Has anyone had a similar failure on their boat? What was you solution? A few weeks ago my starboard chainplate bulkhead totally released from the hull. It was blowing 20-25kts and I was racing. I had it fixed by a professional who fabricated a new bulkhead and glassed it in with two layers of heavy mat fiberglass. He did a lot of grinding before glassing. He was using West System epoxy resin and hardener. It cured for three days before I hooked it back up. Last week it blew out again. I was again racing in 20kts of wind but with a smaller headsail this time. Fortunately the deck is strong enough to keep the bulkhead from breaking through and dropping the rig. There is no colateral damage and the hull does not seem to be fatigued in any way.
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Bulk head repair
I had to repair my starboard Bulk head on my 37. I cut the old one out to new wood and used it as a pattern to fabricate another. Then I made up a second one longer which I bolted, epoxied, and glassed in. used longer SSbolts for the chain plates. Took a couple of days to do the job but it is holking well. That was 5 years ago and I was on a mooring buoy in Trinidad. Used all had tools. Good luck
I had to repair my starboard Bulk head on my 37. I cut the old one out to new wood and used it as a pattern to fabricate another. Then I made up a second one longer which I bolted, epoxied, and glassed in. used longer SSbolts for the chain plates. Took a couple of days to do the job but it is holking well. That was 5 years ago and I was on a mooring buoy in Trinidad. Used all had tools. Good luck
Chainplate BkHd. Repair
It sounds like several things did not happen... (1) 2 layers of 24/15 Fabmat is a marginal layup ____4 layers, over lapping 4 inches min. in both directions_ both sides top and bottom with all the proper cleaning and prep of the wood and the glass is required for a better bond.(2)In addition, a mechanical bond is highly recommended; ie. thru bolting the glass flanges and wood with s/s fasteners to help with the shear loads will add strength to your repair. I have done many a chainplate repair and never had a problem when you achieve a good chemical(epoxy) AND mechanical bond(s/s fastners) Hope this will help.Cheers- Hawk Hawkins,NA s/v ROGUEWAVE
It sounds like several things did not happen... (1) 2 layers of 24/15 Fabmat is a marginal layup ____4 layers, over lapping 4 inches min. in both directions_ both sides top and bottom with all the proper cleaning and prep of the wood and the glass is required for a better bond.(2)In addition, a mechanical bond is highly recommended; ie. thru bolting the glass flanges and wood with s/s fasteners to help with the shear loads will add strength to your repair. I have done many a chainplate repair and never had a problem when you achieve a good chemical(epoxy) AND mechanical bond(s/s fastners) Hope this will help.Cheers- Hawk Hawkins,NA s/v ROGUEWAVE
We are in the middle of doing this right now
We are in the middle of doing this right now. Earlier this season we did the starboard side, which appeared to be the original bulkhead, of 1/2" plywood. Leaks over the years through the deck had let the balsa core rot. So we tore out the bulkhead, cut away the underside layer of the fiberglass deck, and took away the damaged balsa, which was black, wet mush for about 3" in each direction from where the chainplate passes through the deck. This is common with FG boats made before the early '80's, where the balsa core extended all the way through the deck, regardless of the location of through-deck mounts. We then filled the gap where the balsa and bottom FG layers were with fiberglass and sheets of matting (West Marine system also). Then we made from 3/4" marine plywood a new 12"x12" horizontal support (non-standard on the original Seidelmann) to support the deck and a new vertical bulkhead (that the chainplate attaches to). This new bulkhead extends longer, nearly down to the berth. Then we also glassed it in with two layers of heavy mat fiberglass using West System epoxy resin and hardener. We let it cure for five days. We also did a lot of grinding before glassing. And two weeks later it also blew out again. The next time we restalled it, we tabbed them in aggressively, 5 or 6 layers of thin and heavy figerglass, extending all the way down and wrapping over the bottom tip of the bulkhead, and using a LOT more epoxy, as thick as we could, so now the interior surface is more like glass, with the fabric well imbedded in the epoxy. We decided the insufficient amount of epoxy was our point of failure. The first install looked "dry", and you could see the fabric texture on the interior. We've sailed quite a bit on it since, and its been perfect. But then the port side blew. The port side had been previously repaired by a professional on Long's North Shore before we owned the boat. They had installed a new bulkhead and horizontal support piece (just as we have) but they had not fixed the deck delamination from leaking at the chainplate. Water continued to run down into the boat, but now having no where to go, it settled into the balsa layer of the deck and damaged it much worse than the unrepaired starboard side. It may have also weakened the 3/4" plywood on that side, or not. But the weekend before last it went while on a port tack. From the cockpit, it sounds exactly like someone down below is taking a long 2x4 piece of wood and cracking it in half. Very loud and memorable! So just today (and yesterday, and the day before), we are repeating what we did on the starboard side. All I can say is: grind, wipe with acetone, repair the deck for strength and reduce movement, use "peanut butter" (epoxy + silica) to fill any gaps between the bulkhead and hull, then use a LOT of epoxy and fabric for tabbing. We've probably used more than a gallon of resin between the two sides. We learned to do it from scratch by reading the book "Sailboat Hull and Deck Repair" (go figure) by Don Casey. Doing it ourselves gave us a much better idea about what our boat is made of (literally and figuratively) and we are capable of. I'd recommend it if you can make the time to do it. I'm curious to know what a professional charged for this work. (And I wonder if we made up to the equivalent of minimum wage!)
