On September 21, 2020 at 11:53 PM Alan Leslie <s.v.elyse@...> wrote:

Hi Eric,

I drilled the hole in the bottom of the U section...this is the part that supports the stove top grating. I omitted to say that I cut a slot in each side of the U section to match the grating.
The U section sits on a short piece of stainless tube and the screw goes through the U section through the tube piece and into the stove top.
It replicates the original plastic things that eventually melt.

Like this



Cheers
Alan
Elyse SM437

On Sep 21, 2020, at 10:09 AM, CW Bill Rouse <brouse@...> wrote:

Bill & Karen and everyone,

I love your sketch and simple explanation of potentially a serious issue. I will add a word of caution. Small cracks in the gelcoat of any Amel can possibly lead to a serious core moisture problem. 

How many of us have walked past a tiny crack without thinking through the potential of a serious repair? If you choose to do nothing, one day you might regret it. I suggest that at the very least, temporarily seal that crack until gelcoat repair can be done. The most common areas that I see cracks that will cause moisture penetration is near the aft lazarette and on the cockpit seats where something heavy has hit the area with force. The most common cause is damage from the bottom fin of an outboard engine. 

If you have created a small crack, don't wish for the best, do something.

Bill

	CW Bill Rouse Amel Owners Yacht School +1 832-380-4970 | brouse@... Address: 720 Winnie, Galveston Island, Texas 77550  Website: www.AmelOwnersYachtSchool.com

View My Training Calendar

On Sun, Sep 20, 2020 at 7:41 PM Karen Smith via groups.io <karenharmonie=yahoo.com@groups.io> wrote:

Hello Amelians,

Here are our thoughts about this deck leak!

Any deck leak, no matter how small, in the main cabin of a Super Maramu is a serious issue that needs to be addressed RIGHT AWAY.  

This is the voice of painful experience. A TINY little salt line was all that alerted us to one of the biggest jobs we have had to do to our boat.

Here is why...

From the aft edge of the hatch in the main saloon forward, the deck is pretty standard balsa cored deck. 

Right behind the hatch, the deck surface rises about 3 inches, while the cabin ceiling height does not change. 

 

The cabin ceiling here is thin (4-6mm plywood) and there is an empty space between the cabin ceiling and the structural underside of the deck. 

If there is ANY leak into this space, the water is free to roll around, and will find a place to drip down probably quite remote from the actual source.

What makes this situation so serious, is the back edge of the balsa core on the forward deck is not sealed, and is exposed into this space. It will soak up that water, and rot.  This is a big expensive repair to do right.  

Leaks into this space can come from the traveler, but more likely is from the hatch in the main cabin.  

There is a hardwood frame around the hatch opening, and the hatch frame is screwed into this with wood screws.  

 A lot of force is applied to the screws that secure the hinge side of the frame.  

If one of these starts to leak, the wood saturates, and water is then deposited into that empty space between the sailing and the deck, and problems start. 

Karen Smith & Bill Kinney

SM #160

Annapolis, MD

On Sep 21, 2020, at 8:38 PM, Karen Smith via groups.io <karenharmonie@...> wrote:

James,

”what has to be removed for inspection.”

I wish I had an easy answer for you on this one, unfortunately I do not. We discovered the problem when we had obvious core failure, so our “inspection” was peeling off the upper deck surface until we go to sound core.  Miles’ approach of pulling screws from the hatch frame and looking is I think as good as it gets.

There is a preventative that should be considered.  Remove the hatch and drill out the screw holes in the deck significantly larger than the diameter of the screw.  Drill down all the way through the wood piece.  Fill it with epoxy thickened with LOTS of high strength thickener.  Redrill a pilot hole for the screws, and again drill all the way through.  You want isolate the leak path from the wood, and you want to SEE a drip right away, not have it get trapped.  If you go this route, be prepared for surprises.  Not all the screws, and I bet not all the boats, are fixed in the same way!

Doing this is a bit fussy, requiring a bit of disassembly of the interior trim and for the hinge side screws it has to be done very carefully or else the screws will pull out in short order.  There are some other viable alternatives for resetting the screws, but pretty much all of them require pulling the hatch.

Bill Kinney

Hi Amelians,

I have ordered sensors for the following people.

They should ship to me within 2 weeks from the west coast.

I will send them out Priority mail when I receive them.

Mark 1 PC

Mohammad 3

Jim 1

Bob 1

Vladimir 1

Mike Longcor 2

Alan 1

Mike Mueller 1

Kent 3

Fair Winds

Eric

Amel Super Maramu #376

Hi Kent,

Looks like I will order the switches Monday.

Please send me your mailing address.

Fair Winds

Eric

Eric,

Found a picture :