Thread: Another OZ MK2 PDRacer build in Sydney "Wood Duck"

Originally Posted by keyhavenpotter

Sorry to see the damage Alex. I thought you had your summer when we had freezing weather and snow?

Reckon she will be fine when dried out. Just look here at how badly damaged Ullapool's Skiff was, how they repaired her, and how good she looks now. She is even going to row with the Queen in the summer Jubilee events.



the repair Ulla’s repair « Ullapool Coastal Rowing Club

Brian

Hello Brian,

Cor, what a mess! Thanks for the photo, it makes me fee a lot better :). Apart from the fact that if could have been so easily avoided: I had it marked down as one of my jobs for that day and got side-tracked - and forgot, unti lI heard the bang, at least...

Neat web page, thanks :).

Wood Duck is currently having a holiday in the neighbour's [dry] garage.

Once I've got some clear space and dried out the workswamp a bit, I'll move her back and start the repair jobs. The 0.5 oz. glass tape didn't hold up too well.

Cheers,
Alex.

Originally Posted by Boatmik

Howdy Alex,

I think the cracking is very unlikely from a water load point of view. This type of construction is very good at dealing with distributed loads.

But I wouldn't be surprised if it is a mix of shock loading (from the tree) with added loading from the water. There is probably little or no structural problem coming from this. There is so much bonding to reduce the loads.

I would be very tempted to put some little wedges in GENTLY - you don't want to increase the cracks!!!! to open up a tiny bit more - leave a bigger widening effort for when the glue is put in.

At this stage I would say push the crack wider by hand against the ply and just drop the wedges in ... don't tap them!Then let it dry dry dry in the garage.

Mask either side of all the cracks.

Later put aside a couple of hours and orient the boat in different directions so that epoxy will go in the right direction under gravity. Use the plastic snaplock bag trick to insert the epoxy in the cracks wait 15 mins. Remove the wedges in that area.

Re-orient the boat to do the next bit and continue the same.

Only clean up the excess 30 minutes after the last application as some will wick in.

Then orient the boat along the most critical plan and add some distributed weight on that panel to exert pressure in the right direction.

Don't put too much solvent on the rag ... or it will dilute the epoxy in the join.

I would go sailing in the boat tomorrow ... in terms of structure anyhow. The job now is to dry then reprotect the wood.

Best wishes

Michael

G'Day MIK,

Thanks for the good advice :). I was pondering how to get the glue into the separated areas sufficiently, and whether I should use neat epoxy, or a fairly fluid glue mix (the base resin with some powder waved over it ;). The wedges solves that in part: what is your view of my glue thoughts?

She may get too dry before I insert the wedges, so should I get a water hand-sprayer out and dampen them again?

Cheers,
Alex.

Hi Alex.
You don't have to worry about the boat becoming too dry. The moisture will only stabilize against ambient average air if no direct water contact.

You could "wave some powder over the top". Good expression for a%ING just a little glue powder to the epoxy mix.

Michael

Originally Posted by AlexN

Hi MIK and Mike,

I'll respond to MIK's post after this one; Mike, I'll raise you one destroyed hull...

There was another loud bang a few minutes ago that sounded like a branch falling on power lines - but was in fact the water-filled boat falling off the trailer...

1. The boat lying where it came to rest: I haven't dared turn her over again yet

Ye gods & little fishes, Alex !!!
You don't do things by halves, do you!
Nothing that can't be repaired, but your heart must have been somewhere
near your ankles when you saw that.

regards
Alan J

Originally Posted by b.o.a.t.

Ye gods & little fishes, Alex !!!
You don't do things by halves, do you!
Nothing that can't be repaired, but your heart must have been somewhere
near your ankles when you saw that.

regards
Alan J

G'Day AJ,

Ahem . My first thought was how am I going to fix that? The second one was what's been done to the top? The third one was unprintable . Given the flight of the boat I was in fact relieved that the damage wasn't worse.

The neighbour and I moved the boat back into the workswamp this arvo, and she's leaning up against the centre pillar (which latter I'd dearly love to be rid of but it supports the chimney and lower roof) until I get around to doing something about it. Interestingly, the ding in the foredeck is still quite damp - or has been stained.

The damage to the 'Duck and the current inundation have put paid to any workshop refit and new projects.

paulie and dkirtley will be interested to note that the builder came around on Friday and had a good look at the situation. His view of the situation is to put in a sump with a permanent submersible pump. I warned hime about the ironstone and he said he'd bring around the heaviest jackhammer he's got and have a go with that. A compressor-driven hammer would be the next thing to attempt if that fails. The thing is that we don't know how thick that layer of ironstone is: it could peter out in a couple of inches or go on down for meters...

Cheers,
Alex.

Funny thing I learnt in my time with SES - storms, rain & power failures
tend to come together. So I'm a bit of a belt-and-braces fella.

Given its location, a back-up power source for the pump would seem pretty
important. A defined escape route for over-flow would seem important to me
as well. A concrete channel along one wall to an exit point perhaps?

You never know, the ironstone drilling might reveal a permanent spring that
you can make a fortune out of bottling & selling ... !

AJ

Hi AJ,

I should be so lucky...

I acquired a cheapie submersible pump from the Rabbit Warren - against my better judgement, where's the Phostoxin tablets - and that has at least kept the water level down a bit. Or it did, until I broke the float on it (of course).

