Posted: 14 Oct 2015 at 7:29pm
I have Yankee Dolphin 129 "Respite". The sheer clamp on the port side of the boat was rotted and powdery. I did not want to take the cabin off to replace it, so I decided to do it this way: To keep the proper curvature in the clamp, I used a piece of Philipine mahogany which I cut into 3/8" thick slats. I slid each slat in and made the necessary cutouts for the bolts and screws that it had to slide past. After sliding them all in and making sure they were in the right order, I numbered them. I applied a thin coat of epoxy to each slat and allowed them to dry. Later, I had my wife put on another coat of epoxy on both sides of the slats and I slid them in one by one over the bolts and screws and against the hull while the epoxy was wet. I clamped them in where I could with wedges (I used plastic wrap to keep the wedges from sticking to my clamp). Where wedges would not fit, I cut 2 x2's or 1x 2's the proper length so I could force the laminated slats tightly together at the bulkheads. When it was all good and dry I drilled holes for the deck fittings and sealed them with 5200. I resealed all of the deck fittings. The boat does not leak and I did not have to take the cabin off.
Larry


Posted: 07 Mar 2016 at 4:39pm
Larry,

This sounds like a well-thought-out procedure.

It looks like I may have to do something similar on my boat. Do you have any pictures or other advice which might help me?

Did you do anything with the sheer cleats on the hull, or just the clamps at the hull to deck joint?

Thanks,
Bob
Yankee Dolphin #138


Posted: 11 Mar 2016 at 6:35am
Unfortunately, I took no photographs. The repair job,making the sheer Clamps and installing them worked well because we have since took the boat sailing in high winds and the rigging held together quite well.
sincerely,
Larry


Posted: 23 Apr 2016 at 5:19pm
I now have some pictures of the finished job. Please email me at larhilius@live.com and I can send the pictures from there. I cant add them to this message.
Larry