aft end structural reinforcement

[annascaptain]

My bilge blower has given up the ghost, but at the moment there's no way to get to it to replace it -- there's a 3/8" plywood wall that cuts off access. I'm wondering if any of you have this. If you do, it looks pretty insubstantial, so I'm wondering how important it is. The piece is glassed to the aft end of the cockpit; you can see it if you open the aft lazarette (or it was attached; the 1 ft piece of fiberglass has actually come unstuck). The plywood has lots of cutouts for electric and hose; at the ends it's cut to fit to the inside of the hull across the slightly upcurving part bottom before the more vertical topside & tumblehome. The glassing is also not so professional -- the standard of work, to put it kindly, doesn't rise to the level of the Pearson. So I'm thinking it might be some kind of a home-fix attempt to reinforce the hull when it's out of the water and on the stands; that part can be quite flexible, and in fact it's where the aft stands would be. Do any of you have something similar?

[ne57301]

If it's the bulkhead behind the rudder post that goes from the hull to the bottom of the cockpit for the full width of the boat, yea, that's structural. If it's 'unstuck' you should probably fix it rather than take it out. But that bulkhead doesn't go all the way up under the seats so you can get over it outboard of the cockpit on either side.

[nickmerc]

I had to do some work in this area of my boat and I crawled into the locker on the starboard side. I am a big guy 6'2" and I fit. I recommend going in through the locker. It will take some flexibility (which I was not aware I had) to reach that area, but it can be done.