top of cabin weak on a 1974 hunter 25

[74hunter25owner]

I am a brand new boat owner with no experience. i recently purchased a 1974 hunter 25' sailboat. I purchased the boat knowing that i was going to have some work to do. i had a friend who knows about marine systems come look at the boat. his opinion on the boat was that it was that fiberglass around the top of the cabin where the mast sits was weak and that i would have to take the whole top off to reapply some fiberglass reinforcement to the area. he determined it was weak due to the face that the fiberglass bowed down in those areas when stepped on. He stated that he wasn't an expert on sailboats or sailboat design but beleived the boat was not safe. I thought i would get a second opinion before moving forward. I'm hoping that somebody with the same boat or sailboat knowledge could tell me if this is as big of a problem as he thinks. should the area around the mast of a 1974 hunter 25' sailboat bow about an inch under the weight of a man?

 

[SamNelson]

check the compression post. This is a wooden support that runs from the bottom of the mast down to the keel. In my '81 27, it is behind the sliding door between the salon and the head area, encased in teak trim. On mine, you can see the post if you remove the sliding door. Mine was rotten and allowed the deck to give some.
On the other hand, you may have to remove the mast, cut away some fiberglass and rebuild the mast step.
Hope it's just the post, it's relatively easy to fix.
Sam

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

New Boat owner? If you do not know how to, it will cost alot to repair. You may want someone with more experience to advise but that just could be the start of the problems. You will need to evaulate the entire deck. Back then straight grain light weight balsa was used in the decks of boats and if water got into it, water would run with the grain and weaken the deck which of course is a matter that needs to be checked. I would suggest that if you are inexperienced, walk away from it.

Crazy Dave Condon