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Challenger Lazarette Deck

Added 03/06/2004

George Istok – Le’a

1969 Columbia 26 MkII

St. Joseph, Michigan

1. Introduction

     The lazarette or engine compartment on the Challenger is big.  In fact, it is too big.  With an outboard motor installed in the well, you could put two six gallon fuel tanks on each side and still have a little room left over.  The bottom of the compartment is the hull.  A fuel tank set in the compartment slides towards the center and there is no convenient way to tie the tank down.  When underway in waves over a couple of feet, water splashes into the compartment through the motor well.  The motor well is a fiberglass box that rises from the hull about a foot into the compartment.  The walls of the box have to be reinforced to give the motor clamps something tighten against and top edge of the walls also needs something for the weight of the motor to sit on.

     Building a deck inside the lazarette and reinforcing the walls of the motor well are two simple projects that naturally go together.  Good materials cost money, but are not out of reason, and the results will be a functional motor well and a deck that will both give you a place to tie down fuel tanks and keep the tanks out of the water that splashes into the compartment.             

2. Plan
1. Grid

     The basic idea for supporting the deck is to run mahogany stringers around the perimeter of the lazarette and have a grid of mahogany stringers supported by the perimeter and also by the motor well box.  The entire grid has to be hand fit, interlocked, and epoxied into place.  It sounds more complicated than it is, and it really gets easy when you use pine mock ups of the grid pieces for fitting. 

2. Deck

     The deck is made from marine plywood.  I used Okume, but would choose fir if I were to do the project again.  The deck sits at the same level as the top of the motor well.

3. Access

     I wanted to be able to get into the area below the deck, so I planned for access panels.  They are free floating and sit on rails screwed to the bottom side of the deck.

4. Materials

     Materials include 1 ½ inch rough cut mahogany, one sheet of ½ inch marine plywood, epoxy, glass cloth, paint, and screws.  I cut the mahogany into 1 ½ X 1 ½ stringers.  Mahogany is expensive wood to used for this project, but the grid is in a area where it is not visible, difficult to keep painted, and subject to getting wet often.  There may be a better choice to use here to save a few dollars.  I would use fir for the marine plywood as it is just a good for this project as more expensive material with a nicer grain.  All of the screws are covered by epoxy, so I used deck screws.  Bronze or stainless may last longer.  I used West System epoxy.  One quart resin and a small can of hardener will be just enough.  You will also need some kind of filler for the epoxy, glass tape and glass cloth.  I used 3M bilge coat for the paint.

3. Measurements
1. Tic Stick

The section through the lazarette at the level of the new deck is an odd shape.  I used a tic stick to capture the shape of the deck.  Using a tic stick is much easier to show than to explain.  The shape is captured as a vector diagram of sorts giving direction and distance from arbitrary points on a plane to the periphery of an odd shape.   

2. Fitting

There are several fitting problems in this project.  In my layman’s mind, I realized that the deck could not be cut in one piece as it would not fit through the hatch.  More technical from a doing a nice job point of view is fitting the grid to the hull.  You will want the best fit where the deck meets the hull.  These two areas will be covered by fiberglass and epoxy, but there should not be huge gaps to fill.

4. Template

1. Cardboard

You can say I wear a belt and suspenders (I don’t) if you want, but measure twice – cut once is a good rule.  Transfer the tick stick marks to cardboard, cut the shape out, and try it.  It will eliminate that funny little notch where you read a five as an upside down two.

2. Fitting

Fitting the grid stringers is entirely a free hand operation.  A good sharp knife, a power planner, and patience is what you need.  My thought is that fitting the grid is more important than having a nice fit for the deck.  The edge of the deck will be covered by fiberglass.  So will the ends of the grid.  But you need the grid to sit in the right place with out epoxy.  The alternative is to apply the epoxy and then hold the piece until the epoxy sets.  Not very productive. 

