Saw this today. It's looking towards swing keel winch wire hole. The circled crack, it's 'soft' around there, then I saw ants! Freaking ants crawling in and out! Any thoughts or should I just burn the boat, sell it, or fix it?
WHAT THE ---- IS THIS!!!?? O_o
- Thread starter spartacus99
- Start date
Some of the earlier C-22's,(including our original 1980 C-22), used plywood stringers along side the keelson. This was to make the hull stronger without having to make the hull thicker. Problem is that water works it's way into the plywood and once it gets wet, it rots. The ants probably are eating the rotted wood. Been there, done that project, very time consuming and you can never repair all of the problem because the plywood stringers are under the hull liner.
No more wood below the waterline from the "new design" boats on. Thank you Catalina Yachts!
Don
No more wood below the waterline from the "new design" boats on. Thank you Catalina Yachts!
Don
Yep that sucks; plus a whole lot of other words that would be moderated out of this forum. Plan is after discussing with wife, she could tell I was devastated, just wrecked.... GET A BIGGER BOAT! I'm gonna have to wait 1 yr but at least I know there's hope at the end. I will do what I can to mitigate the slow, inevitable consumption of my boat, ply core that is rotting...below the waterline... (seriously who thought that would be a good idea? )but clearly, I will not be investing in lifelines and stanchions. 
Indeed. Structural wood in a fiberglass boat is one of the world's dumber ideas.
Man.. that sucks.
Like you say, you may be able to nurse it along and extend the life of the boat.
Does anyone have photos of the early boats during construction that shows how they did those stringers ?
Maybe it's not horrible progressed and you can inject epoxy ?
Like you say, you may be able to nurse it along and extend the life of the boat.
Does anyone have photos of the early boats during construction that shows how they did those stringers ?
Maybe it's not horrible progressed and you can inject epoxy ?
I think if you just grind out that small section until you reach solid wood you might be ok. Hopefully the rot hasn't spread to an area you cannot access under the liner. Just be careful not to grind too deep, that part of the hull is thin. Some thickened epoxy to fill the void and several layers of glass tape over that should do the trick.
Guys, thanks but I have 5 kids and I'm about to deploy end of august and surely am not going to waste any of that time working on the boat. Nope, going to enjoy it this next month and a half, pull her out of the water and sell her cheap. eventually I'll get my boat and she won't have leprosy...it'll wait.
Yup.. I don't think your kids care if the boat is perfect. As long as it's safe enough to sail until the end of august, you are good to go.
When your rotation is over you can either fix it, or find another larger project
When your rotation is over you can either fix it, or find another larger project