chainplate rot and bulkhead damage

[northerner]

We seem to be having our share of problems with our new boat

On investigating the water in the vee berth, we decided to pull the chainplates to look at the core. Not pretty. Totally rotten under the starboard plate for about a foot square. The bulkhead is also rotten, and you can see where the screws holding the plate have been pulling up

I'm surprised that the survey didn't mention anything about the bulkhead. It did say though that there was moisture ingress at the starboard main shroud chainplates

We may fix this ourselves or look into getting a local fiberglass company to fix it for us. I notice that there's a lot of information on the forum about this particular problem

We also have rot where the swim ladder was attached, and in the pulpit area. I sure hope we don't regret buying this boat

[Pete]

Don't get discouraged.
These repairs that you mention are not major and any good shop will be able to handle them without any difficulty.
I think many of the folks on this site woud tackle the jobs themselves but if you don't have the confidence probably not a good idea to attempt it. The lesson here though is you need to be diligent in ensuring that any holes into balsa are properly sealed against moisture.
In the end you'll have yourself a really great boat. We love ours and every once in awhile get the urge to look at something else and always decide against it 'cause we can't beat the Slam.

[northerner]

Hi Pete, thanks good to know

I think it's me that feels discouraged, but Fraser seems optimistic as ever that he can handle the repairs. I don't know if that is good or bad, lol

Otherwise we love the boat and have had a lot of fun, even thinking of taking her to participate in races in Alaska

We've removed all of the stantions and will rebed everything once we get the rot out and repaired

Maybe the silver lining is that since we are ripping up the headliner to fix it we can replace it, which is something that I wanted to do


Thanks for the reply. I'm glad you love the boat. Hopefully when we get this and the dagger board damage that we did fixed we can be in a position to enjoy it again

[Tim Bosma]

•"There is nothing--absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats."
The winter we worked on Blackbeard was one of the best for the Hot Tamale Racing team. We continue to take nearly every Wednesday night to work on the boats when we are not racing them.

[cdiehl7]

I've replaced about 10 square feet of core in my boat since I bought it... it really isn't that bad of a job to do yourself, especially if you already have ditched the carpeted ceiling. Once you get good at it you will be able to fix spots in an afternoon. I did a 10 in square under where my spinnaker pole attaches to the deck on a Saturday 1 week out from the CCR.

As for the bulkhead I ended up replacing the rotted section and laying up thick fiberglass on both sides.

Make sure when you do the repair to use this fiberglass cloth:

http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/us ... xial+Cloth

Also I'd recommend only using West System epoxy... seems to work the best. If you want, pm me and I can put together a good guide on core repair for you. I can also put together some pictures of my bulkhead repair if you want.

[northerner]

That would be fabulous, thank you!

I will get Fraser to PM you his questions. He's started to fix the smaller areas, but not tackled the chain plate area yet, other than to chip out the rot

[AJ Oliver]

Dear Northerner -

First, thanks fort posting that really cool pic.

I'd like to see the core repair guide too . .

You can do it. It's so easy that even a political scientist can get it done! In fact, it's a pretty neat learning experience. The worst part is working in all that dust & crap down inside the boat. (Don't even think of doing it from the outside.)

Another tip - Don't do what I did. Spend a bit more and use closed cell, water impermeable core material. That way, even if you do not make a perfect seal, you're not gonna have future core rot issues. Here are some options from Jametown . .

http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/us ... e_material

My 7.9 (# 445) had water & rot from the rear stancions up to the genoa tracks, and then back to the main winches and for another foot beyond that (on both sides of the cockpit). If your boat has not been cared for lovingly, it probably has similar issues. Sorry to have to be the one to break that to ya.

Using vacume bagging is best, but it requires a substantial initial investment. You can still do a good job without it.

[rick2204]

Tom, Similiar issue... sort of:-) Found one square foot of soft hull port aft under berth access panel. On my catamarans we just drill and inject epoxy, Don't think it's that simple with the wood core. Planning to cut from inside and dig out what is probably rotten balsa, replace with a harder wood or just fill the space with west epoxy/filler and replace inner cover. Don't think we'll have to touch the exterior surface... so, are we even close to a plan that'll work.

[Doug Frye]

It is easy to fix bad core....see old post link below on core work for more tips:

Working from bottom after taking headliner out...just start drilling small holes every inch up into punky balsa starting from source of rot and heading out until you find good dry light cream colored balsa...stop and mark that place and then drill another series of holes out from source until you have a idea of where bad core ends. Connect the dots at the ends of your rows of holes and roto zip that section out. Save that section as you can put it back over the new core. You can peel the skin away from punky balsa fairly easily with thin chisels hammered in around the edges. Scrape old balsa out right to edges and let underside of deck dry. Clean and dry your old skin and use it as pattern to cut your new balsa with. Taper edges of skin you cut out and edges of hole. Slather everything (yourself will be included) with mix of West System and colloidal silica adhesive filler, slap balsa into hole, slather the balsa and put inner skin up onto balsa, it will ooze out all the little holes removing any air pockets, brace it in place, tape the tapered areas around the perimeter, trowel smooth and let it cure. As good as new.

We got so good at it that crew had to keep me from looking for more areas...below are photos of doing it from top down. If I had to do it again I would do it from bottom up and save my deck patterns (non-skid and detail between non-skid) It has been 8 years now and no cracks anywhere.

Also overdrill all the holes for screws that go through core and fill them with epoxy and then re-drill so you don't have to do this again in 20 years

http://www.sail79s.org/board/viewtopic. ... +zip#p5210

Doug

[northerner]

Hi guys

I think we have the rot in hand. We chipped out the wet stuff to the white core and then replaced it with marine plywood. Then Fraser drilled all the bolt holes and filled them with epoxy. I hope that does the trick

The boat is supposed to go in this week to fix the damage we did by accidently dropped the daggerboard when launching in the spring

At the same time, we're asking the shop to fiberglass over the places we cut out to fix the rot. Hopefully then I can rip off all the carpet and redo the inside

It is -30 here today. I wish the garage was about 5 feet taller and 5 feet longer so we could get to work in a warm environment

[Doug Frye]

Where is here...we must be close as it is 30 degrees here too.

Doug

[Runaway]

There are several ways to repair core rot from inside the boat. The headliner can be cut back with a utility knife and glued back up with contact glue if you choose to re-use it. If at all possible, keep the outer skin intact since it will be tough to cosmetically match the gel coat and seam the old glass cloth to the new.

As was previously suggested, Jamestown distributors is has most of what you need, but I like the guys at Eastern Burlap better. You can also get carbon fiber tape from them if your rudder needs an little beefing up.

All the core I have found is 1/2 inch except for the transom, which is 3/4. While you're digging into fittings, don't overlook the rudder hardware attached to the transom. Lots of point loading there resulting in fatigue.

If you want some tips on repairing the core from inside the cabin, let me know. Also, stick to "triple cut" closed cell foam. You can pour resin into the cuts to get a better bond before placing under the outer no-skid.