5. Cutting

          Cut the deck pieces after you have checked the fit of the cardboard template.  Because the edges of the deck will be covered with fiberglass, small differences in following the line will not show.  It is better to have the deck an eighth of an inch too small rather than too big.  I used scrap lumber and a jar lid for the shape of the hatch covers in the deck.  Save enough good “scrap” to make the lip pieces that the covers will sit on.

6. Install

1. Preparation

Prep work is basically sanding, sanding, and more sanding.  Añejo’s lazarette had been painted several times.  To get the area ready to accept epoxy, that paint had to be removed and the surface of the fiber glass roughed up.  It is a dirty job that creates lots of dust none of which you want to breath, so the next repeated word is mask, mask, mask. 

You will be painting again, so make a estimate of the area to be sanded and go to it.  I used 60 grit belts on an old sander.  Unless you really try to make a thin spot, you need not worry about causing problems.  When you see the paint is gone and maybe a little bit of the glass strands, you have sanded enough.

2. Grid

You can use clamps and drywall screws to hold the gird in place while the epoxy is curing.  I used filler in the epoxy to make a paste that stayed in place.  Keep extra epoxy of the top of the stringers as the deck sits directly on them.

3. Deck

I cut the deck into two sections as you can see.  Installation is done with epoxy and screws.  Put epoxy only on the stringers so the deck sections remain clean.  I used screws about every four to six inches to clamp the deck to the stringers.  Make sure everything is in place and use epoxy and filler to create fillet around the deck.

I let the fillet cure overnight and then put two layers of glass tape around the deck edge.  I also used epoxy to cover the screws where they were sunk into the plywood.  Let it all set up and then wash off the blush with a wet rag.  You are ready for painting.

4. Painting

I used Interlux Bilge Coat to paint the interior of the lazarette and the new deck.  It worked fine on the interior of the motor well also.  A quart will do a nice job, but only if you prime the wood.  I did not and ended up using half a second quart.  It is a little messy painting the underside of the deck.  If I had to do it over again, I would paint the underside of the deck with epoxy before it was installed.  One last thought, this is not a very visible area, so coverage is more important than beauty.

7. Other Issues

1. Fiddle

The cutout where the motor well goes through the new deck is a good place to lose tools.  I plan to put a fiddle on the port and starboard edges.  The fore and aft edges are protected.  Forward by being a hole to the bottom of the compartment and aft by the motor.  If your motor does not sit on the deck as mine does, you might want to put a fiddle there too.

2. Hinges and Latches

I built drop in hatches to access the lower part of the engine compartment.  Since it is a wet area, I do not keep any thing there.  The hatch covers would fall out if Añejo was ever rolled, but if that happens, I will not be worrying about the hatch covers. 

The compartment could be made dry.  I have seen reference to using an inner tube from a small trailer tire to seal the area around the motor shaft.  If you do that, then the telltale for the engine cooling might have to ducted outside the hull.  You could then use hinges and latches to make the lower compartments secure storage for light items.

3. Pump

The open area where the motor clamps are can not be eliminated.  Unless you seal the motor well so that water can not enter, you will have water in bottom of the compartment.  I also plan to install a small bilge pump there to keep the water cleared out.

4. Tie downs

I have experimented with mounting a small battery in the lazarette and installed a tie down screwed to the forward bulkhead of the compartment.  The bulkhead is only ½ inch thick,  so bolts would be better.  The battery was too small for the starter motor, so it has been removed.  You will want to secure the fuel cans fuel tank to the deck, and either pad eyes and bungee cords or nylon strap and a buckle will work well.

8. Close

This is a simple project for an experienced DIY sailor.  It took me several weekends of invent-it-as-you-go work.  As the project progressed, I realized that epoxy and fiberglass were not difficult materials to work with and I figured out how mix only a little more epoxy than I needed.  I am happy with the deck and it has held up well now through two seasons.  The next project on the Challenger will be to put bottoms in the seat lockers. 

  Project Pictures