Hello, Im the owner of a Dufour 4800 1983 and I remarked that the steering pedestal was not very solid, im able to shake it quiet a bit without putting much strenght. I remark that the cockpit sole seem to bend a little when pushing on the pedestal on one side or another. The cockpit sole is not soft however and sound full when impacted (does not sound rotten). There are no stress marks or cracks on the fibreglass. When I use a humidity meter i read very high level of moisture in the cockpit sole. The question that I have is should i rebuild the sold (re-core it) or should i only install a reinforcement stainless plate from under the sole? Thanks for your advices! Alex
Cockpit sole problem!! Unstable pedestal!?
- Thread starter Dufour4800-175
- Start date
a friend of mine had the same problem on his almand 35...checked it out and found all the core was saturated so we cut the top layer of glass off and dug out all the bad material and replaced it ...reglasse the top layer back in and when done it was sound and solid again...no more mushy sole in the cockpit ...so if you are planning on keeping the boat for a while i would not cut corners with a brace of some sorts ...just thoughts on this but i will say not having seen your problem you may need to have some one look at it for you and see what they say as well.......
regards
woody
regards
woody
Thanks for the tips, indeed im planning on keeping the boat for a while, so I might as well do it right the first time!
Drill a VERY small hole in the sole, and then step firmly on it beside the hole. If water comes out, and it likely will, so yes cutting it out is the way to go. That repair is not as "bad" as some, good flat surfaces. And cockpit soles are easy to cover. Dri-dek, grates, whatever if the repair is not that perfect. On a Dufour of that caliber however, I would want it to look right. And BE right. It'll give you a chance to service the pedestal as well anyway..
Had that problem with my C&C. Core under pedestal is likely to be plywood. If it gets wet it will debond itself from top layer of FG. Lean heavily on the pedestal. If the sole flexes you have a problem. Recored mine and put in solid glass section where sole is penetrated by rudder post and pedestal. No more core problems and pedestal is rock solid in 1-1/" of solid glass.
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I had a similiar problem on my 1983 Hunter about four years ago. I first noticed it was a little soft just in front of the pedestal. Over a season or so it was evident that the area around the pedestal was full of moisture. I did drill through the cockpit sole in several area's and to my surprise it was much more extensive than I realized. The drill bit kept coming out with mushy wood covering almost the entire sole. I decided the right approach was a full repair. I don't have the skill or the time to do the job right so I had a company that was recommended to me by several others give me an estimate and I contracted with them to do it. They cut out the top layer of fiberglasss, replaced all of the damaged core, and did a very good job fairing a new top fiberglass layer into place. It looks good and it's as strong as ever. If you have the time and skill I'm sure you could save a lot of money compared to having someone else do it for you.
Good luck with your decision.
Joe Mullee
Good luck with your decision.
Joe Mullee
You may want to do some testing of the core from down below. Sounds like a good project for the off season.
Thats exactly what i have!
Thanks for your replys, im gonna try drilling a few test holes to see what is coming out as soon as i get the boat out of the water! I read about people using some foam, plywood or even some special plastics to recore the sole... What would you guys think would be the way to go to eliminate the problem forever??
Thanks for your inputs!
Alex
Im pretty sure its coming from the pedestal bolts and some previous holes that were drilled in the sole for some reason?? And then later plugged with epoxy... By the way, what would be the best way to plug holed in glassfibre?? Some other holes were drilled into the deck to hold a bimini top that is no longer there...
Thanks for you inputs,
Alex
Sooo for those who had guessed I had rotten core... Good job!! Looks like Ive git a nice little project ahead of me!
Yes! Im gonna open the whole thing as soon as i get a weekend off. Winter is coming fast here in Canada, so I might have to wait for spring if I dont get enough time off soon... Ill keep you posted on future developments!
Ok so i finally ripped off the top layer! And yes it was all rotten, but some spot less than other, so some of the bottom layer came off with the remaining wood. Im wonderingif i should redo a whole bottom layer since it seems pretty thin to me. How would you proceed to fill the holes considering there is nothing under?! See pict 4.
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i hate to come in late here but these jobs are usually better looking when done from the bottom up, the glass is usually more compromised underneath and the repair will not show in the cockpit sole, the upper glass is usually fine in any case because the water does not sit on it like the bottom layer, replace the core with coosaboard and move on, take your time, do good work, good luck.
The job is much easier from the top down instead of the bottom up because you aren't fighting gravity. I have done this repair many times on customer boats and it is not all that difficult. I would, however, where ever there is a fitting or bolt protruding through the cockpit sole, put solid fiberglass at those critical spots so that moisture doesn't penetrate the new core material and ruin it all over again. Of course you want to liberally caulk bolts and fittings as well.
solid glass
Check the picture from my boat again. Keystone area under pedestal and at rudder post is solid glass. No way for water to get into core. Marine ply for rest of pedestal area and balsa core for forward sections. Better than new and good to go for a long time.
Check the picture from my boat again. Keystone area under pedestal and at rudder post is solid glass. No way for water to get into core. Marine ply for rest of pedestal area and balsa core for forward sections. Better than new and good to go for a long time.
Ok thanks for your replys! My question is: considering the bottom layer of the sandwich is now pretty thin due to the removal of the core (some fibre stuck to the wood that wasent rotten) and some hole appeared where the glass just stuck under the wood, should i just reinforce with a new layer of glass on the bottom or just patch the holes? Refer to the pics to see the kind of holes im dealing with! Thanks. Ps. It dosent have to be so pretty considering it will be under the new core.
Thanks-!
Thanks-!