Removing Hardware & Brightwork, Final (Part 5)

October 13, 2018

I set out to wrap up the removal of the Allied's remaining brightwork and hardware, and began with removal of the starboard jib track.  Again, the jib track is way too long for this 24' sailboat, and was taken from a Pearson Triton 28.  The owner and I will discuss replacing the jib track with a more suitable size.  The fasteners were a combination of 1/4" stainless steel machine screws and stainless steel wood screws - both pan head type screws.  The fasteners released without issue, but the machine screws required a bit more time with having to go below and secure a vice grip onto the backing nut to prevent it from spinning while I unscrewed it from up top.

After removing the jib track, I bagged the fasteners and set the track to the side.

I moved on to the starboard toe rail.  In a previous work session I managed to remove the forward-most 3 or 4 fasteners - all of the toe rail screws are 1/4" machine screws secured with backing nuts. The toe rails begged off treating me with any modicum of respect.  In fact, I had to resort to the angle grinder on a couple machine screws due to lack of access and/or threads having seized up.

In the end, I triumphed.  I went around the boat with a blade scraper removing as much of the bedding compound that I could.  In the coming days, I will turn to the task of sanding the decks and topsides, and removing as much of the bedding materials as possible will help to prevent clogs in the sanding discs - saving time and materials.

I moved on to the winches, for removal.  The winches sit on top of a molded fiberglass cubby glassed to the deck.  The cubby is accessed through a hole cut into the mounted coaming board - a place to store the winch handle (or rum bottle) while underway.  Between the cubby and the winch itself is a teak mounting base; underneath the cubby, I found a piece of 1/4"-thick fiberglass used as a backing plate for the winch.

The winch was secured to the cubby with six machine screws and backing nuts.  I was able to remove a few of the backing nuts, but in the end I had to disassemble the winch to get access to the screw heads.  I prevented the screw from turning with a screwdriver, and backed off the nuts with a socket wrench from below.

After removing the winch, I reassembled it, labeled it, and then set it aside.  I repeated these steps for the port winch.

The last bit of brightwork to remove was the eyebrow trim on the cabin sides.  The teak was well-weathered and worn.  This bit of material was obviously original to the boat, and showed excessive damage, splintering and rot.  Due to the condition, I removed the teak without care, and then followed up with removing the shortish #10 machine screws by isolating the backing nut and using a flathead screwdriver on the exterior.

Going into the rebuild phase, it may be interesting to contemplate not reinstalling an eyebrow trim piece.

She is relieved of her tired brightwork, hardware components, and now the project turns to the next phase!

....just a few of the old fasteners, washers, and nuts.

Total Time Today:  4.75 hrs

Removal of Hardware & Brightwork (Part 4)

October 6, 2018

I am progressing nicely on the removal of the hardware and brightwork, and wanted to get this phase of the refit completed by the weekend.  My goal for the day was to begin removal of the toe rails...but was quickly diverted to removal of the portlights as the starter course. 

I began with the forward most portlight on the port side.  The opening port was secured with 8 machine screws - appeared to be #10s. The backing nuts were acorns, with washers.  I made good progress around the frame, using a flathead screw driver from the exterior side and a socket wrench from the interior.  

Alas, there is always one trouble maker in the group.  I had to finally resort to an angle grinder and a cut-off wheel to break the acorn nut on the interior...and then push the machine screw out.

I was successful in removing the portlight, and set aside the fasteners in the sequence and position that I removed them.  There are instances where fasteners are matched specifically to the location o the portlight, and I did not want to have to play that matching game during the re-installation process.  I also do not yet know if I will be using the same machine screws for re-installation...but just in case.  

There was a massive amount of butyl-type compound on the interior and exterior cabin sides, and will be removed as I continue in the refit process.

I repeated the steps for the starboard side, with much less of an opposition to deal with.  I reinserted the fasteners in the same position as they had been removed - for safe-keeping at the very least. 

I made turned to the aft portlights, or amidships ports - the middle set of windows for the lay person :)  These are the same opening ports as the forward-most set.  I completed those and set them to the side as I had done with the previous, forward-most set.