We are in the middle of doing this right now. Earlier this season we did the starboard side, which appeared to be the original bulkhead, of 1/2" plywood. Leaks over the years through the deck had let the balsa core rot. So we tore out the bulkhead, cut away the underside layer of the fiberglass deck, and took away the damaged balsa, which was black, wet mush for about 3" in each direction from where the chainplate passes through the deck. This is common with FG boats made before the early '80's, where the balsa core extended all the way through the deck, regardless of the location of through-deck mounts. We then filled the gap where the balsa and bottom FG layers were with fiberglass and sheets of matting (West Marine system also). Then we made from 3/4" marine plywood a new 12"x12" horizontal support (non-standard on the original Seidelmann) to support the deck and a new vertical bulkhead (that the chainplate attaches to). This new bulkhead extends longer, nearly down to the berth. Then we also glassed it in with two layers of heavy mat fiberglass using West System epoxy resin and hardener. We let it cure for five days. We also did a lot of grinding before glassing. And two weeks later it also blew out again. The next time we restalled it, we tabbed them in aggressively, 5 or 6 layers of thin and heavy figerglass, extending all the way down and wrapping over the bottom tip of the bulkhead, and using a LOT more epoxy, as thick as we could, so now the interior surface is more like glass, with the fabric well imbedded in the epoxy. We decided the insufficient amount of epoxy was our point of failure. The first install looked "dry", and you could see the fabric texture on the interior. We've sailed quite a bit on it since, and its been perfect. But then the port side blew. The port side had been previously repaired by a professional on Long's North Shore before we owned the boat. They had installed a new bulkhead and horizontal support piece (just as we have) but they had not fixed the deck delamination from leaking at the chainplate. Water continued to run down into the boat, but now having no where to go, it settled into the balsa layer of the deck and damaged it much worse than the unrepaired starboard side. It may have also weakened the 3/4" plywood on that side, or not. But the weekend before last it went while on a port tack. From the cockpit, it sounds exactly like someone down below is taking a long 2x4 piece of wood and cracking it in half. Very loud and memorable! So just today (and yesterday, and the day before), we are repeating what we did on the starboard side. All I can say is: grind, wipe with acetone, repair the deck for strength and reduce movement, use "peanut butter" (epoxy + silica) to fill any gaps between the bulkhead and hull, then use a LOT of epoxy and fabric for tabbing. We've probably used more than a gallon of resin between the two sides. We learned to do it from scratch by reading the book "Sailboat Hull and Deck Repair" (go figure) by Don Casey. Doing it ourselves gave us a much better idea about what our boat is made of (literally and figuratively) and we are capable of. I'd recommend it if you can make the time to do it. I'm curious to know what a professional charged for this work. (And I wonder if we made up to the equivalent of minimum wage!)
Thanks for the responses
Thanks for all the inputs. Bill, the fix rate is $75 an hour and the professional who did it only took three hours. (He is going to charge less the second time around.) His process was correct, he did all the grinding and acetone wipedown that he should have. I just need to go to four layers. It is all shear force and surface area related. I was thinking that a more exotic problem may have caused the failure like polyester resin was used in the hull vice epoxy resin. Enough folks have read the posting without comment to ease my concerns about a fleetwide problem.
Thanks for all the inputs. Bill, the fix rate is $75 an hour and the professional who did it only took three hours. (He is going to charge less the second time around.) His process was correct, he did all the grinding and acetone wipedown that he should have. I just need to go to four layers. It is all shear force and surface area related. I was thinking that a more exotic problem may have caused the failure like polyester resin was used in the hull vice epoxy resin. Enough folks have read the posting without comment to ease my concerns about a fleetwide problem.
Getting smarter
After a lot of research and help from some old 1980 boat builders I found that this problem was not a simple fix. Evidently the boatyard was using a polyester resin to make the hulls with a lot of wax in it. This allowed them to make hulls faster by getting them out of the molds quicker. The wax was not just on the surface but was present throughout the cured polyester resin. When you grind the hull you also had to use some lacquer thinner to remove any wax before using an epoxy resin patch. Take the wax into account if you try any straight epoxy resin fixes.
After a lot of research and help from some old 1980 boat builders I found that this problem was not a simple fix. Evidently the boatyard was using a polyester resin to make the hulls with a lot of wax in it. This allowed them to make hulls faster by getting them out of the molds quicker. The wax was not just on the surface but was present throughout the cured polyester resin. When you grind the hull you also had to use some lacquer thinner to remove any wax before using an epoxy resin patch. Take the wax into account if you try any straight epoxy resin fixes.
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