1987 Hunter 23 Rebuild

[Skycap92]

Hi All,

I'm in the beginning of a full restoration of an '87 23'. The boat had sat in someone's backyard, uncovered for 7+ years. Most of the interior plywood was ruined, the carpeting moldy and gross (more on that later), transom cracked where the PO had moved motor mount, cracked starboard window and lots of standing water. I've removed all of the interior furniture and plywood, most of the carpeting and have cut out most of the bulkheads (fully rotted).

Upon removing the carpeting covering the main chain plates, I've discovered that most of the plywood is not in good shape. The port chain plate plywood was glassed over and looks gnarly underneath. The starboard one is in slightly better shape (but not glassed over?), but because I've already got her down to the bones, is it worth to replace them both?

Additionally, when removing the carpeting, I had the wonderful discovery that some of the carpet glue has chemically changed and is now the texture and tackiness of melted laffy taffy. Does anyone have suggestions for easy removal? I'm hoping that a pressure washer might take it off, but I'd rather it not flow into the bilges and gum up in there. I'm planning on doing a high concentrate bleach spray to kill and remaining mold and living things inside before starting rebuild.

I was able to remove most of the plywood pieces in one piece and plan on using them to pattern for rebuilding the bunks and settee. Is there any chance that drawings for the interior wood parts exist somewhere on the internet?

I have attached relevant photos in this post, but will post all my pics in an imgur album if anyone wants to go through and callout any hazards I might have missed.

(I'll probably use this as my build thread, unless there is a more kosher way to do that)

Thanks,
Will

 

[isaksp00]

I'd replace the chain plate bulkheads. I had one crack, luckily it was a light wind day and the bolts kept the plate and side stay from pulling out. The PO had not done a good job of sealing the chain plate covers on the deck and water soaked into the surprisingly not epoxied end grain of the plywood.

I made new ones from high grade ply and added a layer of eighth inch ply glued to the back side as an extra measure. I epoxied the top edge. Glued the bulkhead to the hull with thickened epoxy on its edge, with the plate attached and through the deck slot to ensure alignment. Once set I used biaxial glass cloth to tab to the hull. I never got around to finishing or attempting to apply veneer to match the rest of the teak.

It'll be a lot easier for you as you don't have to remove the fiddle on the shelving.

I used butyl tape to waterproof the screw holes and deck slot under the cover plate. It's very gooey and gets compressed into the gaps but is not an adhesive so you can later remove the plate.

 

[kappykaplan]

Upon removing the carpeting covering the main chain plates, I've discovered that most of the plywood is not in good shape. The port chain plate plywood was glassed over and looks gnarly underneath. The starboard one is in slightly better shape (but not glassed over?), but because I've already got her down to the bones, is it worth to replace them both?

Absolutely! Welcome to the forum.

 

[rgranger]

mineral oil will help with the carpet glue. Goof off and other similar products are mostly mineral oil.

Put a rag on the glue and wet it with mineral oil... let it soak over night and then use a scrapper to work it off. In the end elbow greese is the best remover.

Fun stuff. I just pulled all of the carpet out of a small cuddy cabin boat two weekends ago... and then had to scrape all of the glue and fuzz off of the walls. I still have some red spots on my legs from the fiberglass splinters.