Balsa Cored Hulls

[lnranch]

I recently was looking at a 1986 O'Day 40 on the internet. The boat was stored outside for several years. The boat looked brand new with under a hundred hours on the engine. It was offered around $70,000 and someone must have bought it subject to a survey. The survey turned up extensive damage to the hull from water getting into the balsa core and freezing. This resulted in the value of the boat being reduced to salvage.I have owned sail boats for over 25 years but all of them have been 26 to 28 foot range and had balsa cored decks but the hull was solid glass. I did not realize balsa cored hulls are very common on many boats 34 feet or greater.What experiences have you had?

 

[Thomas Akin]

balsa core blues

While my experiance is limited to deck core replacement, I can tell you from wretched painful experiance just how difficult it is to replace. Once it's rotted, the boat looses all strength. It is difficult in the extream to replace. I will never get a boat with a cored hull.

 

[Frank Ladd]

Tanzer 16

I bought my wife an old Tanzer 16. It was a fun daysailor, but the floor was a "little" soft in places. It turned out that the entire floor needed removing and replacing. After removing the floor in the area of the cockpit, I realized how much more work I had ahead of me and sold the boat for parts. Even some small boats have cored hulls, but I'll never own one made with a balsa core again. Even uncored boats have laminated construction and water can get in between layers of fiber glass or between the fiberglass and the gelcoat. If this freezes you'll have a repair job. If the core material is wood then the entire core can get wet through capillary action and you'll need a new hull.