Mudlark "Renewal"

[Bristol14]

While cleaning our new-to-us 1987 23/2, I have found a couple of minor issues to be dealt with:

-several of the teak strips that line the cabin walls are loose. Suggestions on how to reattach them?
-the side cabin liner on the port side has slid down about 6 inches, exposing part of the hull. Again, suggestions on reattaching the liner?
-the paint on the cabin liner has worn away in several areas. I'm thinking that Brightside would be the appropriate paint to use.
-the hull itself is in great shape for a 29 year old boat. I've removed the former name and registration numbers from the brown stripe, but can still see the outlines on the faded gel coat. Compounding didn't seem to work so I'm now thinking about either painting over the stripe or using dark brown vinyl tape over the outlines. Neither seems like the perfect solution, any suggestions?
-I've ordered a foiled rudder from Com-Pac, but while I'm waiting for delivery, I will remove the old rudder and would like to refinish the assembly. The black paint is pretty much worn away and the metal is pitted. I will scrape and sand to bare metal, fill pitted areas with epoxy and repaint black. Previous posts seem to indicate this is the best course to follow, but I'm also open to other ideas.

Thx.

[rmotley]

This is based on my experience and not to be intended as the best solution;

Teak Strips - originally they were nailed or stapled thru the liner - I glued them back in place on a new liner

Side Cabin Liner - originally these were stapled at the bottom to the side cabinets on the side facing the hull and bolted thru at the chain plates - The side cabinets were epoxied to the hull for stability by a piece of wood or fiberglass facing the stern end of the cabinet, also screwed to the seats / storage areas and bolted to the cabin wall that separates the berth from the cabin.  I removed the side cabinets and stapled the new liner to them and reinstalled the same way - had to epoxy the piece of wood / fiberglass back to the hull.
 
Paint the cabin liner with interior or exterior latex of your choice other than flat - the lighter color the better - holds up well and is much easier and less expensive

The only way to "FIX" the stripe is to sand it down, prime and paint with some type of 2 part paint of your choice - other than that you can try and cover up the ghost shadows with many other options available.

Rudder brackets and various parts - I sandblasted all of them and had them powder coated black - You need to specify not to powder coat the interior slot where the rudder blade attaches - the extra coating will not allow the blade to lift up and down with ease - my power coat guy pointed that out to me based on previous experience.  This job requires a small framed person to crawl down in the bowels of the cockpit to loosen the nuts from all the bolts - not to be done by a 6' 1" 220 pound captain - thought I was trapped and going to die encased in our Compac 23 - I could think of worse places to give up the ghost but a very unpleasant experience.

There are many more experienced and more qualified authorities on this site - I am just a guy that tries to do stuff myself - not always the right choice I might add as some times I end up paying somebody to fix stuff I couldn't or shouldn't have tried.

Ahoy!

[Bristol14]

Just finished drilling out worn rudder hinges to accept new bushings. I was concerned about the alignment as I was drilling as I don't have a drill press. However the alignment is fine, the bushings fit perfectly and I now have a rudder that doesn't bounce around. Next step: filling in the pitted aluminum with epoxy and painting the bracket black.

[Bristol14]

I've run into another issue as I ready Mudlark for a mid to end of May launch. The bow eye has about 1/4 inch of movement back and forth, probably due to the fact that the boat was stored with the bow eye resting on the trailer's bow support. It should be a simple fix: loosen the two bolts, caulk with butyl tape and tighten. Sounds easy but the only access is through the vberth "floor" opening and one can barely see the bolts, never mind reach them.
L
Has anyone had a similar issue and solved with an socket wrench extension ? Seems like it would need to be 24 to 30 inches long and would require a deep socket (not sure of the nut size though). Would it be better to add an access panel to better reach the bolt (I hesitate cutting through the wooden floor as I'm not sure if it's structural).

[rmotley]

Did this too -  I thought I got to the u-bolt nuts through the anchor rode locker - might did cut a hole in the base of the locker for access - can't pull out that memory.  Seems the backing plate for the u-bolt was a wood product of some nature that had rotted which caused or allowed the play.  The nuts were rusted on with no hope of backing them off so I cut the u-bolt off with a grinding wheel on the exterior and replaced with a new u-bolt and metal backing plate.   Again just my experience.

Ahoy!

[Bristol14]

Got some excellent advice from Gerry Hutchins on the bow eye access. There is an access panel for reaching the bow eye under the forward chain locker that's held down by screws and caulk. May still be a bit tight for me to reach, but it's better than cutting holes. Once I remove the bow eye, I will be checking the wood backing plate for rot and will consider replacing it.

Gerry explained that the new bow eyes have nuts on the inside and outside so that they can be tightened from the outside. I suggested that I would look at adding outside nuts to my current bow eye and he agreed that there was enough thread on the bow eye to do that.

It's great to have accessible, knowledgeable Hutchins owners and parts availability!

[Bristol14]

Mudlark's renewal is coming along nicely. Besides the typical cleaning, checking, tightening, etc. I've
-painted the brown stripe under the rub rail a dark blue (the brown stripe was scraped and faded)
-replaced a loose bow eye. Access is difficult, I doubt even someone with long skinny arms(not me) could reach thru the anchor locker, pry up the plywood cover and loosen the nuts. Plus, I had to deal with hoses that the previous owner had installed for a never-installed marine head. After conferring with Gerry Hutchins to make sure I was not going to cause a structural issue, I cut into the plywood wall of the anchor locker. This made access and replacement a breeze.
-installed a Com-Pac foiled rudder. I was not crazy about the locking handle mechanism, so I drilled another hole in the black holding tab, tapped the hole in the rudder "head" and added a thumb screw that secures the handle in a downward position.

I hope to launch is about a week!

[Bristol14]

Below are the digitals for my previous post on accessing and replacing the bow eye.

Access is difficult, I doubt even someone with long skinny arms(not me) could reach thru the anchor locker, pry up the plywood cover and loosen the nuts. Plus, I had to deal with hoses that the previous owner had installed for a never-installed marine head. After conferring with Gerry Hutchins to make sure I was not going to cause a structural issue, I cut into the plywood wall of the anchor locker. This made access and replacement a breeze.