DS II inspection port fiasco

[cpah]

I joined this forum after my grandfather gave me his old daysailer II that he can no longer enjoy. The boat needs some love and I have decided to spend the summer restoring it. I have benefited greatly from the knowledge on this forum so far and I finally have a question that wasn’t answered in other posts. I would like to check the tanks under the seats for flotation so I have decided to install inspection ports. I know this topic has been discussed at length here but I haven’t found the answers to my specific questions. I tried to cut a hole for my first inspection port In the port side tank towards the back (photo below) but there seems to be a fiberglass support holding the piece that I have cut out in place. I wanted to install a port in this location to repair the small hole seen aft of my attempted hole from the inside, but I’m sure I could manage to fix from the outside if there is no good place to install a port in this area. I have removed all of the hardware from the deck in preparation for repainting the boat so I think it would also be a good idea to check the backing plates for the jib car tracks before reinstalling them, I have read that the best place to make a port to access said backing plates is from inside the cuddy. So my question is, would an inspection port inside the cuddy allow me to check flotation in each tank in addition to giving me access the backing plate for the jib tracks? If not, where would be a good place to cut out an inspection port to check and possibly replace flotation in the tanks?

Thanks in advance,

Caleb

[GreenLake]

I joined this forum after my grandfather gave me his old daysailer II that he can no longer enjoy. The boat needs some love and I have decided to spend the summer restoring it. I have benefited greatly from the knowledge on this forum so far and I finally have a question that wasn’t answered in other posts.

Welcome to the forum, Caleb.

I would like to check the tanks under the seats for flotation so I have decided to install inspection ports. I know this topic has been discussed at length here but I haven’t found the answers to my specific questions. I tried to cut a hole for my first inspection port In the port side tank towards the back (photo below) but there seems to be a fiberglass support holding the piece that I have cut out in place.

First a disclaimer: I don't own a DSII myself, but I had a friend who owned one. The inspection ports I've seen were further to the front, so I'm not sure what you have run into. The two moldings (hull and seat/cockpit floor) normally should have a gap so that there is a single volume of enclosed airspace that drains into the bilge. So you haven't breached a separate airtight compartment and any additional fiberglass would be there for either added strength or stiffening. That's good news, because it means that it should be safe to cut away some (and if necessary find some other means of adding back support.

You may want to knock out only a piece of your port opening to get a look at what's holding up the remainder and what the geometry is. That would allow us to reason about its function and whether and how to deal with it. At worst, you'd need to seal up the seat surface again, but you're not making that task that much worse by having a look-see first.

I wanted to install a port in this location to repair the small hole seen aft of my attempted hole from the inside, but I’m sure I could manage to fix from the outside if there is no good place to install a port in this area.

That hole is rather curious. I does look like a drain hole, and if so, it could mean that I am wrong, and there was, in fact some fully separate air chamber that you have now breached. If so, the only way to find out is to have that look-see. (Or you can also probe from that hole with a wire). If it is a drain, you might want to plug it, but not cover it. And, if it is not, that is, if you put a wire in and can extend it down into the the bilge without hitting a wall where your inspection port is, then you can certainly fix it from the outside.

(BTW, I don't recall that hole from the boat I've been on. Is it only on one side?).

Looks like we need more information to be able to help you better, so please investigate and report back.

I have removed all of the hardware from the deck in preparation for repainting the boat so I think it would also be a good idea to check the backing plates for the jib car tracks before reinstalling them, I have read that the best place to make a port to access said backing plates is from inside the cuddy. So my question is, would an inspection port inside the cuddy allow me to check flotation in each tank in addition to giving me access the backing plate for the jib tracks? If not, where would be a good place to cut out an inspection port to check and possibly replace flotation in the tanks?

I would not be surprised if you found no flotation material whatsoever. I think that was the case on my friend's boat. He had inspection ports in the seat backs/coamings about a foot behind the jib tracks; while sailing, he would throw any empty water bottles in there (caps tight), but he would remove them all at the end of the season. (On photos I have of his boat, I do not see inspection ports in the seats themselves).

Unfortunately, I don't know if there were ports on the inside of the cuddy on his boat. Try to figure out as much as you can with the openings you have already made.

[cpah]

Green Lake,

Thanks for the prompt reply. I should have mentioned in my original post that the small hole near the transom was a just a bit of the fiberglass that was rotted through which I drilled out, not there by design.

I hadn’t considered that the fiberglass cutout could be removed anyway, but since I didn’t breach an air tight chamber I don’t see why not. I went ahead and removed the piece of glass that I had cut out and found that the area beneath the seat was chock-full of bone dry styrofoam: best case scenario IMO. I was also able to place a small fiberglass layup behind the aforementioned small hole.

Although getting a look under the seats has proven to be more of a nuisance than I originally expected, I’m happy with the way things have turned out.

Thanks for the advice!

Caleb

[GreenLake]

Bone dry styrofoam is good.

Now that you have a large port there, you might consider whether it would be usable for storing small items of gear while under way. If that's useful, you could hollow out a small cache behind the opening and get / make a cloth or net pouch to go behind the opening. Then you can store things that you don't want to lose or get wet behind the port but have them accessible from the cockpit.

Yours may be a bit far in the back and too low to be convenient for that purpose.

Anyway, keep up the good work and don't forget to let us know how you are coming along.