You all helpded me so much with my transom gap issues, now I am back with the same issues with the bulkheads. Getting them in place for the fillets, but there are some pretty big gaps on the sides, up to one-eighth of an inch. Is the fillet just going to fill this in? I can't think of any way to get them tighter. What do you think?
If those are taped fillets an eight of an inch gap is fine. In fact, there is a school of thought that taped fillets should all have a gap to avoid any wood-to-wood contact. The theory is that wood-to-wood contact points act as stress concentrators.
I've never heard of scientific testing of that theory, but even if an eight-inch gap doesn't help, in my experience it doesn't hurt (as long as it's a taped seam).
If you really want them tighter, it's the same drill as before - loosen some stitches and tighten others, repeat until you're happy or just don't care anymore.
Have fun,
Laszlo
Hi Laszlo,
I'm new to this, but will soon be fixing in the bulkheads on my PM. By 'taped' do you mean fillets reinforced with a length of fibreglass tape. I understood that the fillet of thickened epoxy would be sufficient, and the glass was only used for the bottom and floor ( and first strake)
Thanks
Andrew