Deck to Hull:

Apr 2, 2013
283
Hello Again,     Where the deck and the hull are glued and through bolted together, I want to over lay the two from inside . Since the deck is glued, and bolted already, I can’t see a reason why or how the deck would move under load right now. I want to reinforce this area, taking care of some small cracks and have a really tight water seal. Any ideas? Larry Sent from Windows Mail 
 
Oct 30, 2019
1,459
Larry,The hull/deck joint is caulked with butyl rubber, a forever flexible seal. Quite often leaks at the joint can be repaired by tightening the nuts/bolts. Don't over tighten them as this will squeeze out too much sealer. If you were to glass over the inside of the joint it would no longer be flexible.Peter.www.sintacha.com
 
Oct 2, 2005
465
I have sometimes thought of glassing over the outside of that joint, perhaps from the top of the toe rail to the top of the shear stripe, to stop leaks there. I know this has been done on other old boats. If this stops the joint flexing, would that be undesirable? If the joint was loosened up, by removing all the bolts (a few at a time I guess) and re-caulking the joint, and then replacing all the bolts, that would probably eliminate any leaks I suppose. The joint on the Tern, at the shrouds, has opened a hair over the years because the rigging was over tightened I think, (by me and others perhaps) .If I remember Peter, You replaced the bolts on Sin Tachsa, or am I mistaken? Any suggestions for me if I should try that?I bought some new "U" bolt chain plates from Steve a few
years ago. They are an improvement in my opinion. I posted pictures of the new ones somewhere in the Yahoo groups photo pages. I don't know if they are still there. I gave up on the groups page and just pick up by E-mail now.Craig Tern #1519 From: "pjacobs55@..." pjacobs55@... To: AlbinVega@yahoogroups.com Sent: Monday, September 16, 2013 9:13 AM Subject: [AlbinVega] RE: Deck to Hull: Larry,The hull/deck joint is caulked with butyl rubber, a forever flexible seal. Quite often leaks at the joint can be repaired by tightening the nuts/bolts. Don't over tighten them as this will squeeze out too much sealer. If you were to glass over the inside of the joint it would no longer be flexible.Peter.www.sintacha.com
 
Apr 2, 2013
283
Hi Peter, Being flexible so the deck moves on the hull , or flexible to tighten if I get a leak. Larry Sent from Windows Mail From: pjacobs55@...Sent: ?Monday?, ?September? ?16?, ?2013 ?9?:?13? ?AMTo: AlbinVega@yahoogroups.com



Larry,The hull/deck joint is caulked with butyl rubber, a forever flexible seal. Quite often leaks at the joint can be repaired by tightening the nuts/bolts. Don't over tighten them as this will squeeze out too much sealer. If you were to glass over the inside of the joint it would no longer be flexible.Peter.www.sintacha.com
 
Oct 30, 2019
1,459
Some caulks will harden and crack over time. The use of butyl rubber is a way to avoid that.Peterwww.sintacha.com
 
Feb 13, 2010
528
It seems to me that the hull and deck seam is the strongest part
of a Vega. With 5/16 bolts every five or six inches plus the
sealer I can't believe there will ever be much of a problem. Still
if you have a leak some place back off the bolts in that area and
shoot a Little gook of some kind in there and Tighten up. (Some
gook is better than others. I think it would be a huge amount
of over kill to redoo that seam because you have a spot or two
that is weeping. I defenitly would not replace bolts other than
the maybe one or two that may be showing signs of corrosion. The
U shaped chinplates are another story If you don't know when they
have been replaced replace them as once you go through the effort
of taking them out and checking them it doesn't seem to me to make
sense to put them back. Doug
 
Apr 2, 2013
283
Hi Doug,         This boat has seen some rough water at one point in it’s life. The stress cracks are at the stern chain plates, the stress cracks were on the transom high and across the back of the transom. Stress cracks in the inside corners in the cockpit high and low. Stress cracks on the deck around the mast, hatch and at the chain plates. So I fixed it all, I mean all.          I did find an interesting hair line crack on the bottom of the boat from the transom to the prop. I looked at this sucker for a month, not sure what I was looking at. So this week I set out to find out what was going on. It was the gel-coat, right down the middle of the boat in this area. It popped out in little pieces , 3/8 inch wide and 1/4 inch deep. The problem was when the boat was laid up there were hollows in the glass from side to side from the factory. But after two days of work she is stronger than new and flat and smooth.         I am starting at one end of the boat and going through and over and under every square inch of this bad girl. If I find as much as a pimple, a hair line anything it is going under the knife. This has become a quest...LOL. Maybe to much glue...LOL.  Larry      Sent from Windows Mail From: Douglas PollardSent: ‎Friday‎, ‎September‎ ‎20‎, ‎2013 ‎8‎:‎40‎ ‎AMTo: AlbinVega@yahoogroups.com 











 













It seems to me that the hull and deck seam is the strongest part
of a Vega.  With 5/16 bolts every five or six inches plus the
sealer I can\'t believe there will ever be much of a problem. Still
if you have a leak some place back off the bolts in that area and
shoot a Little gook of some kind in there and Tighten up. (Some
gook is better than others.    I think it would be a huge amount
of over kill to redoo  that seam because you have a spot or two
that is weeping.  I defenitly would not replace bolts other than
the maybe one or two that may be showing signs of corrosion.   The
U shaped chinplates are another story If you don\'t know when they
have been replaced  replace them as once you go through the effort
of taking them out and checking them it doesn\'t seem to me to make
sense to put them back.       Doug
 
Oct 30, 2019
1,459
I'll second what Doug says. When I bought Sin Tacha there were several annoying leaks right at the bolt stems. Removing the bolt, squirting in some Sikaflex 291 fast cure, and reinstalling the bolts did the trick. Also a moderate tightening of all the other bolts helped a lot too. They are not all easy to get at, but it is possible with the right tools.Peterwww.sintacha.com
 
Feb 13, 2010
528
I came from wooden boats where there is
a crack between every plank. Still stress cracks from rough
sailing are a worry. To my mind the worry is the real problem.
The cracks would likely never cause trouble If you didn't know
they were there. But since you do know, you do have to fix them
or worry about them. Worry has probably caused more mistakes in
using boats and airplanes than anything else. I have spents some
nights in a bunk worrying about some small fault that I didn't
think was big enough to fix. They get big at 2am in a blow as you
listen to things slamming and banging around. So if you don't
derive more than peaceful sleep it is time well spent. Doug