Allied Greenwich 24: Dry-fitting the Seacocks & Enclosing the Lazarette's Outboard Engine Well

July 27, 2019

I began the day's work with enclosing the boat's outboard engine well, or aperture, located in the lazarette. Since the owner has elected to go with Torqueedo's Cruise 4.0 fixed pod, the outboard aperture could now be closed back up. In previous posts I discuss the approach to mounting the fixed pod, and will be creating the substrate to accept the fixed pod's mounting block. Today, however, I would focus on just enclosing the that large hole in the counter of the Allied 24.

I began by creating some supports to mount on the exterior of the boat to support the heavy fiberglass I would be laying over the interior of the hull. I used plenty of tape, cardboard, stir sticks (tongue depressors), and tape to build a support system. On the interior I simply solvent-washed the previously sanded surfaces. Back over in the shop, using some measurements that I had taken on the boat, I cut a few pieces of fiberglass: one 36" x 30" piece of 1708 biaxial and one 24" x 24" piece of 35oz double biaxial - essentially a double layer of the 1708 (17oz) fiberglass.

I began by enclosing an old thru-hull opening just forward of the engine aperture - this was used to drain water that made it into the lazarette. The hole happened to be in the recess that I created to accept a fiberglass mold of the fixed pod's mounting block. I wet the exterior and interior surfaces with epoxy resin, and then filled any voids and depressions with thickened epoxy. On the exterior I laid a 3" x 3" square of 1708 biaxial cloth over the hole, and then placed a piece of peel ply on that to eliminate the need for sanding prior to additional epoxy work.

I returned to the shop to wet out the large panels of fiberglass cloth. Using a 6" foam roller and straight epoxy resin, I rolled out and fully saturated the two panels of fiberglass, which were both laid out on plastic sheeting. I returned to the boat and applied the larger 35oz panel first, and used the foam roller to roll out any trapped air bubbles. Next, I laid out the larger 36" x 30" panel of 1708 biaxial, again using the foal roller to ensure good adhesion with no trapped air. I ended up applying a layer of peel ply over this large surface area to reduce water-washing and sanding in preparation for more fiberglass work.

With the old engine aperture repair underway and taken as far as I could today, I turned my attention to the seacocks next. The fasteners had arrived Friday morning, and so that meant I could dry-fit the seacocks and thru-hull fittings prior to final installation. I secured the necessary tools and materials for the job and then headed over to the boat.

I started on the starboard side with first orienting the seacock in the proper position to feed a 1" hose through the cutout in the original fiberglass molded settee to then attach to the 90 degree elbow fitting on the seacock itself. Next, I used a 3/8" drill bit and drilled out the first fastener hole from the interior of the boat. With that first fastener holed drilled out, I secure the 3/8" bronze machine screw with a nut on the interior. I followed this pattern, working my way around the seacock base installing all four machine screws and nuts.

I moved to the port side of the boat and replicated my efforts.

With both seacock bases secured with their four fasteners, I then removed the nuts and lifted the seacocks off of their backing pads.

I then stepped outside the boat and grabbed a countersink tool for the drill.

On the exterior now, I removed the bronze fasteners and proceeded to countersink the fastener holes so that the heads of the machine screws could sit below of the surface of the hull.

I started on the starboard side and finished on the port side of the boat.

I then reassembled the seacocks and fasteners, beginning with the starboard seacock.

I also reassembled the port side seacock and fasteners. With the seacocks mounted back on their backing pads, and the fasteners' heads countersunk and secured with their bronze nuts, I inserted the thru-hull fittings into both port and starboard seacock. As expected, the mushroom head of the thru-hull, screwed into the seacock as far as possible, sat prod of the hull by roughly 1".