Removing deck fittings on a Cape Dory Typhoon

 All the fittings had to come off before I could repaint Cantaora; many of the installations were poorly done in the first place, causing moisture damage to the deck. Luckily there weren't too many things to remove; the hardest part was dealing with the usual stripped screw heads, and problems getting access to nuts behind the fitting with a wrench while simultaneously holding onto the bolt head too


Below-deck access to the deck-mounted chainplate bolts is through a couple of holes cut through the liner. The previous owner had covered these holes with two giant stereo speakers. The chainplates came off easily; the old mild steel backing plates were rusted. The backing plate for the center-deck cleat was also easily accessible but was completely rusted.

I tried to save as much of the teak as I could but some pieces were just hopeless. The teak coamings on a Cape Dory Typhoon is a well-recognized characteristic but I don't think that my coamings are salvageable; one has a long crack running lengthwise, they both have many unfortunate holes. I will look into replacing them, though I have no idea where I will find solid teak planks that are 8" wide and 8' long.

The old winches and vertically-mounted bronze coaming cleats came off easily; many fittings were just screwed-in rather than being through-bolted and even then, they didn't bother protecting the core from moisture intrusion so pretty much every hole through the deck is damaged and will need re-coring.

We'll see what can be done about the other teak pieces, but the toerail is a goner. It has been sanded to a nub in places, and random holes were cut through it to drain water standing on the deck. (The lack of adequate drainage on the deck and cockpit seats is something I will fix later.)


The bilge pump was dragged out of the bilge, and its thruhull located on the starboard aft side well above waterline, was removed and the hole was filled-in. So were the two cockpit scupper thruhulls along with their hoses. The bilge pump switch, located outdoors in the cockpit for ease of access I assume, was also removed. I have heard that Cape Dory Typhoons are a wet ride but I am guessing the rotted, leaky cockpit sole contributed to the need to regulargly turn on the bilge pump too. I will have a manual bilge pump installed and put a larger capacity bilge pump aboard too.



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