Rotted Bulkhead
This is a topic close to home for me. Today, I just finished laying up the fiberglass for the deck repair on my 1976 O'Day 25. I had read in Don Casey's "This Old Boat" that on boats this old, the chainplates should be removed every year, bulkheads inspected, and chanplates rebedded. I thought that was overkill, that a visual inspection would be enough. I regularly inspected my bulkheads and chainplates, saw no damage, so was confident they were fine. I was wrong, Casey was right. We did a light wind tack near the dam at Lake Grapevine, and the mast ended up in the water. The starboard chainplate had pulled free from the rotted bulkhead, and up through the deck. Both shrouds are on the same chainplate, so no more support for the mast meant no more upright mast. On inspecting the damaged bulkhead, it had rotted through the core, but left the overlaid teak (I think it's teak) laminate intact. A simple visual inspection with the chainplates in place would have never revealed the damage. ONLY removing the chainplates, and looking in the holes for the bolks would have made the damage visable. I don't know how you saw the rotted bulkhead, but if the chainplates are still in place, and you can see rotted teak, you probably have much more extensive damage to the plywood under the teak. I chose to replace the bulkhead. While I was at it, I decided to replace the hull liner that I had been planning on doing for some time. Then I decided to just gut the interior, and replace everything. I'm serious about that, but don't think you need to go that far. If I were repairing a damaged bulkhead like that, here's what I would do (short of what I'm doing now). I'd remove the chainplates, and closely inspect the damage on both sides. I'd mark the damage, and cut out the plywood about 3 inches further out than the damage. I'd then cut a replacement piece of plywood, and either glass it in, or glue it with Gorilla Glue (Rudy and D&R Marine recommended Gorilla Glue, Rudy used to build the O'Days). I think any lesser of a repair, and you're courting disaster. Again, if you can easily see damage on the bulkhead, you can be sure there is more extensive damage under the laminate.
