Re: [Paddlewise] Plastic Bulkheads

Robert Woodard wrote:

> My apologies for not remembering who told me this, but someone here told me
> they had removed the plastic bulkheads in their fiberglass kayak. I'm
> getting ready to remove my forward bulkhead and replace it with a plywood
> bulkhead to facilitate mounting a foot pump. I'd appreciate any lessons
> learned on getting the old plastic bulkhead out.

Probably me.  The forward bulkhead in my Solstice was made of ABS and had
been glued in with a transparent sealant.  The only way I could figure out how
to remove it was:

1 - Use a Dremel cutting wheel to cut through the bulkhead as close to the hull
    and deck as possible ( around 1/4 inch).  This left a ring of plastic glued
    to the hull.
2 - Cut through the ring at the keel right to the fiberglass (gently and carefully)
3 - Stick a small blade (I used an assortment of knifes and screwdrivers) until
    enough sealant is removed/cut/broken to allow a free end of the ring of plastic
    to be held in the grip of vice-grips.
4 - Pull/twist/strain like hell getting the ring free of the sealant a tiny bit at
    a time.  Rolling the ring back on itself seemed to work best (like opening a
    can of sardines with a key).
5 - Pull up fragments of sealant left behind (grunt).

The cutting took a while, the pulling took a long while and was real pain.  Fortunately,
I could do this through the front hatch - I'd have probably quit if I had to do it
from the cockpit.  If you can find a solvent for the sealant you're dealing with that
won't harm the fiberglass, consider using it.  That sealant is _tough_!!!

Mike

PS The replacement bulkhead was 4mm Okoume ply covered with two layers of 3 oz
fiberglass and West Systems epoxy.  I also made a shelf out of the same and
attached it to the underside of the deck and to the bulkhead.  This makes the
bulkhead really solid (suitable for a foot pump) and gives me some storage in a
generally unused space.  The shelf was three pieces in a \_/ shape, giving me
a trapezoidal tube of about ten litres volume.  I put drain holes in the shelf
where it connected to the bulkhead.


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