DaySailer.org Forum

Spent the day doing some trial fitting of the vang. found a space between the thwart on the starboard side. where it joins the seat. I'm going to replace the wood , so do I try to pull the side back in, or just make the replacement a little longer?

Pull it in.

My first inclination.

Make sure you don't use a softwood for this purpose and that you overdrill the screw holes, fill them with epoxy, and then re-drill (or even better, to embed a waxed screw into the epoxy). Everything to make that joint stronger.

Will be of Oregon White Oak. is the wood divider( low and transverse) at the stern of your boat, stock. Ive not seen that before in any photos Ive seen of the DS. I do like it.

Do you mean the transverse coaming along the front edge of the aft deck? That would a be a stock item. If it's missing from your boat and you plan on restoring it: not that It's arched a bit, but in the other direction it's straight across. I recall it as being the same height across.

No the one below that on the cockpit floor, looks like it has a dropped section in the middle. i saw it in one of your photos. it could be where the rear floorboards go under the aft deck.

Oh, that's a shelf, believe it or not. Really handy.

The front is a straight piece, with a rail glued/screwed to the back to make an L. A shelf rests on that, and in the rear, it has a second rail underneath. So the shelf sits at about the middle of the front piece (well out of any puddles of water). The original one is made from slats,so there are open spaces so water can't collect on it, but even a simple plywood shelf might be functional.

If you can picture it, the whole thing rests on its four corners, because the hull is angled. To increase the support, the corners are cut away a bit so they meet the hull. When I restored mine, I epoxied everything, of course, and I added a layer of glass a those four spots, so they don't rub through. Afterwards, a bit of tape in those places wouldn't go amiss, just to cushion things a bit. Not much is needed and you can replace that if it wears through.

GL this I understand. i believe I might put one in mine, still debating on replacing the floor boards as most of them are missing. I could use White oak, or Black Walnut

Whatever you are planning on using, look up which one is more rot-resistant - then still go ahead and epoxy seal it.

I would say white oak. Can you (or anyone) recommend what epoxy, more familiar with fiberglass Looked it up both are rated the same in rot resistance. so the choice is mine.

I would say white oak. Can you (or anyone) recommend what epoxy, I'm more familiar with fiberglass.

What are you using for your fiberglass? Polyester resin?

My personal choice for epoxy resins are the ones made by SystemThree. For example, their SilverTip.

PS: your post was moved to "Repair and Improvement" because it's about that.

thx