skeletons in the closet/bulkhead replacement

[nevadashawn]

Hi, since this is my first post, I thought a brief introduction would be in order. Almost two years ago, I retired from the Navy after 22 years. I have been working in the UXO/ environmental remediation field since then. I was recently transfered to Monterey, working on the old Ft Ord. When we found out I might be in a somewhat stable work situation near the coast, my wife and I found a 1984 Catalina 27 up in Oakland. For now we are in the marina next to Quinns Lighthouse/ British Marine. The short term plan is to get her in ship shape, cruise and enjoy the bay this spring before sailing down to Monterey for the summer. The long term plan is to hone our skills before moving up to a bigger boat that we can cruise for an extended period.
When we bought the boat, everything was in pretty good shape, except for some wood rot on the port side chainplate bulkhead. As the asking price was well below book,I kind of glossed over it and didn't do a thorough inspection of the damaged area. Also, I did not hire a surveyor, figuring that it would have added 20% to the purchase price.
I had read in the forums some of the horror stories of de-mastings due to chainplate failure, and made this my 1st priority. Today I took the bulkhead and hanging locker apart so I could use the pieces as patterns. Imagine my surprise when I found out that it was glassed in. Imagine my further surprise when I pulled on it and the patch ripped away from the hull, exposing the outer layer of glass, sans core. There was quite a bit of moisture behind the patch.
My questions are:
1. How bad is it? Is it now time to bring in a surveyor? I have a suspicion that this "repair" was done by a professional boat yard.
2. Is this too big of a job for an amateur? I have some experience with fiberglass/boat building.
3. What would be the recommended repair procedure? Fill in some kind of core material and glass over that, fairing it into the existing inner skin?
4. There was a plywood doubler inside the hanging locker that the chainplate was bolted to. Is this necessary? When I rebuild the bulkhead should I stick with the original 1/2? I'm thinking of using Hydrotek from Macbeath.
5. I'm sure I'll have more questions

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give.

Nevadashawn
SF Bay Area
1984 Catalina 27

Here's a link to the picasa web album with all of the photos:
https://picasaweb.google.com/115842409165956074032/Catalina27ChainplateBulkheadHullRot02?authuser=0&feat=directlink

 

[mitiempo]

The section of fiberglass that was removed was part of the inner liner. Catalina 27's do not have cored hulls. You may just be seeing the edge of the previous repair, if I understand what you mean.

As far as bulkhead replacement I think an amateur could do this. There are many examples on line including this one from the Gougeons - West Epoxy: http://www.westsystem.com/ss/replacing-damaged-bulkheads/

I have used Hydrotek myself and it is excellent. They use G10 in the link but that would be both overkill and very expensive.

 

[31seahorse]

Hello nevadashawn,

At this point the question must be, "How can I complete this project and save this boat, not is it worth saving."

Save everything (wooden substructure and surface parts) until you have made templates of the wooden pieces needed. If you removed parts carefully the visible cabinet fronts may be reusable. Tabbing the wood to the hull includes starting small and adding successively larger (longer and wider) strips of fiberglas to join the wood and the hull. Read as much as you can find on this type of project and read the instructions of the product you choose. West System is good stuff and they offer an instruction booklet.

Enjoy the project.

 

[Charlie Jones s/v Tehani]

I have replaced the main bulkhead in a Cat 27 for a customer. The cause was leaking chain plates. It's not a really major job. The starboard bulkhead was simply bolted to a flange. Shouldn't be any real problems doing it, if you are careful. Oh, and the hull is not cored.

You should wind up with a pretty decent boat. My customer wound up sailing his down to the Yucatan

 

[nevadashawn]

Is the liner structural at all? Do I need to worry about moisture getting behind the liner? Do I need to cover the bare glass where it is exposed? If the liner isn't structural, I could just seal the edges of the cutout area really well and leave it exposed. That way I would know if it was leaking in the future. That area is normally inside of the locker. Thanks for your replies.

Shawn

 

[Chris Patterson]

Where you said "professional boatyard", was where I had my doubts. A doubler is a "repair at sea". We have another name for that kind of rigging, but I'll keep it to myself. Like said, this is too simple. Cover the glass with some epoxy and paint it white. Cut out your bulkhead, and bolt/tab it in. And seal up the leak, that would be a key repair. Water behind the liner? Nah. On some of these old wrecks I rehab, I'll get in 'em with garden hoses, pressure washers, spray bleach behind them with a pump-up bug sprayer, you ain't gonna hurt it. Don't get freaky about it, all you're doing is repairing something the right way, as opposed to how that "pro" did it.

 

[Ray Bowles]

Nevada, What you have is a very do-able project. You can get a copy of the "West Systems" User Manual that covers everything you will need and be doing at any West Marine or fiberglass supplier. In the archives on the CatalinaOwners site there are projects covering this under "Boat Owner" modifications.
Good luck and get going. It's near time to launch.
Ray

 

[mitiempo]

You can get all the West user manuals here for free: http://www.westsystem.com/ss/use-guides/
They are all downloadable in pdf format.