I removed the aft deadlights - the aft non-opening ports - and set them aside.  I secured the fasteners in the ports for safe-keeping, but will most likely replace these fasteners with new ones.

With all of the ports removed, I then got to the day's original goal - toe rails.  I began on the port side with backing out a couple 1/4" machine screws prior to coming into contact with the jib track.  I worked my way aft removing the jib track fasteners - some of them were machine screws with backing nuts and some were wood screws.

The jib track was an oversized track for this boat.  In fact, the jib track on this Allied 24 was apparently taken from a Pearson Triton - a boat with 4 to 5 feet of LOA over the Allied 24.

Regardless of the jib track origin or type, I took measures of the overall length (94"), and...

...the aft position from the taff rail (stern)...that being ~70".

The picture below shows the fasteners removed from the port jib track installation: several machine screws and wood screws.

It was a nice milestone to get the port toe rail off the boat - a defining characteristic of the sheer line and overall appearance.

With the port toe rail removed, I swung around to the taff rail.  The first issue I ran into was knowing where the bungs where located so as to get to the fasteners securing the rail to the boat.  I outfitted my RO sander with a 40-grit disc and quickly quit into the flaking and opaque varnish, revealing the bungs.

One-by-one, I removed the bungs and then the fasteners by securing the backing nuts with a pair of vice grips and turning the exposed flathead screws by hand.  With the removal of the taff rail I called it for the day...enjoying the last ten minutes of the Gator victory over LSU.  Go Gators!

Total Time Today: 5.25 hrs

Removing Hardware & Brightwork (Part 3)

October 4, 2018

Grabbing a few hours after work, I made my way onto the bow of the Allied 24 to begin removal of the toe rails, bow trim, and miscellaneous hardware items. Removal was straight forward; however, the number of trips into the cramped chain locker and then back onto the deck took its toll on me.  Getting back into the swing of things post-injury is proving tougher than I thought!

I began with the foredeck cleat.  the smallish bronze cleat was secured with four 1/4" bronze machine screws, backed with washer and nuts.  I applied a pair of vice grips on the nuts, scrambled back up onto the bow and backed out the screws.

I noticed that the installation did not include any bedding compound (butyl, polysulfide, etc.).

I then moved over to the chain hawse, and backed out the six wood screws that secured the base plate to the deck.  Again, I found no bedding compound upon removal of the chain hawse.  The hardware itself is in great condition, and very "salty" looking, though a bit oversized of the Allied 24.  Properly installed, it will be a great addition to the bow.

I clipped the wiring on the running light, backed out the screws, dislodged the light itself (it was properly bedded), and then pulled the wiring up through its point of install.  This light will find its way to the trash bin.

Next, I removed the port and starboard line chocks from the bow.  As indicated earlier, there was a bit of contorting my body to get the vice grips firmly secured on the backing nuts.  I removed two 1/4" bronze machine screws per chock, gathered the hardware and secured it for future installation.

I moved on to the schaffer inner forestay fitting.  This plate was installed with two wood screws forward, and two 1/4" stainless steel machine screws aft.  As the boat was acquired by the owner, this inner forestay fitting was not being used, so it may not make the final cut for re-installation.

With all of the hardware removed from the bow, less the forestay chainplate, I moved on to the weathered brightwork.  All fasteners are 1/4" stainless steel machine screws, with backing washers and nuts.  I removed one fastener, the forward-most one on the port toe rail, and then decided to first focus on the bow trim.

There were a total of four machine screws securing the bow trim, and then it easily was coaxed from its bedding compound.  This piece, as with all brightwork, will require new fabrication, with teak to be used. 

I then made my way aft on the port rail, applying the vice grips and then backing the screw out from up on deck.  The screws were installed through the toe rail without bungs.  Instead, the screws were slightly recessed, and then some sort of glue/bedding compound was used to attempt a water-tight seal.  It proved a sloppy install, since over time the teak ended up swelling and partially obscuring the screw heads.  I removed a bit of material around each of the screw heads, cleaned out the flathead groove, and then backed the fasteners out.  I made it as far back as the first chainplate on both the port and starboard.

