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Re: Crackling deck

Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2019 4:28 pm
by Torbennoer

Re: Crackling deck

Posted: Sun Mar 03, 2019 11:25 pm
by Bob McGovern
Hi Marius. The worst places for water intrusion on our 1972 Ballad were: mast partners, aft of foredeck cleat, chainplate eyebolts, and genoa tracks. The eyebolts had putty/bog solid cores, but they were often poorly located & the drill missed them. The mast partners had no real protection at all. and the foredeck cleat & genoa tracks had solid timber, probably fir, as a core. On our boat, these got soaked and rotted to gravy, leading to a 25x25cm delaminated 'bubble' on the foredeck and some crackling on the sidedecks.

The foredeck area I recored with solid phenolic from below, then later cut out the delaminated bubble from above and re-glassed it.

The mast partners I entirely cut away from above, then epoxied in a 'horse collar' of phenolic and glassed it slightly higher than the surrounding deck, to shed water. We went overkill here because we will be attaching turning blocks to bring halyards back to the cockpit. The big collar gives structure to the deck around the mast collar.

Imageapart by Robert Mcgovern, on Flickr

The forward chainplates I recored with 8x8cm phenolic blocks from below, then reglassed those in place.

The two aft eyebolts and the genoa tracks were a much bigger deal. I did the work from below, which is incredibly tiring & messy and only makes sense if you are gutting the interior anyhow. I peeled off the entire inner skin under the side decks, from the main bulkhead back to where the cored section ends, at the companionway bulkhead.

Imagetrackback by Robert Mcgovern, on Flickr

That empty slot is where the rotten timber core was located. Then, after leaving it open to dry for some weeks, I epoxied phenolic blocks where the chainplates penetrate and dense foam core material (like CoreCell) where the genoa tracks bolt thru. Then I laboriously re-skinned the sidedecks in biaxial fabric and 10oz woven fiberglass cloth from below, which is as much fun as it sounds! You can see the light replacement foam, the dark square of phenolic, and the 4mm layup wrapping around to window height. Also some lumpy seams, which should bother me but do not. ;) They'll mostly be inside cabinetry.
Imagestbdside by Robert Mcgovern, on Flickr