Anonymous wrote:
I have done epoxy grouting of voids in cement boats, though this was done before the boat ever went afloat. All cement boats have voids, even if you use a vibrator during plastering, as you should, and best practice addresses this during construction. On these ferro boats, we epoxied grease nipples in some holes and pumped resin through until it come out of adjacent holes. Getting the timber on Teleport dry would be an interesting challenge. I'd want to put the boat in a warm, dry shed for some time. Use a combination of a water meter (often used to detect water in fibreglass layups) and an ultrasound unit (used to measure thickness of steel plating) to locate the voids and drain them of fluid. Once I had done this I would want to recheck with the ultrasound unit to see if any more voids showed up. I doubt if you could be sure you'd got them all, but if it was dry and was subsequently sheathed with epoxy and glass cloth, I think it would be ok. But that is a lot of work and expense, especially if you have to rent a shed.
Interesting approach. Good ideas here. I'd like to add to this discussion that there are two sources of water ingress. From the outside and inside. Bilge water can find little channels too.
Teleport's (entire) hull was glassed with one layer of 10oz fibreglass cloth, or was it 12 oz., when it was upside down. That was the recommended treatment of the day. Nowadays they recommend more glass than that. Every year i would see a crack or two in the glass over the deadwood, but not the cedar hull. I called them "zipper cracks" because they looked like zippers, a straight line with short lines crossing at regular intervals. I would buzz off the paint and epoxy a narrow strip of glass over the area.
The plans called for 5 layers of 1/8" mahogany veneer. I chose Western Red Cedar because of the cost and it being easier to bend and added one layer to compensate for th difference in stiffness. I reasoned that would be enough because the stiffness of a member is a function of the cube of its depth. I ran this by Mead Gougeon of WEST SYSTEM Epoxy and he agreed. I used 15,000 staples to build that hull and cabin top. Nowadays they use a vacuum bagging system. Had i used that, we might not be writing about this. At the time, it was my understanding that cold moulding was the strongest method known on a weight to strength ratio. "Nothing was too good for my baby." Never again.... The company that sold me the plans now design one-off luxury cruising boats built with strip planking covered with a thick layer of epoxy fibreglass, both sides. The wood is essentially the core.
When I chose cedar, I made a conscious decision to never sail her in icy waters because of the softness of cedar. I spoke to Chris Bray on three occasions regarding my misgivings about sailing in the Arctic. Each time he smiled and said nothing. What more could I do? I think he and Jess were hyper-vigilant when it came to navigating among the bergy bits, knowing what could happen. No false confidence that a steel boat might inspire.
Could she have been reinforced? Probably. I met a fellow who had just come through the North West Passage in a 47 ft fibreglass yacht. he had added an armor belt of multiple layers of Kevlar, consisting of long triangles of cloth, beginning at the bow and reaching back to the midsection, tapering in width. I don't think his armor was ever truly tested on this voyage. It was not a particularly pleasant trip. A great deal of motoring because of the light summer winds.
Jess and Chris got through, without damage. A combination of skill, experience and luck. I don't think they would do it again. The following year, I hear, saw 20 boats trapped in the ice.
Well, they are safe and sound and I'm very proud of them. I hope Teleport will emerge from its state to sail a few more miles before she's all wore out.