Uh oh! Recore foredeck
- Thread starter blowingbubbles
- Start date
For what its worth, I made the decision to go with end grain balsa (1/4"). It comes in a roll with a backing so it should give me the flexibility I need without the jacking and blocking and bending if I tried to do the whole thing in plywood. I'm thinking of using plywood to rebuild just the bow bit however (the excellent work of @AaronD is inspirational). Do you all think this will be strong enough by the time its all glassed in, or will I need "ribs" as @deltaten suggests? Tell me now if I need to change course!
Greg m,
Quite a process to describe,, as no photos here on my phone. Shot story ?
Ripped 3/4" styrofoam to truncated cone shape, epoxy to underside of deck . 2 lam's of 1708 , lapped over each at center and ends to hull and from each field over the ribs. Each rib and center of deck 6-8" wide results in 4 layers. Added 6 oz woven tape at all edges and final over ribs. Reinforced with 4 more lamps, incrementally larger, at stress point for cleats, then a 3/4" ply block for post.
The 4 layer areas added to original deck end up near enough to 1/2" and the way ribs are lapped makes them 5/16-3/8" thick glass, almost 2" wide at base. No more bounce, but sorta "rings"/vibrates when pounced on
Roughly 7x7' triangle to do took near 16 hours, including demo. R&R hardware was the worst of that!
Method of application just as long or more to describe, so......mebbe later/upon request?
Regards, and best of luck
Paul
Quite a process to describe,, as no photos here on my phone. Shot story ?
Ripped 3/4" styrofoam to truncated cone shape, epoxy to underside of deck . 2 lam's of 1708 , lapped over each at center and ends to hull and from each field over the ribs. Each rib and center of deck 6-8" wide results in 4 layers. Added 6 oz woven tape at all edges and final over ribs. Reinforced with 4 more lamps, incrementally larger, at stress point for cleats, then a 3/4" ply block for post.
The 4 layer areas added to original deck end up near enough to 1/2" and the way ribs are lapped makes them 5/16-3/8" thick glass, almost 2" wide at base. No more bounce, but sorta "rings"/vibrates when pounced on
Roughly 7x7' triangle to do took near 16 hours, including demo. R&R hardware was the worst of that!
Method of application just as long or more to describe, so......mebbe later/upon request?
Regards, and best of luck
Paul
Last edited:
googles "truncated cone shape"...Greg m,
Quite a process to describe,, as no photos here on my phone. Shot story ?
Ripped 3/4" styrofoam to truncated cone shape, epoxy to underside of deck . 2 lam's of 1708 , lapped over each at center and ends to hull and from each field over the ribs. Each rib and center of deck 6-8" wide results in 4 layers. Added 6 oz woven tape at all edges and final over ribs. Reinforced with 4 more lamps, incrementally larger, at stress point for cleats, then a 3/4" ply block for post.
The 4 layer areas added to original deck end up near enough to 1/2" and the way ribs are lapped makes them 5/16-3/8" thick glass, almost 2" wide at base. No more bounce, but sorta "rings"/vibrates when pounced on
Roughly 7x7' triangle to do took near 16 hours, including demo. R&R hardware was the worst of that!
Method of application just as long or more to describe, so......mebbe later/upon request?
Regards, and best of luck
Paul
New here and I am wondering what is considered a soft spot? I just purchased a 75 Catalina 22 and I am not sure if the decks are soft or just have a flex to them. I weigh 230lbs and there is some give when I walk on the deck. What if any is the tolerance for flexing on the decks? Also there is no forward bulkheads in the boat are they supposed to help with support for the forward deck? I have so many questions but i'll leave it at that for now. LOL thanks in advance
The mast support post carries most of the deck and mast load. The bulk heads do bugger all to support the decks. I'm guessing like every other vintage boat there will be some deck core rot and de-lamination. It actually comes down to personal choice... "How much does the soft deck irritate you?" It certainly won't stop the boat from sailing.
On the mast support post it's been reported sometimes that the keel box collapses under the load and so there are boat in which this has been addressed by adding wood/epoxy filling support structure inside the forward part of the keel box.
Also, when the mast is actually up and the rigging is secure, upper and lower shrouds, it does help support the deck!
Happy days sailing!
You need the bulkheads to tie the shrouds to the inner structure of the boat. this could be achieved with straps leading to the various attachment points. Or remaking the bulkheads. Without that attachment the force of the mid lowers is point loaded to just the deck.
