Intro: shenandoah; busted cabin roof

[GrafLuckner]

Hi,



Dirk Mahling here from CHelmsford Mass. Last fall I bought Shenandoah - a sweet 1918 C23/1 - from my neighbor Harry. In 2006, during the ice storm a huge tree limb had come crashing down and punched through the cabin roof. It punched 2 holes through the cabin roof and push the whole inside covering down. (see attached pics).leaving gooey stuff all over the cabin.

I am not sure whether to fix it to bring it back to where it was - basically glassing the outside and reattaching the inside cover - or to cut the whole piece out and put a piece of translucent overhead light fiberglass there.

In order to decide I am thinking:
1: would a "skylight" be structurally sound? Its close to the mast holding tabernacle
2. could you step on a skylight in foul weather, when you need to hurry around the mast
3. would i get a skylight watertight, or is this asking for continuous drippage?

any collective words of wisdom?

Gruss,

Dirk

[GrafLuckner]

Sorry, new to the site. Can someone please tell me how to attach images?

thanks,

DIrk

[Billy]

get a photobucket account.
upload the image to that account
copy the img code
paste into the body of your post...

or search this fourm for photo posting,

that same ice storm totaled my mothers car from fallen tree limbs.
talking about foul weather, the sky light would be slippery when wet and thus could be very dangerous. not sure how to help you w/ this one.
maybe move further south!

[skip1930]

No sky light. You can't stand on it. You'll have to cut out and square up with a nice Milwaukee Saws-all cut only the damaged areas and use 2-1/2 ounce, resign impregnated woven glass cloth to fill in what was cut out. Since [correct me if I'm incorrect] the tabernacle is NOT supported by a compression post but rather an arch from port to starboard down to the deck I'd not worry about the weight on the tabernacle unless that particular arch is crushed down.

You can't really make a mistake with glass. It's basically fill and sand down, fill and sand down until it is perfect. Then she'll have to be painted.

There is no law that says a compression post can't be added under the mast coming up from the vee birth and quarter birth bulkhead. BE SURE that the compression post is lag bolted on the bulkhead and not touching the keel's sole. It's a floater.

It's only a hard job if you think it is.  skip.

[Bob23]

Hey Dirk:
   Welcome to the greatest site in the universe where all manner of wisdom, knowledge and a fair amount of plain old bs are available to anyone who dares to enter in!
   I would not put a skylight where I think you are planning to. Is the damaged cabintop roof forward or rearward of the mast? I guess it will be clearer when we see pictures. Also, you would not want a compression post on this boat. The bulkhead is structural and transfers the mast load to the keel. A compression post would make it impossible to go foward down below.
  Again, welcome and good luck on the project. I have a 1985 23/2...just a wonderful boat!
bob23 in NJ

[brackish]

Dirk, you can get polycarbonate sheet (Lexan) in a thickness that would be strong enough structurally for a skylight but I wouldn't.  Where I live it would increase the cabin temperature, not a good thing.  It would be subject to differential expansion which would eventually cause leakage and crazing and cracking of the polycarbonate. 

my$.02 worth.

[Billy]

+1 for Brack! I like my cabin dark!