With my energy waining, I quickly took care of the starboard navigation light.

The ease of the removal forced my hand to the port navigation light - both will find the trash bin, and the installation holes will be gassed over as the owner has opted for a alternate setup.

I secured the port rail since it wanted to spring outboard after the fasteners were removed.

Finally, I put a measure on the toe rail fasteners to get an idea of the spacing - 

they turned out to be just over 10".  In the coming new toe rail install, I will likely set spacing at 8".

Total Time Today: 3.25 hrs

Removing Hardware & Brightwork (Part 2)

September 30, 2018

I picked where I had left off in the previous day's work session - removing more hardware and brightwork.  My focus today would be the coach roof / cabin top, and companionway trim.  My first task was an easy one - removing the stainless steel companionway hatch slide rails.  The rails were secured by eight wood screws  and one machine screw backed with a nut, per side.

With the slide hatch rails removed, I got to work on removing the wood frame for the slide hatch.  The overhead in the boat was thick paint on a coarse weave, almost a roving, for the bottom fiberglass skin.  As a result of the unevenness of the overheard, the screw heads were a bit difficult to find, and when I found them I had to apply a cordless drill mounted wire wheel to remove the gobs of paint.

With the screw heads exposed and cleaned,  I removed the starboard teak rail.

I moved to the forward piece of trim for the companionway.  I faced the same issue with having to clean the screw heads, but once that was complete the screws backed out fairly easily.

Upon "peeling" off the forward companionway trim board, I was left with a sticky goo of mysterious origins.  The further I get into the refit, the more I am seeing that resembles "I'm out of time, so I'll just slap this together!"

I repeated the exercise for the port slide hatch teak trim and stainless steel slide rail.  This restoration will include all new brightwork across the boat, and I intent to lower the profile of the slide hatch trim.  The old rails just seemed a bit too high in proportion to the cabin top, but that's a few weeks out.  Next, I moved forward to remove the mast step, err, tank turret?  This thing is a monster!

With a socket wrench up top...

...and a pair of locking pliers below, I managed to remove most of the through-bolts.

I progressed forward to the through-bolts just aft of the forward hatch, and then realized that space constraints were going to force me to remove the hatch before the last four bolts could be extracted.

I removed the clevis pins connecting the hinge components, and the removed the hatch.  I then removed the deck-mounted portion of the hatch hinge since these were through-bolted and would require removal prior to the mast step being removed.

I then removed the remaining four through-bolts on the forward section of the mast step.  Thankfully the mast step installer did not lay it down in a goopy puddle of 5200, but it was still tough getting her to break up with the coach roof deck.  I inserted several flathead screwdrivers underneath the mast step, and slowly the bond was broken.

I likely will not worry about taking the time to clean this material off since core work will be required here...across most of the cabin top.  There is deck compression in this space, so a thorough rebuild of the cabin top is required, along with new primary bulkheads and potentially a mast support beam spanning the new bulkheads....more to come.

With the tank turret safely on the ground, I set about disassembling the balance of the companionway trim.  The photo below shows a good example of questionable construction/reconstruction.  You can just make out the exposed balsa core between the top and bottom skin of the cabin top construction.  This will be corrected through the restoration.  The picture below also shows the post-removal of the vertical companionway trim, and also exposing the edge of a piece of plywood apparently installed to strengthen the bulkhead.  This too will be remedied. 

I them removed the companionway trim just above the bridge deck.

With the trim removed, I set out to remove those plywood panels.  They were secured with four machine screws, backed with nuts.  No adhesive was used to bond the panels to the existing fiberglass bulkhead.  With the starboard panel removed, I turned to the port.

The port was also secured with four machine screws and backing nuts.   My plan for the existing ~3/8" thick fiberglass bulkhead includes bonding balsa core on the interior and laying up glass over the core to add further strength and thickness.

Finally, I vacuumed the exterior and interior of the boat and generally organized the items removed.

Total Time Today:  3.25 hrs