My plan for the day was to cut out the shelves and dividers supporting the aft bunks, and remove much of the aft head.
I started by cutting these wooden pieces out with a Sawsall and a Jigsaw. It worked out fairly well, athough it took longer than expected. I revisited the tabbing with the Sawsall to remove as much tabbing as possible t save on grinding later.
After cutting out the aft bunks I moved on to the aft head. Here I initially wanted to preserve as much as possible. What I found was most of the tabbing was already broken. The deeper I got into it removing pieces here and there, the more clear it became than more had to come out. Pretty soon it was obvious almost all has to come out. Trying to save any of it would have meant more work. Just as I prepared the aft bunk area by grinding everything down to bare glass, the same holds true in the aft head. When that is ground down clean, I can tab in anything, anywhere.
Given that the bulkhead tabbing looked pretty bad higher up on the aft side (I've already repaired the lower portion), and the head side all needed to be replaced, I am happy I tore it all out. Now I can start by strongly bonding the existing bulkhead in, and then add whatever platforms or cabinets I'd like. Each with a strong bond .
I was considering moving several seacocks and thru-hulls to make them more convenient to open and close. While driving home it occurred to me that perhaps I should move the head forward and place it over the sea cocks. That might be easier than moving the seacocks. I'll have to look that over in the next few days and think about it. It might be a good option.
I am also debating moving the two battery chargers. Placing them farther outboard or aft might be prudent.
One advantage to moving the head forward a few feet is there is a dead-light above that area-- a non opening lexan panel that lets light in. It would be nice to have that as a feature of the head. I could also install a small hatch above or a ducted fan on a timer for ventilation at some point.
Next I moved on to grinding. I wore my wrists out doing that. I used up all the sanding disks I had. I was able to grind the port side from the upper bunk tabbing down, and all the way back to the new aft bulkhead. Much of the later area was already done. I used my last two sanding disks grinding the starboard side area adjacent to the aft bulkhead forward as far as I could. I'd already started that area while working On the bulkhead. The last two grinding disks finished off all but 5% of that area. The remainder of the port side will be more difficult as it is hard to work on a sloped hull. That should go quickly on Monday as I bought out the complete stock of 24 grit disks at two Home Depot's. I now have 48 disks and can take back what I don't need.
I also touched up the aft bulkhead I just installed and ground out an area that popped out and did not bond well. I dressed up the top tabbing but did not crawl into each lazarette to clean up the rough edges in those areas. I was pleased to see the bonding with the cockpit went well.
After that I still have to grind out the aft head, which will be easier as most of this old tabbing pulled right off.
Then I will need to clean up the port salon lockers, and the floor up forward. These last two are to prepare for more tabbing followed by painting.
Some photos:
Port side upper bunk with supports and cabinets removed. This photo is a bit cocked. The oak trim piece defines the edge of the bunk. There are loose boards piled on top that make this picture confusing.
Starboard side with cabinets and support removed. You can see the white horizontal tabbing still in place.
Aft head partially deconstructed. The wall panels were removed and I was cutting around the wires to remove the last of the horizontal piece here. I was still thinking I could keep the portion on the left. Some of the plywood had delaminates, which I could have repaired. The clincher for me was the poor state of the tabbing. I was pulling it off with my hands. The upper piece above the yellow paint broke out with a screw driver in less than 30 seconds. It was not a good bond. The lower part can out even easier. Almost nine of it was well bonded.
Here nothing is Kraft except for the head platform. This broke out fairly easily.
A close up. I didn't want to ruin the support structure for the platform, do I cut from right to left with a Sawsall to preserve the mount. I may take that out anyway, but it would be nice to keep something.
Same area but with a view from forward. I vacuumed up the saw dust and debris. The tabbing around here was all removed with a screw driver or my hand. Very little remains. My conclusion was that Ericon did a very poor job with the tabbing. I don't think the hull surfaces were prepared at all. Much of the tabbing was at right angles with no fillet to make a smooth curve. Fiberglass cannot make shape bends like this--it will break. While it it fine for holding a panel in place, a follow up fillet and some heave roving is important. That is what I plan to do here.
Here are three pieces of tabbing I took out in 30 seconds with a screw driver and a hemmed to tap it in. These are the pieces above the yellow line in the earlier photo
While I hoped to save some of this I am happy with the decision to rip it out. I will be able to tab in the bulkheads better. I may have to remove my charger inverter to access the top forward cover of the head. That is something to think about moving.
I also noticed the tabbing on the bunks is very poor also. Of course my tearing out its support structure did not help. Still these will be easy pieces to replace, although it means grinding out more tabbing on each side.
Will this be the end of deconstruction? Not quite. I will be removing the shelf above the galley, both galley countertops, and possibly the refrigerator. That will come later.
A word about taping. While the tape I use is actually pretty strong for making sharp bends, it will break because that is what fiberglass does with repetitive stress over time. The solution is to apply a fillet and more tape in a smoother curve. The more important the bond, the more layers and the wider the tape should be. Right now I'm considering reinforcing all my bonds more strongly. I will be using roving on top of a fillet to spread the loads out over a broader area and to reduce 'hard spots' on the hull. Taping of furniture seems adequate, but after all the failers I've seen, I plan to add a fillet on much of these, along with another layer of stitched mat tape. I don't want my bonds to fail. So while it seems like overkill, that is what I will do.
Next up: Removal of upper bunks and completion of grinding tasks. After that I will be doing more tabbing, followed by priming and painting--the salon lockers and settees, along with the floors.
