Big Bird II

BOAT REPAIRS & MODIFICATIONS

Rebuilding the bottom of BIG BIRD TOO

BIG BIRD TOO was a 50' commuter ferry that operated between St. Martin (French side) and Anguilla. It was built by Blount Marine Corp. in Warren, RI, according to their patented HI-TECH™ concept. The HI-TECH method involved building the deck and internal hull structure out of aluminum, the hull skin in fiberglass, and filling the deep void spaces between the hull and deck with polyurethane foam. This was lighter construction than all-aluminum, and it made the boat unsinkable. In BIG BIRD TOO's case, however, the fiberglass hull was laid up by a subcontractor who did not make the joint to the aluminum parts correctly (they did not follow the drawings, for some reason). Water did get into the foam, but true to the concept, the boat had operated for almost a year without sinking. Blount Marine warranteed the complete repair of the boat, and they called on Sponberg Yacht Design to design the repair and actually do the work.

The concept was to flip BIG BIRD TOO onto her side; cut off the fiberglass bottom; dig out all the wet foam; replace it with new, denser foam; fair the foam; relaminate the fiberglass hull skin; fair the fiberglass; repaint with primer and anti-fouling; and drop her back in the water. All this was to be done in 12 days! We organized a five-person work crew to travel to St. Maarten (Dutch side), booking return airfare reservations to force ourselves to stick to the schedule. All our tools and supplies were sent in a container ahead of time, and we sold everything we had left over at the end of the job so that we did not have to ship anything back. The project worked like a dream, as shown in the photographs.

Photo 1. BIG BIRD TOO in the Travelift at Bobby's Marina in Phillipsburg. St. Maarten, with three of our crew.

Photo 2. Flipped onto its starboard side, we cut off the bottom and started digging out all the wet foam. In some areas we had to go about 3' into the hull to get back to dry foam.

Photo 3. Naval architect Eric Sponberg at work.

Photo 4. The new foam is all back in place and faired to shape. The new fiberglass bottom skin is going on.

Photo 5. Twelve days later, BIG BIRD TOO is back upright and ready for painting.

This is another example of a complicated repair gone right! The success was in the planning ahead of time, including writing a complete repair specification and process description. The considerable thought that went into the plan, which allowed for contingencies, meant that we had a very workable plan that could be modified on the spot. And we did have to make modifications as we went along. One of the things that I have learned over the years is to not be afraid to make a decision, particularly if it involves changing course a little bit. Weigh the facts, consider the potential progress of the alternatives, make the decision, and move forward. It also helped that we had two builders, Blount Marine and Bobbies Marina, that were committed to our success. It worked.