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What is this textured paper-y stuff in my bilge?


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So, had a peak at bilge today...

 

The bit by the engine is sort of cream shiny painted.

 

The rest is basically metal (spray foam comes down the sides but doesn't cover bottom) and it looks like the accessible bits of ballast are paving slabs which I'm fine with. Was puzzled though that much of the bilge (under ballast) appears to be lined with some kind of thick paper / 'non-woven fabric' sheets. Old boat had nothing like that... Any idea what it is/what it is for?

 

Left bits of phone cable in boat so will try to add picture wirelessly momentarily.

 

There is a wettish, but now drying, patch on a plank of wood the old leaky, now replaced, water pump used to sit on - the bow, where that is, has none of the paper/fabric stuff. There is also a damp patch under where someone over-flowed the shower tray (the whale gulper is apparently fine and does work so assume this was a 'not switching it on'/ 'shower wall/ tray not that well sealed' type accident rather than anything more exciting - the flooring in the head is water stained and the shower has quite swooshy options (rain thingy and hand held bit) so it is (hopefully) possible there is no other pipework leak or anything. That bit is on the paper-y stuff and where I peeled a little up the hull looks rusty underneath ?

Tucked a few spare tampons from the Lee San adventures under the edge of it and left dinette (which is usually over the top of it) disassembled to air it. Cat gravel in tights arriving tomorrow... But unsure what to do with the sheeting.

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I use cat litter to clean and dry all the flooring [except carpet] rather than swish dirt around with mop and bucket. I have a small amount  in the toilet area all the time, just brush it over any splish-splash 

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Good to see that the poster has received useful  comments from some smart ar**d people - very helpful. No wonder this forum gets a bad rep from time to time!

 

 To the original poster, Kraft paper is used quite often,  and it is there to reduce abrasion between the concrete and the steel hull.

 

Howard 

Edited by howardang
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14 minutes ago, howardang said:

 

Good to see that the poster has received useful  comments from some smart ar**d people - very helpful. No wonder this forum gets a bad rep from time to time!

 

 To the original poster, Kraft paper is used quite often,  and it is there to reduce abrasion between the concrete and the steel hull.

 

Howard 

Another self opinionated post.

Edited by Athy
To remove direct insult.
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8 minutes ago, howardang said:

 

Good to see that the poster has received useful  comments from some smart ar**d people - very helpful. No wonder this forum gets a bad rep from time to time!

 

 To the original poster, Kraft paper is used quite often,  and it is there to reduce abrasion between the concrete and the steel hull.

 

Howard 

 

Why would there be any abrasion unless the ballast was moving about?

 

Mine has roofing felt soaked in bitumen, but whatever kind of lining they use between baseplate and ballast is a waste of time and just helps to trap water if/when you do get water down there. My preference would be for ballast sitting on old cables or some other material which allowed water to pass underneath.

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Just now, blackrose said:

 

Why would there be any abrasion unless the ballast was moving about?

 

Mine has roofing felt soaked in bitumen, but whatever kind of lining they use between baseplate and ballast is a waste of time and just helps to trap water if/when you do get water down there. My preference would be for ballast sitting on old cables or some other material which allowed water to pass underneath.

I think ballast can move about in a collision but also, unless both the baseplate and the ballast are entirely flat or at least conveniently have 3 points of contact, the ballast can rock very slightly in response to engine vibration etc, which over time can cause abrasion. But I agree that ballast sitting on something like old cables would be better.

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2 minutes ago, blackrose said:

 

Why would there be any abrasion unless the ballast was moving about?

 

Mine has roofing felt soaked in bitumen, but whatever kind of lining they use between baseplate and ballast is a waste of time and just helps to trap water if/when you do get water down there. My preference would be for ballast sitting on old cables or some other material which allowed water to pass underneath.

Our old boat was so heavily built that it did not have any ballast, but I understand from others, that ballast has been known to move about, although I agree that if it is packed in well, the movement would be minimal.

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10 minutes ago, David Schweizer said:

Our old boat was so heavily built that it did not have any ballast, but I understand from others, that ballast has been known to move about, although I agree that if it is packed in well, the movement would be minimal.

Mine sits between cross members and longitudinal scantlings so it can't really move around. In any case I imagine you'd need to hit something pretty hard to get slabs of concrete to move around on the baseplate and it would happen so infrequently that any abrasion of the steel would be insignificant.

 

If your ballast is moving around I think you've got bigger problems than abrasion in terms of boat stability.

Edited by blackrose
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36 minutes ago, blackrose said:

 

Why would there be any abrasion unless the ballast was moving about?

 

Mine has roofing felt soaked in bitumen, but whatever kind of lining they use between baseplate and ballast is a waste of time and just helps to trap water if/when you do get water down there. My preference would be for ballast sitting on old cables or some other material which allowed water to pass underneath.

If the ballast slabs are laid on bare steel, the vibration caused by the engine may give rise to vibration. I agree that it might be better sit ballast on some form of dunnage to allow water to pass under it; I was trying to answer a specific query.

 

Howard

 

 

 

 

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Another reason to space the slabs from the steel would be ventilation. Without this, any moisture from condensation, let alone more substantial amounts of water, would be trapped between the steel and concrete, leading to corrosion of the base plate. Similar to what happens to painted boat roofs when people leave bags of coal on them all winter. On my boat, the paving slab ballast is spaced off the baseplate by a few mm by small plastic pieces, similar to tile spacers. They may even be tile spacers for all I know. I only moved a slab once, many years ago and can't remember for sure. Don't know about "textured paper" as I've no feel for what that actually is.

Jen

Edited by Jen-in-Wellies
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1 hour ago, Boater Sam said:

Another self opinionated post.

If that's what you think, fair enough. You obviously are entitled to your own view but so am I.

I was trying to answer a question from a boater which is more than some of the other responses were doing.

 

Have a good day.

 

Howard

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6 minutes ago, howardang said:

If that's what you think, fair enough. You obviously are entitled to your own view but so am I.

I was trying to answer a question from a boater which is more than some of the other responses were doing.

 

Have a good day.

 

Howard

At least he had the good sense to remove the offensive word and replace it with an acceptable one, before you responded.

 

 

Edited by David Schweizer
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I did appreciate @howardang putting this one back on-topic actually as I'm slightly stressed with various errands which need running today before both my working week (and, potentially, that of my boat-decorater) start tomorrow.... not least needing to to get to building supply places for boat. Finished working on it at gone 10pm last night...

 

Normally CW threads go : question -> pragmatic answer - > waaay detailed technical background - > some form of argument  - > completely off-topic.

 

This one skipped from 1 to 5 a bit quick ?

 

Phone is dead and charger on boat (where I am not) so will add pictures later as appreciate the description was not great!

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