J/30 Class Association Forums J/30 Forum The Boat, Sails and Equipment Cabin Sole Rebuild, MaJic Carpet

I thought it might be best to separate out this little bit of rebuild work from the main MaJic Carpet rebuild thread. When I was researching though the site I saw that many J30's have had their cabin sole pulled out to do some serious work and remove the vermiculite, but I didn't see anywhere how they were then rebuilt.

I have no idea if the way that I am doing it is the best or not, but my intent is just to show how I am going about it. This is very much a design build project and I am just working my way through each little bit. feel free to comment now before things start getting glued down.

First, when I pulled the original sole out, I more or less intentionally left a lip at the front that is about 1-1/2" wide. Back at the engine tub there was no lip left. So knowing the the Bubinga and Paduch that I milled is 7/8" thick I started by putting a small block on the lip the thickness of the new sole and stretched a string from there to the bottom of the engine tub. This string represents the top of the surface of the new sole. I also used the reference of the cut line on the sides of the old sole as it went vertical into benches. This line is not completely straight, all four corners of the sole are pulled up slightly and it is important to determine where the straight line of the main sole meets these pulled up corners. At the front these transitions are pretty obvious. That is not the case in the rear areas. You can see in the images where I have pulled the string lines to and this is where those transitions are in my boat. It is also important to note that the Port and Starboard sides are different both in size and their angles. I haven't sorted out the rear yet, that will be the next post.

So knowing the top surface of the sole I decided to make some new ribs. This is a matter of templating and fitting, using a scribe and then doing lots of fitting. I need these ribs to be pretty close, but they don't have to be absolutely perfect. I can make small adjustments when I bed them in thickened epoxy. The distance from the front lip to the first rib is slightly longer than I wanted, but the decking is 7/8" thick and I think it can handle the 20"+ span without too much deflection and trying to fit a rib on that island of the old table support seemed way too problematic. Otherwise I chose to space these about 16" apart. So lots of climbs in and out of the boat and back to the band saw today.

The rib behind the 2nd island has to accommodate the whale pump hose and the Rule bilge pump hose. The whale pump hose comes right down the center line, where the smaller hose will lead up and out the side and go under the galley.

Where I left it today was scratching my head about the rear area. The little rib showing now under the engine tub will ultimately get cut in two and separated to allow the 1-5/8" OD hose to just barely make it under the deck. I want to do some more light glass work in this area too and that will crowd this hose just slightly more.

When I first started this it was not my intention to make structural ribs, but I think that they will end up acting that way regardless. All I really wanted was support for the sole, but these are all 5/4 stock white oak, so no matter what they are pretty stiff and when I tab them in they will stiffen the hull whether I want them to or not.

We got to 59 ° here today, so I could have done epoxy work if I had been ready. Temps are going back down now, so will have to wait to do that kind of work. But there is much more fitting and sorting out to do before that is really necessary anyway.

I have also decided that to provide long term access to the entire bilge the decking will be screwed to the ribs and the heads will remain exposed. The strips are 4" and 3" and will be glued together to form several sections that can be removed independently. The center 4" section will also have two grill sections to provide easy access and ventilation. More on that part of the build coming.