Another 25 Seafari goes under the knife

[Blue_Heron]

Are you planning on making some kind of lip around the engine compartment to keep water out? One thing I started to do with my engine compartment but got frustrated and gave up was to install some gas shocks for the engine cover. If you thought about doing that as well then the time is now before the engine goes in and gets in your way.

strick

Hey strick,
I'm definitely going to build a lip around the compartment. In the last shot, I had put the inner transom panel in place to get an idea of how I want to make the transition there. The PO had strips of plastic screwed and caulked to the edges of the deck opening. I want to do something that looks and feels a little more permanent.

I hadn't thought about gas shocks on the engine cover, but I don't think I'll need them. It's not very heavy and the front is sloped so it lays forward on an angle when it's open. That should make it unlikely to close accidentally unless I have to open it offshore for some reason.
Dave

[BigLew]

Blue Heron and Stick,

I just thought I'd let you both know what I did with my Scepter. I got a pair of hinges that take a "balled" pin as a hinge pin. With that I can leave the pins in and lift the cover up for a quick look or short job or pull the pins and slide the engine cover forward out of the way with no chance of it falling injuring someone or something. I can also take the cover completely out of the cockpit should the need arise, and trust me, I have done that more than once. FWIW!

http://www.suncorstainless.com/hinges/S3824-00.jpg

[cdavisdb]

Just FYI, Mine has a box made originally for twins. Its long and wide and fairly heavy. At 30, I don't think I would have noticed, but at 60 it gets my attention when I open it. A little help would be a nice thing. Once open, it stays open just fine even if the boat is jumping. If you are cutting down the box as well as the opening (assume you are), it should be a lot easier to handle than mine.

[Blue_Heron]

Hey, Lew, I like those hinges. The ones that came on my boat are also two piece hinges, one male, one female. In other words, the pin is on one and a hole in the other. You open the box and then slide it horizontally to disengage the pins. I expect I'll be taking advantage of that feature when I have to get access to the front of the engine compartment. I'm planning to mount all my pumps and my raw water strainer there.

Connor,
The PO made a smaller engine box when it was converted to single engine. It's constructed with a structural foam core and it's strong and light. I ordered my new engine with riser extensions, so it's taller than the the one that came in the boat. I will need to modify the engine box to make it a couple inches taller, but I don't think it will add much weight.

On another note, your PMs last week got me thinking about hull flex under the cabin. So I bit the bullet and cut in a hatch like strick's in the cabin sole so I would have better access. The PO had put in flotation foam topped with a 1/4" plywood cored deck about 10" below the cabin sole. The foam was wet and the deck tabbing had delaminated from the hull on the starboard side. Hull flex may have been a factor, but the workmanship wasn't anything to write home about, so maybe it just didn't hold up.

My plan is to add a bulkhead below decks forward of my water tank. It will fall right about where your chine damage was and should provide good lateral support to the stringers. I'll post pics and details when I've got something to show for the work.

Dave

[strick]

My plan is to add a bulkhead below decks forward of my water tank.

I think it's a good idea to have access to that area of the hull. I put a cross member in there (prior to Conners issue) to act as a bulk head for the fresh water bladder. Hopfully the problem that Conner had is not indicative to all the 25's. Time will tell.



strick

[Blue_Heron]

Hopfully the problem that Conner had is not indicative to all the 25's. Time will tell.

I think if it was a defect in the design, time would have already told on these old boats. I've got a couple theories about what is going on with Connor's boat, but I'm as likely to be wrong as right, so I'll leave it at that. The bulkhead I'm planning will go from the keel to the underside of the cabin sole and from stringer to stringer. If either of my theories are correct, the bulkhead will provide strength where it's needed. Even if I'm wrong, it will provide a forward stop for my water tank and an aft wall for the storage compartment under my new hatch.

[cdavisdb]

I think adding some reinforcement is a good idea.

Further info: When mine was built, they added a bunch of foam under the bunks,between the two innermost stringers, from the bulkhead just aft of the forward hatch under the bunks aft to the next bulkhead. All of this has separated from the hull, big gaps where it used to contact the hull, a couple of big cracks in the foam. Looks like compression damage to me.

[Blue_Heron]

I guess it’s time to get caught up on the rebuild. I suppose any time you get into one of these projects it’s a can of worms. Based on PMs and conversations with Connor, I took a little detour from my rebuild plan to do a little exploratory surgery.

First, the stringers in the 25 Seafari are not the box stringers we’re all used to seeing in the Potter 20s and 23s. The main stringers in the 25 Seafari are farther apart than those in a 23. That, combined with the deeper deadrise, makes for a pretty wide hull area that’s not supported by a stringer.



And the stringers are vertical, while the hull panels they support have a deadrise of about 30 degrees in the forbody of the hull. So with a tall narrow stringer, the forces pushing on the hull panel could potentially kick the legs out from under the stringer something like this:



That’s my best guess as to what happened to Connor’s boat.

Disclaimer time: I’m not an engineer, and I don’t play one on TV. All this is just head scratching and taking a best guess about a potential weakness in this hull. Connor’s boat is the only 25 Seafari I’ve heard of with any kind of problem. But I decided to take a closer look at mine and take a “better safe than sorry” approach.

The space under the cabin sole had a “deck” of sorts. It was a piece of ¼” plywood with a thin layer of fiberglass over it and pourable foam below. I don’t have a good pic of it, but the tabbing between the “deck, and the hull delaminated on the starboard side. This could indicate some movement in the lower hull panels. Anyway, I decided to pull it out. Before:





And After:



It is interesting to note that the engine bed stringers don't continue forward of the fuel tank compartment's forward bulkhead.

To be continued…

Dave

[htillman]

Every 23 Sceptre I have owned or looked at crackeds in the bow area under the hatches. There is a lot of flex in the bow area of these boats. My 23 cc does not show the stress of the Sceptre's.

[Blue_Heron]

Every 23 Sceptre I have owned or looked at crackeds in the bow area under the hatches. There is a lot of flex in the bow area of these boats. My 23 cc does not show the stress of the Sceptre's.

Yep. Entourage posted the same comment on Connor's thread. If my line of thinking is correct, the reason these cracks appear in the Sceptres, but non in the CCs is the storage box in the casting deck. It limits the movement of the hull panels between the stringers and the keel so they can't flex to the point that the chine step cracks.

Dave