Question on my Herter’s boat.

[mr-asa]

I’ve posted this on Fiberglassics as well, there are a couple Herter’s experts there but from what I’ve seen it’s sort of hit or miss as to if they see the post, so I’m posting it here as well

So, I’m still working on my Herter’s, made some fairly impressive progress (to me, at least)
However, I’m puzzled over these pieces, why they were constructed like this, and why it has a sizable gap when they’re installed on the boat.

The pieces are in the front of the first picture, then in the second the arrows point towards where they mount. When they are mounted, there is roughly a 3/16" gap between the backside of the stern and the inside face of the aluminum piece. Is something missing? Are these correct for the boat? If nothing is missing and they’re correct what seals the hole?

http://i.imgur.com/XNbpmQ4.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/ydt2UeK.jpg

You can see a little bit of the gap in this picture
http://i.imgur.com/meoXBvZ.jpg

Any thoughts on it? Only thing I can really think of would be something like trailer strap tie down braces so that the straps don’t rub against the fiberglass.

[wedgie]

http://i.imgur.com/XNbpmQ4.jpg

[billy-j]

Why don’t you just get some 3M 5200 and bed the pieces in it. Hold the piece up to the boat and mark around it with a pencil and then use masking tape on the boat to minimize the clean up. put enough sealer on the part so when you push it up to the boat it squeezes out then put your bolts in. Done. 5200 sealer is permanent comes in white , black , and mahogany.

[davidk]

My Mark III has those. I’ve assumed they are to her protect the hull when/if you drag it up on a landing?

There is a gasket that was sticky like tar that goes between the boat and the casting. Mine still show that gap. I like the 5200 suggestion.

[mr-asa]

I dislike anything permanent on the boat that is not stock. If there’s another material I could use to seal it I might go with that.

[pappy]

Asa – you do NOT have to use 5200! There are plenty of sealers out there that are not permanent. I think Mumbles mentioned Sik-a-flex. That is a good sealer and can be removed with minimal effort. 4200 is less permanent than 5200 is so there is another choice. Boat life makes several RTV sealers for below the waterline that will work just fine. I gave you a recommendation last time the sealer question came up. We use the Boat Life daily and see the boats back in the shop, periodically, for years and years with no issues at all. LIke you, I would like to be able to remove that piece later if I so desire and 5200 very often requires heat on the exterior part to get it to release. When we install engines we have to drill (4) 1/2" holes through the transom. We seal these holes with Boat Life just prior to engine installation. These engines are there for decades sometimes but when we need to remove them it is an easy job and clean up time to remove the old sealer is minimal.

[mr-asa]

Thanks Pappy.
I still have some of the BoatLife stuff, so I’ll see if I have enough to fill the gap. I’m wondering if I can get someone to weld the inside of these pieces enough to build enough up to machine it flat again.

The guy I had to weld aluminum at school has graduated, and I think everyone else I know is headed to/at Tomahawk.

[Author]

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