My son recently purchased and 1976 Catalina 22, in the recent past it was severely damaged on the starboard side in just ahead of the cabin - adjacent to the forward hatch. On the topside of the deck all appears okay, while the underside of the deck in the v-berth has been stripped to the core. This makes that portion of the deck pretty flexible. Our plan is to tried to replace the expose core, refibergalss the underside using West system epoxy and cloth. Then glass in a gunwale to gunwale stringer on the underside adjacent to and immediately fore and aft of the hatch. The core appears to be plywood, we are assuming this is a marine grade plywood. If we need to replace core material should we use the plywood or is there a new core material that would be better? A second the problem we have noticed is that in a couple of locations there appears to be a bubble separating the inner skin of the hull from the core. These bubbles appear to be about the size of dinner plates. Any suggestions on how to repair these bubbles? Thanks, Skip
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L
LaDonna Bubak - CatalinaOwners
Delamination
Those dinner plate bubbles are delamination. Seems likely that the core is rotten, no? If you're going to replace it, plywood should work just fine
Those dinner plate bubbles are delamination. Seems likely that the core is rotten, no? If you're going to replace it, plywood should work just fine
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markv
overhead repairs.....oh joy!
what an ugly project! did you already do the hull repair? the install of a stringer sounds like a good idea. is there not an interior fiberglass liner on the 22? those upside down delams sound a bit chalenging , can they be attacked from the exterior by drilling a small hole and injecting epoxy?
what an ugly project! did you already do the hull repair? the install of a stringer sounds like a good idea. is there not an interior fiberglass liner on the 22? those upside down delams sound a bit chalenging , can they be attacked from the exterior by drilling a small hole and injecting epoxy?
S
Skip
Continuing Effort
Thanks to LaDonna and Markv for their responses they were helpful in thinking through the project. LaDonna asked how we could see the bubbles. First we were tapping the hull and got some odd sounds then we found that we could flex the skin in those spots and upon hitting the skin we could hear the secondary slap as the two skins came together. Also, by looking down the length of the boat from the inside by placing your head against the hull you could see the irregularities. After the mention of a possible rotten core we took a Roto Zip and took some of the inner skin off in the v-berth, about 2 square feet, and discovered that the core seemed to be in good shape. In fact there was a resin coating still on the core. It appears that there was not a good bond between the wetting out of the core and the inside skin layup. On further investigation we discovered the delam extended for almost the whole port side of the v-berth. The suggestion that we inject epoxy to fill the voids won’t work as the areas we have discovered are too large and would significantly change the weight and balance of the boat, but the idea did lead to a new possibility. We are now planning to drill a strategic series of holes through the hull (where we have yet to peel away the skin), inject mixed epoxy, then put small bolts coated with cooking oil in the holes and draw the layers together. After it has cured we will go back, remove the bolts and drill the holes slightly larger, to get rid of the oil, and plug them with epoxy and high density filler. The overhead area, which had the core already exposed, and the area we cut away are to be recovered with epoxy and cloth until we get back to the original thickness. That is the part we are going to do today. Skip
Thanks to LaDonna and Markv for their responses they were helpful in thinking through the project. LaDonna asked how we could see the bubbles. First we were tapping the hull and got some odd sounds then we found that we could flex the skin in those spots and upon hitting the skin we could hear the secondary slap as the two skins came together. Also, by looking down the length of the boat from the inside by placing your head against the hull you could see the irregularities. After the mention of a possible rotten core we took a Roto Zip and took some of the inner skin off in the v-berth, about 2 square feet, and discovered that the core seemed to be in good shape. In fact there was a resin coating still on the core. It appears that there was not a good bond between the wetting out of the core and the inside skin layup. On further investigation we discovered the delam extended for almost the whole port side of the v-berth. The suggestion that we inject epoxy to fill the voids won’t work as the areas we have discovered are too large and would significantly change the weight and balance of the boat, but the idea did lead to a new possibility. We are now planning to drill a strategic series of holes through the hull (where we have yet to peel away the skin), inject mixed epoxy, then put small bolts coated with cooking oil in the holes and draw the layers together. After it has cured we will go back, remove the bolts and drill the holes slightly larger, to get rid of the oil, and plug them with epoxy and high density filler. The overhead area, which had the core already exposed, and the area we cut away are to be recovered with epoxy and cloth until we get back to the original thickness. That is the part we are going to do today. Skip
M
markv
upon further thought
since the boat is built in a mold and the interior is a insert it is not nesecarily structural in the v berth overhead...if you are sighting down the overhead by eyeballing it just how big are these areas ? the core is bonded into the deck when its built . a hit to the boats structure could delam the core.....if the core that is now exposed [after removing the overhead] has shiny resin on it , more than likely it was never bonded in the first place and thats how the factory made the boat....that is to say the deck and the interior pan are not supposed to bonded at that area and the overhead pan is just a hollywood movie set to hide the underside of the deck.....some small boat builders just glue a fabric to hide the fiberglass...please look into this before you create more work for yourselves
since the boat is built in a mold and the interior is a insert it is not nesecarily structural in the v berth overhead...if you are sighting down the overhead by eyeballing it just how big are these areas ? the core is bonded into the deck when its built . a hit to the boats structure could delam the core.....if the core that is now exposed [after removing the overhead] has shiny resin on it , more than likely it was never bonded in the first place and thats how the factory made the boat....that is to say the deck and the interior pan are not supposed to bonded at that area and the overhead pan is just a hollywood movie set to hide the underside of the deck.....some small boat builders just glue a fabric to hide the fiberglass...please look into this before you create more work for yourselves
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Skip
The need for fiberglass
For most of the area on the underside of the deck that we are replacing was fiberglass, but when we got the boat a large chunk had been cut out and the core painted white with a nonepoxy paint. The starboard side of the deck was distinctly weaker than the port. It would dangerously flex when walked upon while the port side would not. Perhaps when I get a chance I’ll post some repair pictures on my web site at http://www.geocities.com/skipb48/catalina/pages/bow.html
For most of the area on the underside of the deck that we are replacing was fiberglass, but when we got the boat a large chunk had been cut out and the core painted white with a nonepoxy paint. The starboard side of the deck was distinctly weaker than the port. It would dangerously flex when walked upon while the port side would not. Perhaps when I get a chance I’ll post some repair pictures on my web site at http://www.geocities.com/skipb48/catalina/pages/bow.html
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