Mk 4 Side benches

[Roger]

Has anyone retro fitted the Mk 4 side benches? I have the benches, I have the boat, all I need is the know- how.

Can anyone help please?

Roger

 

 

[jmcc500]

I can’t help but have you got the fittings for the hull? Benches are removable and drop into some brackets and have screw fittings to lock them in place. Not sure how they are fitted to the hull – hopefully you don’t need access to the back (which would be impossible I would imagine!)

[john1162]

Hi Roger,

You need to contact Hartley Boats with your sail number and ask them if there are pieces of wood inside the hull for fastening the aluminium track for the seats.  If it is a racing boat then I doubt they would be there.

[Roger]

I have the stainless steel brackets; they came fitted to the benches. I was told by the seller that a spacer would need to be glued with epoxy to the hull so that the brackets can be screwed in place. I have made some suitable stainless spacers.

I was hoping that someone on here would be able to give me some more detailed instructions, like prepping the hull surface for sticking the spacers I place. Does epoxy stick to gel-coat without any prepping.

Thanks for replying,

Roger

 

 

[Roger]

Hi John, What are the aluminium tracks that you speak of, all I have are stainless L-shaped brackets?

R

 

[john1162]

Unless the design has changed I thought there was a piece of aluminium track on the hull for fastening the seats on. It would be screwed onto the hull  hence asking Hartleys about the fixing. On photo  5 of the link you can just about make out the top of a vertical slide the seat fastens onto. https://www.adverts.ie/boats/wayfarer-sailing-dinghy-mark-4/18150320

[Roger]

Hi John, I’ll call Hartley Boats again tomorrow  to check out the current fixing method. When I called them last year I was told to fix a pad for each bracket, (aluminium or stainless steel),  on the hull with epoxy and screw the brackets to them, hence the query. The seller gave me a sketch showing this, what he didn’t explain was the preparation of the hull surface.

I want to do this job as well as possible and be a credit to me and the Wayfarer class.

I’ll see if Hartley will send me a picture.

Thanks for all your help John, I’ll post my findings to maybe help others in the future.

Roger

 

 

 

[Bob Harland]

Roger you are correct in thinking epoxy will not stick very well to gel coat. If the gel coat is abraded with a course grade of sandpaper (e.g. wet and dry 80 or 120 grit) it should be possible to get a good bond. Remember to remove any dust – vacuum cleaner is best and then a solvent (e.g. acetone) to degrease and final clean. I suggest you tape around the area to avoid getting epoxy over too wide an area.

I think the main challenge is going to be holding the bracket in place while the epoxy sets – perhaps the only way to do this is 2 screws into the grp. Do a dry fit first, be careful to only lightly tighten the screws if you go down this route – the grp will be quite fragile and the screws will easily strip out.

Remove the tape before the epoxy sets hard.

hope that helps

[Roger]

Thanks Bob and John for your very good advice. I had a very nice chat this morning with Mark Hartley who was most helpful and sent me some photos together with some instructions on what to do. Yes there is timber support on the inside of the inner hull skin,(universal to both cruisers and racers),in the area of the brackets. Mark went on to tell me to use a sealant  such as Sikaflex to seal the join between the mounting pad and the hull, this also serves as an adhesive.

As soon as I have completed the job I’ll post some pictures.

Once again thanks to you all for taking an interest.

Roger

.

—

[jmcc500]

Any progress on this? It’s the sort of thing I get Ian Porter involved with on our boat – I am far too scared to attack it myself!

[Roger]

Hello JM, I agree it is somewhat Daunting, and I haven’t dome anything other than make the stainless plates that screw to the inner hull surface and buy some Sikflex 291i. to seal them.

In my defence, I’m recovering after having a new hip fitted, so as soon as I have collected the boat from my club in a couple of weeks time, I’ll make a start.

I’ll post the results shortly afterwards, if all goes well.

Roger

[Roger]

Benches all fitted and ready to go:-

[Roger]

Happy to answer any question if you’re thinking of fitting the Hartley benches, as above.

Rog

[AUTHOR]

POSTS