Dorade Box Rebuilt - Part 2

See part one here - • Removing, Rebuilding a...
See part three here - • WIP Dorade Replacement...
Join us on our journey as we continue to rebuild, refit and prepare our Formosa 51 Sailboat for our continued cruising journey. We have always loved the Formosa, bought one (on a bit of a whim) late in 2014, moved aboard this one right away and started to do our refit while living board. We are avid fans of Cruising Outpost and Good Ole Boat (Good Old Boat) magazines and love the ideas we get from them.
In this second part of a 3 part series on removing, rebuilding/repairing a dorado box, polishing and prepping the bronze as well as all of the reinstallation, this entry will focus specifically on the preparation for the wooden dorado box and how to improve upon the frame that was there originally as well as refinish the box itself to look great again.
If you haven't read the first of the blog series, please click on svdreamchaser.b... to open up a new page with the blog post in it. After removing the dorado box and mounting slats from the deck, I took a good look at them and realized that he design of how these boxes were mounted was flawed. There was only one egress point for any rain/green water that may get in the cowl vent to exit the box, and that was aft of the opening to the bunk below. So even if the water that got in the box was not over the depth of the internal flute/chimney, it was still allowing water to potentially get down between the bronze tube and the deck.
I wanted to improve upon the installation in a few different ways. The first was that I wanted the new frame to not just be a couple of small slats of spare/scrap wood but rather a deliberate design that would be stronger than the slats were as well as allow me to create additional value and function in the single mounting system. I started with a piece of 3/4" red oak wood that was cut to fit inside the base of the dorado box. This will be mounted to the deck of the boat and the dorado box will be screwed into the mounting frame horizontally at the bottom of the dorado box into the side of the hard wood frame.
For me the solution was to improve upon this and build a V-shaped baffle on the mounting plate that would direct the majority of any green/rain water that gets in through the cowl vent to exit the sides of the dorado box before ever getting to the large 4" wide opening that vents air below. Then if for some reason some water does get past the baffle, then there is still the previous exit from the aft side of the dorado box.
I drew out the pattern on the piece of red oak. It started with a 3/4" frame all the way around the permitter that would act as the anchor points for the dorado box onto the mounting bracket. It then required some measurement to ensure that the V-shaped baffle that I am pointing out was positioned correctly so as to allow enough room for the tube that extends down into the bunk below to pass through it. It also required that the baffles be as far after a possible to allow maximum water to pass out the sides of the Dorado and therefore reduce the chance of it leaking down into the deck though that opening into the bunk.
The next step was to use a drill and circular saw to cut out all of the center areas of the frame to only leave the portion I wanted to remain.
I wanted to keep this entire mounting base in 1 piece so to accommodate the places for the water to pass through, I chose to use a router bit to notch those locations without cutting all the way through the 3/4" red oak which allowed the piece to stay all together.
I then lined up the new egress points from the base and marked the sides of the dorado box and dutifully cut those out as well using the same router bit. That was a bit nerve racking and I checked 4 and 5 times before making any cuts.
I sanded all of the parts down with 150 grit sandpaper followed by 220 on an orbital palm sander. This allowed them to all get smooth, take any scratches and imperfection out of the dorado box and then setup to mix the epoxy. I use West Systems Epoxy and always use the pumps that mount to the top of each can to ensure you have an accurate dispensing of the material for the mixture. My harder pump was not working today so I eyeballed it, which I think is part of the reason why it took so long for this to harden and firmly setup. After 24 hours it was still a bit "gummy" where there were drips or runs and they had to be sanded down.
After mixing the epoxy and stirring it for at least 60 seconds (I usually do 90 seconds to be safe) it was time to start painting the epoxy onto the wood. By covering wood with epoxy you essentially create a plastic encased piece of wood that is water proof and can extend the time it would take to get rot from moisture exposure.
See the rest of the blog at svdreamchaser.b...

[@ianaugustine7569]

So, I know it’s been a while, but…I’m doing the exact same thing, how have they held up? I’m saving the sides, and replacing the tops.

[@Svdreamchaser]

They held up good. But, frankly I too think Jen back apart to pull the teak decks off of the boat.

[@denniscollins2032]

Nice video, ya didn't leave anything out. I noticed your concern over the epoxy, I don't know the age of it, but a good mix and then pour it into another container for all that stuff that somehow wont stir properly on the edges. Nice looking box so far.

[@Svdreamchaser]

Thanks Dennis. I hope you are enjoying the videos as much as I enjoy making them.