I did a test drill into the ironstone using a 20 mm masonry bit in my power/hammer-drill, down to a depth of 380 mm +/-, and it was still ironstone at the bottom. And no permanent spring ;).

From the point of view of power failures, the water influx isn't immediate, and the existing sub-slab drain (dimpled plastic covered in a fibre sock) seems to get rid of the excess. The latter must work otherwise I'd have water all over the floor and flowing out the door. But I'll mention this to the builder upon his return with the heavy duty jack-hammer, hopefully some time this coming week.

I've cleared a bit of space in the workswamp again to enable me to lie the boat down flat, and am currently poking about at The Big Crack. I'll flip her over presently and have a look from the bottom side. If the builder does reappear this week I'll have to pack her up again to clear a pathway for spoil removal.

Cheers,
Alex.

Alex,

Please accept my sincere sorrow on the damage inflicted on "Wood Duck".

I figure, the way you built this boat, it will fix up just fine. In fact, I believe that without all the extra care you gave her, she may have just fallen apart on the trailer, with all that water in her.

Please go the extra yard (meter) and fix her back up, don't worry about how she looks with "patches" here and there, just fix her up and get her back on the water.

I figure, "Wood Duck" is worthy of all your hard work, and the soon to be done repair work.

Keep the faith and don't let a little issue "get you down".

Good Boating!

Stephen from Vermont, USA

Hello Stephen,

I was just about to post something when I saw that you had. Thanks for the reassuring and supportive words :). I haven't done anything so far as I have been hoping to inveigle Mr Storer into coming over and having a look - and giving me some advice. So far, however, he has been a bit to busy to do so, although I have issued the invitation. Perhaps I should send him a reminder, or just take a deep breath and attack the splintered area with a coarse Pera-grit file.

The builder has similarly been busy with other jobs, so I haven't seen him either, although "mid-week this week" looks hopeful. The water continues to come in, and I'm just letting it happen at the moment, emptying the dehumidifier every morning. The "reservoir" at the back of the workshop currently contains 300+ litres (66+ UK/79 US gallons) of water.

We have had a relatively dry day with the sun out today - we'd forgotten what the sun had looked like. The rain will be back again tonight, though.

At least I've been getting some significantly useful oboe practice done over the last little while, however, although with all the rain the oboe has caught a nasty cold, and makes the odd gurgle depending on which key is currently waterlogged. Gumless cigarette papers to the rescue there (I don't smoke, btw ;).

Cheers,
Alex.

Alex,

There is always: "router off the damaged side" and "put on a new side"...

Yes, it is drastic and the color may never match, and all kinds of bad things could happen, and other bad things on top of that... etc...

OR, you could just dump more epoxy on the cracks and let it soak in until it is water tight again; and, get back on the water...

You'll have a mess either way you end up doing it.

There is another, more expensive way: keep all the sailing bits, and build an new hull...

There is a "Wonderful" forum called: "www.woodworkforums.com", where I read about a "Great Boat Builder" (from Australia) took a very-long and careful time building his "OZ Racer" hull, and it looked "FINE" and sailed "GREAT". I could look up the actual thread and send it to you.

Stephen from Vermont, USA

Hah, I wonder who that was...anyone I know?

Mr Storer very kindly popped over yesterday arvo to look at what's left of the boat and made some suggestions regarding the side panel. These were to glue the panel aft of the cockpit bulkhead straight back on, and to router off most of the panel forward of the CB and replace with new plywood. the new piece to be secured using a couple of butt-straps on the inside of the hull.

The approach to the ding in the foredeck remains per MIK's suggestions above, with some of the fractured outer ply on the underside of the deck being removed and replaced with epoxy/glue. Some 6 oz glass cloth is to be stuck on the underside as well.

The builder turned up today and I assisted him in hacking a hole into the ironstone (I was the bucket-boy). It took quite a bit of effort on his part using a couple of demolition hammers with a variety of bits to carve a suitable hole in the rock - photos to follow anon. Now we have an operational drainage sump; and also now know that the water is also welling up from a fissure in soft rock, as well as that coming in under the footings. Better to know than not know... A second pump in going to be required at least in the short term to pump from the upwelling section into the sump region.

This means that most of the incoming water can be disposed of rapidly, but doesn't solve the problem completely, which probably isn't even possible. It gives me some breathing space at any rate, and where at least one step further on. The system won't be pressure-tested quite yet, as the forecast severe storms from lunchtime today have so far failed to eventuate.

"WOOD DUCK SPRINGS"
Natural mineral water.

Jump on it quick before the meanie greenie "drink what comes out of the tap"
mentality takes over... ;-)

cheers
Alan J

Originally Posted by AlexN

Mr Storer very kindly pooped .

I know I'm immature.

Originally Posted by b.o.a.t.

"WOOD DUCK SPRINGS"
Natural mineral water.

Jump on it quick before the meanie greenie "drink what comes out of the tap"
mentality takes over... ;-)

cheers
Alan J

Heh . It's a bit of a muddy brew at the moment - but hey, that means lots more minerals .

Originally Posted by colburge

I know I'm immature.

Oops! Fixed. Thanks for the heads-up .

Cheers,
Alex.