I was so excited to go for a sail this afternoon but was crushed when I got down to the marina and discovered my PMD suffered a major injury during the brief journey. The forward hull support on the trailer failed and all that bouncing along out crappy freeways put too much stress where the aecrions bolt together. I'm thinking this is a good opportunity to install those extra "shark fin" supports I left out of my build and just thickened-epoxy it all back together. Any advice the help me put my poor boat back together is greatly appreciated! Pictures of the carrnage linked here https://photos.app.goo.gl/dkYo8AzEuMptJ4rP7 Thanks!
that looks kind of scary to think that happened. i would definitely check in with CLC and see what advice they have to offer or what experience they have.
in looking at your pictures, there are a couple things i noted that i would consider doing, even if not necessarily called for in the instructions.
first, i would put it back togther with thickened epoxy.
second i would put substantially larger fillets. your fillets look relatively small to me based in the pictures. i would want them at least double the size of what i see in your photos.
third, i woud glass my fillets to spread the load.
fourth, i would wrap glass from the hull tightly around to the outside of the bulkhead where the dinghy is split apart. these will ensure that you have glass in tension (where it is strongest) in the outside of these corners. (be careful not to sand through the glass at this joint when finihing it).
its a bit of work....but it will be back t new in no time.
That last photo suggests that you may be relying too much on downward tension at the ends of the boat to keep boat firmly against the trailer as she bounces along. These girls have a lot of rocker, especially forward, and it's difficult to keep them from acting like rocking horses. I think she'd be under less stress in general if she was mostly snugged down to the trailer by a couple of straps across the middle, one maybe just aft of the take apart joint and another just forward of the after bulkhead. Old socks with the toes cut out, doubled over, and slipped over the straps where they bear on the gun'l will help keep the straps from rubbing the boat raw and the boat from chafing the straps through. Works for me, anyway.
Just to echo Micahel's last point. the downward force strapping the boat should be coming from the the middle and tie downs at the end should be kept relatively loose and are really for safety/keeping the boat in position.
looking at the injury, it is pretty clear that the boat was stressed as if somebody was standing on the bow and the stern simulaenously while the boats bottom was on an unyielding surface. the bottom of the halves was in compression and the top of the haves were in tension.
anyway, trailers flex and your boat didn't flex at the same rate..so something had to give. by tieing it down tightly at the ends, you maximized the chance of the out-of-synch flexing causing damage.
the design is probably optimized for the exact oposite force....the bow and stern being pulled up while the hull is pushed down which is what you would see in wave action. the water also has a lower impulse (shock/point force) than what happens on a trailer on the road.
anyway, regardless of repair, you should also adapt your trailering approach. it should be similar to kayaks....two straps around the middle relatively tight onto a padded surface (to deal with the road impule) and bow/stern lines that are there for safety but not cinched down with signficiant pressure
Thank you all for your input and sympathy. :-). I ordered a heat gun and will get top work rebuilding her...stronger...faster...better...(que 6 Million Dollar Man theme). Will also do a better job on the trailer config, too.
@upspirate - Your picture of the additional bolts did not come through. Can you resend, please?
I used cut-outs from holesaw, then placed them where I wanted in the corners under the front seat lip, drilled through from the rear and epoxied them in place in front and rear section. Coated with epoxy (hadn't coated yet in this pic) then drilled oversize, filled, and drilled proper size.
I had an offset deck plate on the bow seat, and had to install one one the other side also for access which is fine to access that side for storage also.
I just used a wrench though the access to hold the bolt, but may epoxy it in place....not sure if I will be taking apart much anyway
@O'Hearn, Charlie Since I'm struggling to post pics and crashed the other thread on trailer set-up, I posted on the CLC Facebook group the photos my trailer supports
