The Ballad Exchange

I'll get some more photos today. Yes, we removed the entire bilge divider with the multitool, cutting from the middle bilge compartment. Very safe, very precise. We then chipped away the resin surrounding the truss, leaving the lower 'platform' of resin intact, the poured-in pedestal upon which the ...

Been a while, but IIRC our bilge divider ran full height. It came away from the poured resin mass easily, tho -- lousy secondary bonds in polyester + shrinkage of the poured resin. I used the oscillating multitool to cut out the divider from the middle bilge compartment. Easy peasy. That sketch-up b...

The forward face of the upright truss does not touch the front edge of the keel, presumably to make sure the forces are driven down to the keel as per the original design. Sort-kinda. Since the plywood bulkheads are glassed to the keel laminates & the center column is glassed to them, forces ar...

Aft stabilization of a truss can be accomplished thru simple bolt-on/weld-on angle brackets, which then bolt to the bilge divider at/near the aft end of the truss. We sawed our bilge divider out to make removing the truss easier, but a stouter version of it will be glassed back in place, with good l...

Solid slabs of endgrain teak are certainly strong enough... but.... Anyone who has dug out and replaced end grain balsa core knows just what a nasty mess results when water reaches what is, in essence, a bundle of drink (soda) straws and cannot escape. Water Gets Everywhere; Water Destroys Everythin...

Good presentation of the tradeoffs, Mark. Those questions are what had me initially leaning toward composites for the truss; of all available materials, composites have the fewest issues with water, salt, corrosion, or galvanic action. Not to say 'no issues,' but the fewest issues. The only reasons ...

Ummm ... that truss looks ... um .. sail carefully this summer, eh? :shock: :lol: The worst material erosion is right where the steel meets the resin, where water sits against it. Probably you'll be good for the season -- thing's lasted forty-odd years -- but based on the visual evidence, truss repl...

My first instinct was toward composites -- they really do offer tremendous advantages in many ways, mostly their insensibility to water. And you can find I-beams in FRP that are adequate structurally. http://www.eplastics.com/Plastic/Fiberglass-FRP-I-Beam/8-X-4-X-3-8-Structural-Fiberglass-Standard-G...

http://www.vegamarin.se/en/spec-for-albin-vega/complete-albin-deck-walve.html I think those are original and will fit on the Ballad too? Its from Vegamarine in Sweden, I don´t know if they ship to uk... Good find! Also, I had lost the vegamarine bookmark, so it is helpful to have that again. These ...

Most corrosion-resistant metals rely on exposure to fresh oxygen to generate & renew the thin, inert oxide layer that protects the fresh metal beneath. That's less true of titanium; more true of aluminum; and extremely true of austenitic stainless steel (series 300). Stainless chainplates usuall...