Thank you very much!!! I am going to completely refit her. I am in the process of getting her off the trailer so I can drop the keel and begin sanding the bottom it's in rough shape. I wasn't sure about the deck since I've never owned a sailboat before. I've been reading a lot on this forum and there is a ton of knowledge!! I intend to start a thread with the progress of my refit.
Will def rebuild some new bulkheads. Gonna work on the bottom off the trailer first. Thank you very much for your feedback.
Hi there. You're starting now where I did 4 years ago now. Check out South African C22 thread for my efforts. The big thing for me was to work comfortably... so I opted to build a pair of support brackets and roll the boat upside down.
You can also check out Clouddivers thread where he did similar however he turned his boat using hanging supports.
I ended up having to clean out the hull deck joint as it was sorely in need of re-sealing but that turned into a bigger job of bonding the whole joint and fiberglassing the joint solidly inside and outside the boat. A true "monocoque" construction now!
I also recorde the entire deck from the inside while the boat was upside down. My thoughts were I did not want to disturb the deck layout/// until of course I looked more closely at the rotten gel coat on the deck. Ended up sanding down the entire hull and laying down new fiberglass with epoxy resin.
Lots of work buut rewarding to see it slowly but surely getting back to "better than original"!
I will look for those threads in the forums. Not sure if I have the means to flip her over but I will take a look at what you guys did. Thanks for your reply. I started a refit thread with some photos of my progress.
Bought a 75 Cat 22
Never sailed before but been wanting to for a while finally found what I thought to be a good deal the other day. Did a quick pressure wash then moved on to getting her off the trailer and removing the keel. I'm kinda jack of most trades master of none. The keel is in pretty rough shape...
forums.sailboatowners.com
That Keel cable ! intersting marks / outline on the foreward end of the keel -- looking forward to watching the progress.
Yeah that keel cable was broken. Still not sure what the outline was on the keel gonna get it sandblasted and re do it.
Just started my own. I had planned on removing everything from inside the v-berth and starting over with layers of 1/4" plywood, epoxy, and fiberglass. On a whim I drilled a 1/2" hole through the deck from the outside to see how wet things really were, and found that everything was dry. This is after a week of cold and rain. On the plus side, everything in the core was dry. On the minus side, I definitely need to re-bed all of the deck fittings because I had to run the bilge pump for a minute or two to get the water out of the 'bilge' around the volcano.
So, with that in mind, I decided to drill a bunch of holes in the fore deck from the topside. I drilled about 10 holes in the starboard side of the fore deck and poured un-thickened epoxy in each one. Made funnels just a hair smaller than the holes from scraps of shiny cardboard, mainly the packs that random orbit sandpaper is sold in. I had a lot on hand and hoped that the shiny side would allow them to last a little longer. It was in the high 50's so I made sure the epoxy was nice and warm so it would flow decently (using slow hardener). I alternated between all the holes and kept mixing, pouring, and thumping the deck until all of them were full to 1/16" or so under the deck. Then I went inside and used a bottle jack and some lumber to jack the starboard side back up tight, using the gap around the hatch as a guide.
Then I covered all the holes with tape, just in case it rained and put a small space heater in the cabin and a thermometer. Heated it up until it was about 90 degrees in the cabin and turned the heater off. The next day, I checked the holes and added more epoxy to those that needed it. Next weekend, I'll take the jack out and repeat on the port side. Then (hopefully) fill the holes with epoxy and fairing compound. And then paint, but probably not until spring, depending on the weather. We'll see if it works.
So, with that in mind, I decided to drill a bunch of holes in the fore deck from the topside. I drilled about 10 holes in the starboard side of the fore deck and poured un-thickened epoxy in each one. Made funnels just a hair smaller than the holes from scraps of shiny cardboard, mainly the packs that random orbit sandpaper is sold in. I had a lot on hand and hoped that the shiny side would allow them to last a little longer. It was in the high 50's so I made sure the epoxy was nice and warm so it would flow decently (using slow hardener). I alternated between all the holes and kept mixing, pouring, and thumping the deck until all of them were full to 1/16" or so under the deck. Then I went inside and used a bottle jack and some lumber to jack the starboard side back up tight, using the gap around the hatch as a guide.
Then I covered all the holes with tape, just in case it rained and put a small space heater in the cabin and a thermometer. Heated it up until it was about 90 degrees in the cabin and turned the heater off. The next day, I checked the holes and added more epoxy to those that needed it. Next weekend, I'll take the jack out and repeat on the port side. Then (hopefully) fill the holes with epoxy and fairing compound. And then paint, but probably not until spring, depending on the weather. We'll see if it works.
