bulkhead replacement on an ODAY 25.

[sdstef]

It looks like it is my turn now to replace my bulkheads. Water ingress has rotted some of the area at the chainplate and allowed the plate to pull up about 3/4 of an inch. If you have done it to your 25, how bad is it? It doesn't look like a good time. How much time are we talking, and what about the vanity and the starboard settee?

 

[ODayCO]

a picture might help visualize what's going on. The wooden plywood bulk head is fiberglass taped with epoxy to the fiberglass boat. Everything else is removable with bolts and screws. the chainplate comes through the deck and is bolted to the wood. You might just try to reinforce the rotted area with epoxy, maybe even fiberglass> Otherwise you could cut the entire bulkhead out replace and re-fiberglass it to the boat(OUCH). I would explore fixes to the existing bulkhead

 

[sdstef]

a picture might help visualize what's going on. The wooden plywood bulk head is fiberglass taped with epoxy to the fiberglass boat. Everything else is removable with bolts and screws. the chainplate comes through the deck and is bolted to the wood. You might just try to reinforce the rotted area with epoxy, maybe even fiberglass> Otherwise you could cut the entire bulkhead out replace and re-fiberglass it to the boat(OUCH). I would explore fixes to the existing bulkhead

Thanks, ya it looks like a good size job. For now I piggy backed a stainless bar to the two lowest bolts on the chainplate to the bulkhead and then added three more bolts to that plate where the wood is in better shape. I hope to make it until the end of the season. If not, I have insurance.

 

[OdayDave]

I don't think I would sail it without fixing those bulkheads. Losing the rig is a safety issue for anyone on the boat or in the vicinity of the boat. Fixing this is an ordeal, but it's one that others have tackled. Just use the existing bulkhead for a pattern, and since you are doing one, do them both at the same time.

While I'm all for being out on the water when at all possible rather than worrying about cosmetic fixes, this is a structural issue, and I think you are flirting with disaster if the chainplate is actually pulling up. Those loads on the chainplates can get quite high with strong winds, puffs, accidental jibes. I wouldn't risk it if it were me. Just my 2 cents.

Dave
s/v Lagniappe
O'Day 25

 

[Indysailor]

Some owners have fabricated an extension to the chainplate that gets you into good wood. Its really only a temporary fix- the bulkhead needs to be replaced.