Honker Bulkheads *HELP*

James Oliver

James Oliver

Member
Hello all,

My son and I have been busy stitching together our Honkers hull and sides. We have Just leveled the hull and are beginning to fit the bulkheads. Just one question... All the bulkheads but one fit perfectly. The bulkhead closest to the stern transom that completes the splashwell has a gap that is about 1/2 -1/4 of an inch. Is this too big a gap to seal with epoxy? Is there any solution other than cutting a new, custom bulkhead? All our lofting and cutting was spot on.

Thanks
Jim and Will
 
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Is the gap an even 1/2" top to bottom? If so I would cut a piece of wood and epoxy it to fill the gap, otherwise I'd just fill the gap with thickened epoxy peanut butter. Your fillet and fiberglass tape are where your strength is anyway. No way would I waste a large piece of plywood like that unless I could use it elsewhere and I had enough plywood on hand. What kind of plywood are you using?

I really like the biax fiberglass tape I got from Joel, it's easy to work with and very strong.

John
 
It's the 2nd to last bulkhead?, i.e. the last bulkhead being the transom?

Is it 1/2" all around where the bulkhead meets the hull?

I'm curious as to why the gap is so large? sometimes you have to man-handle the hull to get the shape right. And I'm sure you checked the lofting. It would be unusual to have such a large gap, unless you cut it way off line...

I believe the construction is similar to my boat (Snow Goose). Nonetheless, that bulkhead that's nearest to the transom is where the floatation sits and there are longitudinals (sp?) that then attach to the transom and the bulkhead in question making for an extremely strong rear. The decking then gets applied that now-box. Very strong.

If you've tried all the fitting that you can possibly do by adjusting your pads underneath the hull, etc and it's still a 1/2" then I would fill it with a thick epoxy after a lot of raw epoxy has been applied to suck up into the wood..

...and then slather on a bunch of normalized peanut butter and then make an oversized fillet with tape.

But I tend to overbuild.

Hope you get lots more opinons.
 
Hello all,

My son and I have been busy stitching together our Honkers hull and sides. We have Just leveled the hull and are beginning to fit the bulkheads. Just one question... All the bulkheads but one fit perfectly. The bulkhead closest to the stern transom that completes the splashwell has a gap that is about 1/2 -1/4 of an inch. Is this too big a gap to seal with epoxy? Is there any solution other than cutting a new, custom bulkhead? All our lofting and cutting was spot on.

Thanks
Jim and Will
Click to expand...


I'm guessing that you just cut the bulkheads to the plans, not custom fit. Is the gap uniform on each side? Where is the gap?
 
Hey,

The fit between the sides of the bulkhead and the side hull panels is good, but there is a large gap between the bottom of the bulkhead and the hull bottom panels. I may just have to cut a custom bulkhead, but would rather work with one already cut before I go buying another sheet of plywood.

Thanks
Jim
 
You could trim the bulkhead to have the same gap on both sides and rip a filler strip and attach it to the bulkhead and the epoxy and fill as needed.
 
Hi James. If I was you, I'd cut a filler piece that was ever so slightly smaller than the gap betwen the bottom and the bulhead. Epoxy it to the botom of the bulkhead, let it dry and then install the bulkhead as planned. Your fillet, if done properlly will provide all the strength you will ever need with that "extended" bulkhead. If you are still nervous about it, just lap the glass further up the bulkhead than you normally would, say an extra inch or so.

John
 
Personally, I'd fit it to the bottom and add a strip on top...much less mess. I don't know how all you guys are getting perfect fit bulkheads by going with the lofting offsets. I had to fit my templates for every one.
 
Personally, I'd fit it to the bottom and add a strip on top...much less mess. I don't know how all you guys are getting perfect fit bulkheads by going with the lofting offsets. I had to fit my templates for every one.
Click to expand...


Lee,

It seems like most people these days are just cutting them out from the plans rather than spreading the hull and measuring as many of us did. Probably makes little different in the end, I guess.

T
 
At the end of the day... this nice man got lots of world class advice here... and the 1/2' gap isn't the end of the world. So, choose a program, save the bulkhead and go with it... and don't forget that everyone here volunteers their time and advice.
 
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