 441s.  That means that it is only a 4" screen.  The mount is a RAM mount.  I really like it.

The more I use butyle tape the more I like it.  This stuff is not hard to work in and makes a great seal.

[BruceW]

A guy recently told me that butyl tape dries out, so he uses in where it won't be exposed, and then puts a bead of silicon around to protect it.

You've got me thinking about those bigger GPS models. Active Captain comes on those with C-map, and I'm interested in that at some point.

[HeaveToo]

http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/rebedding_hardware

butyle tape is good stuff.  read the thread.

I have been using it on this boat for all of my projects.  You have to use a good brand and the one MaineSail sells is the best.  It is good stuff and I highly recommend it.

Some of it has to do with the way you install it.  Read the directions on the thread and you can't go wrong.