Cabin Sole Project

We are working on an Islander 36 #642 now named Release. We bought her in August of 07, and are taking care of some of the repairs.(See pictures)

We commissioned it last Sept., sailed for a couple of months to try to find the problems that were not readily apparent, as it had been on the hard for 2 years. The previous owner had replaced the hatches and opening ports, and had the V-drive transmission rebuilt. We have since repaired transmission as it failed the day before haul out. Apparently the rebuilder used aftermarket thrust washers and put them in backwards. Anyone had this problem yet?

Our current projects include the starboard forward chainplate and bulkhead, and the cabin sole. Water came in around the chainplate and rotted out the bulkhead and the sole. There was also an air conditioner vents in the area. We have removed air conditioner giving Release a lot more storage under the V berth, and are replacing part of bulkhead and 8' of the cabin sole.

One question that we have is on the chainplate. The chainplate on the Port side, in the head, is 1 1/2" X 3/8" X 36" and is attached close to the hull. The one we removed is 1 1/2" X 1/4" X 12". The hole in the deck was larger than the chainplate and was part of the water problem. We are going replace the smaller one with one equal to the Port side. Has anyone had this problem? The other chainplates are the smaller dimension. Does anyone have any ideas or comments on the other projects we are doing?

Thanks for any input you may have,

Ken and Francie Bushee
kenandfrancie1@vermontel.net
2-1-08

Update 2-8-08

The ongoing repairs to Release. Workintg in our basement Francie and I have used the old cabin sole as a pattern along with some measurements to try to cut the teak and holly plywood to fit.

f After cutting the two hatch's out we planed a piece of yellow pine and cut it into 1/4" strips to edge the cutout and the hatch. We glued and nailed with ss nails. We hope that this is going to be ready to go in the spring.

Question. Has anyone, other than us, used only teak oil as a finish on the cabin sole instead of varnish or cetol? We want to apply coats of teak oil to the underside as well as the top and continue to apply till it will not take in any more oil. On our previous boat Release III, an Islander Bahama 30, the finish was gone when we bought it in 2003. We used only teak oil, and reapplied it when ever it needed it. We found the surface to be less slippery and it could be redone in a matter of minutes. Does anyone know of any problems that may arise down the road from using this process?

Thank all of you that have responded in the past. Ken and Francie Bushee for Release.

Before	Floor open	Closer detail	Stbd bulkhead
Lower plumbing	Floor detail	Locker opened	Looking aft from V berth
Initial cutting	Old pieces for pattern	First cuts	Rough cutouts
Measuring for trim pieces	Cutout trim going on	Looking good!