Allied Greenwich 24: Deconstruction (Part 1)

October 20, 2018

My priority for the weekend is to get the deteriorated structure out of the boat so I can begin interior sanding and prep work for fiberglass and reconstruction of bulkheads and other owner requested installations. I began in the lazarette locker, focusing on removing the old rotted fuel platforms and outboard bracket.

The hose coming down from the starboard side and exiting the outboard 'aperture' is a deck drain hose - for some reason emptying into the lazerrete.

The overall condition of the wood was poor. The fiberglass tabs were not adhered well throughout the construction, and the wood suffered fairly deep moisture issues and flaking paint as a result.

The result of just over an hours worth of work. I used a corded oscillating tool with a carbide tip, and broke the tabbing on the accessible surfaces.

I began on the starboard side, running the oscillating tool on the transverse tabbing for the fuel platform. I then ran the oscillating tool along the tabbing joining the platform to the outboard edge of the hull. With those two surfaces compromised by the tool, I gently pried the top board off. I then had access to the vertical support board on the platform's inboard side. I cut the tabbing here and worked the board out of its position.

I then repeated those steps on the port side fuel platforms. I chose to (forced to) remove the construction in the lazarette this way due to the fuel platforms leaving me with no room to get my tool onto the outboard bracket. The port side fuel platform finally came up after a bit of persuasion.

With the outboard fuel platforms removed, I now had the outboard bracket surrounded! With good access for the oscillating tool, I worked the tabbing loose and removed the three layers of laminated plywood that served as the Allied's outboard engine bracket. I Now have good access within the lazarette to sand and prep the locker for future construction and paint. The owner has selected a Torquedo outboard to replace the old stinkpot gasoline outboard.

With the lazarette finished for the day, I moved up to the coach roof / mast step. Despite the iron works below (bridging the bulkheads and supporting the mast from the overhead), there was obvious deformation in the cabin top. Structurally, the Allied was suffering from a poor attempt to fix the issue. I laid out an initial cut line...and got to it.

Removing a small section of the top skin (fiberglass laminate) with ease, I quickly could see significant moisture in the balsa core. In a dry boat, the 'sandwich' construction of a bottom skin of fiberglass with a core of balsa, or some other suitable construction material, and a top skin of fiberglass, offers an extremely robust result. This sandwich construction technique can withstand significant load and forces applied to it. However, and as you might imagine, if you compromise the integrity of the core material, well you simply have to floppy layers of fiberglass.

This is what has happened to this Allied - the core material was compromised, and soon the loaded mast (especially whilst sailing) began to deform the cabin top. Pictured below, the port side bulkhead simply disintegrating.

I kept removing the top skin, and it did not offer much resistance. The core was not showing its best.

I removed the top skin as laid out in the initial cut line. In the upper right of the photo, you can just make out a tuft of fiberglass that was not wet out with resin during the previous attempt at fixing the cabin top sag. To the left of the dry fiberglass, I found an island of thickened epoxy/polyester that served as a mast step, or reinforcement for where the mast mates with the deck.

Removing this material proved the most challenging as I did not want to totally destroy the bottom skin of fiberglass.

Underneath this island of thickened epoxy material I found a channel that ran transversely from port to starboard. The bulkheads, outboard of the mast step, were visible inside this channel, and within the channel underneath the mast step I found foam. For some odd reason, the previous owner placed foam in this critical repair area. As you can see below, there is pooling water visible in the foam mush. As they say in Georgia, "that dog just won't hunt!"

At the tip of the screwdriver, you can make out what is left of the port bulkhead. Once the top skin was compromised, allowing ingress, the port bulkhead had no other choice but to absorb the water coming in.

I extended my cut lines further outboard on the port and starboard side, and gathered all material removed and set in on the starboard side deck.

With the extension in the removal of the top skin, I revealed more of the transverse channel.

And on the port side, the same channel can be seen. My plan for this channel is to use it as a transverse structural support for the mast's load transferred to the cabin top.

I moved below and began to focus on removing the iron works!

I removed several bolts from an aluminum angle strip on the port side bulkhead, and repeated that process on the starboard side. I also removed four through-bolts on each side of the mast support beam. This mast support beam captured the channel running from port to starboard, and then was through-bolted to both bulkheads. I believe the intent was sufficient, in terms of the interior construction, though perhaps over-built, but in the end the exterior construction was not up to protecting the cabin top fiberglass and core construction. There will be a more eloquent solution applied.