J/30 Class Association Forums J/30 Forum The Boat, Sails and Equipment Vermiculite Replacement?

Josh, I wanted to add one more pic I had to resize. The Main bilge during a similar repair to yours following a grounding. Reglassed the aft end of the bilge.
Note; The tubes entering the bilge from the rear are
1; Largest is manual Bilge pump
2; smaller is drain from Icebox
3; Automatic Bilge pump line.

I am wondering if I should cut drains into the aft face of the main bilge to allow water to drain in from the engine room.
Otherwise it is accumulating there????Freezing???

Weird, I have none of these holes!

If there is still vermiculite under the floor I have no idea how it would get to the bilge after draining through the engine compartment holes. There were no channels when i took up the floor, just a solid dam of verm. Maybe that's why I don't have any of those holes... maybe my hull is just an older style? (it's #56 after all) Are you having issues where it won't drain through those holes? where would your proposed drains send water to?

oh, and the floor is beautiful! well done

What's the purpose of the vermiculite? Maybe now that you have cleaned it all out, could you put stringers and limber holes in and make one common bilge? I like the removeable floorboard idea in that area for future access and maintenance.
We have hull # 497 and there are 3 hoses, encased and running through the verm dam. Manual bilge, drain for aft end of hull and icebox drain. The manual bilge had cracked (I fed a smaller diameter hose through the original) and water had saturated the area and raised a lump in the floorboards. The other two drains work, but at some point I'd like to clean the whole area up underneath.

The verm was just supposed to act as a flooring support I believe. My plan is to glass stringers into place running just like pictured in Mark's rebuild blog. Did it raise a lump due to freezing? I'm guessing it might have cracked out a portion of the verm that never quite settled back into place and that accounts for the lifted area. The whole vermiculite rationale for treatment doesn't make much sense to me, wouldn't glassing in stringers be lighter, more elegant and ultimately cheaper way to support the cabin tub?

I don't believe there is a way to drain the engine bilge area other than weeping through the holes made by the 3 hoses that pass through the aft face of the main bilge. See reglassing pic.
I think I will drill drain holes into the aft face of the main bilge to allow the engine bilge to drain better.
I don't know if there is vermiculite under there.
I have HULL#484 and am buried in snow. This will have to wait til Spring. There is at least antifreeze mixed with the water in there now.

I have a drain hole under my engine and used to have a bad leak through my prop strut mount. By all appearances it used to just weep through the vermiculite and any gap it can find. Definitely NOT the best system (my vermiculite is probably a real mess).

I have the single piece tub liner (floor connected to the settees etc.) I have considered cutting it out, but didn't know how best to put a new floor in (likely wood) with a professional looking transition to the settee sides. How is the transition done in your vessels with factory wood floors? Just with a seam of caulk?

Replicating the previous slopes of the floor might be a bugger when building new stringers. Would definitely be a satisfying project to complete though!

I cut the liner with an oscillating saw, took awhile but if you're careful you can get a clean cut all the way around. I also cut along the seams where the floor banks along the engine compartment, that way you can fit the liner out of the companionway. I would build your floor flush to the edges of the piece of the tub you cut out and just re-install (sans nasty verm). Look at marks blog http://j30hull62.blogspot.com/, it was really helpful to me.

Looking good! Glad my experience has helped others.

I retabbed the liner all the way around. Much of the originall tabbing had separated. Water freezing I think.

Soon as it warms up a bit around here I'll be putting a plywood floor in. Plan to put commercial grade wood grained vinyl plank flooring in, trim around the edges and be done with it.