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Rebedding companionway slider hood

Norwegian Blue

Luan/Bill Burton, E30+ in Sheboygan, WI
No luck searching online for a how-to. 1984 E30+. Moisture readings from the survey when we bought her a year ago indicated this was an area to watch, but we didn’t watch carefully enough. Can someone walk me thru? And will I be able to restore my interior veneer where it has cracked and buckled?D173B649-01B6-4F49-808E-49167A43FD11.jpeg57580452-BF8F-41F0-B816-2FA4D6846F79.jpeg
 

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Rebed the slider hood (sometimes called sea hood) with any low-adhesive caulking. But yours looks fine in the photo. All the hood does is direct rain and sea away from the sliding hatch. Water that does get in under the hood drains through the weep holes shown in the photo. It's not really a waterproof structure.

Have you determined the source of the leak that is destroying the cabin veneer? I'd start by removing the batten over the curtain track, looks like the water is coming from under the vinyl headliner. Anything suspicious under the headliner zipper?

It's important that you fill out your owner profile so we know what boat, model, year and engine you are asking about. go to Username/ Account Details.

Please also summarize in the /Signature line, as most of us have. It tells at a glance the model and year in question and helps the experts here provide answers.
 

bigd14

Contributing Partner
Blogs Author
I traced a leak in the exact same location on the exact same model and year to a fastener that penetrated through the cabin top. I intend to remove all those fasteners (they seem to be just wood screws) and the sea hood to clean it all out and rebed the fasteners properly. For now gorilla tape over the seams and fasteners is serving to keep it dry until I find time to do the job.
 

Norwegian Blue

Luan/Bill Burton, E30+ in Sheboygan, WI
Wow, both super helpful. Glad to learn about the sea hood (and I updated my signature info.) bigd14, when you say fastener/wood screws, are you referring to the screws around the sea hood? They go into, but should not penetrate through, the cabin top?

Also, can you tell me how to do these inspections without destroying that awesome headliner? The zippers are pretty far forward and aft of the area in question. Likewise, how to loosen that batten—its screws are so nicely pegged. Sorry to be such a baby, I’ll do glass and epoxy but I hate tearing up finish work
 

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Ericson plugged all the screws belowdecks--even those deep in the quarterberth. They're glued in only with varnish, and should pop out with a small screwdriver. There's no reason to replace them but for aesthetics. However, most of us have bought a plug cutter for scraps of teak, or a bag of plugs from West Marine. They're easy to replace with a dab of varnish and then chisel off.

Re the headliner, you can often reach deep into the zipper to explore by feel. If you need to loosen the headliner, the removed batten will reveal the staples that attach it. The staples can be gently removed to permit local work underneath. Most of us have done that at one point or another, and all you need is a staple gun to reattach. Vinyl headliner stretches and it's pretty easy to get the wrinkles out.

Go to Username/Your Account/Signature to fill in the signature line (which will then appear automatically under each message you post).
 

bigd14

Contributing Partner
Blogs Author
Yep you gotta reach way into the headliner to feel the screws. I am not going to remove the headliner in this area since I have decided to remove the sea hood from the top. I may have to eventually but I hope not. In my case one of the screws had penetrated all the way through the fiberglass and I could feel the sharp point and the water coming through it. The water then would wick down along the overhead and seep into the paneling around the port lights. I believe they just ran wood screws straight through the sea hood into the deck and they were not supposed to punch through. I am a little concerned that water may be getting into the deck core but it feels sound so I am just going to remove core and pot all the holes with thickened epoxy. Then I will probably just tap the epoxy plugs and use machine screws and butyl tape to hold it down and seal it. I don’t like the idea of wood screws into the deck!
 

Norwegian Blue

Luan/Bill Burton, E30+ in Sheboygan, WI
Thank you both again for the additional detail. I was wrong, the upper batten (at the headliner) is not plugged—but all others are, so I’ll be referring to this in the future!
 

Norwegian Blue

Luan/Bill Burton, E30+ in Sheboygan, WI
I will probably just tap the epoxy plugs and use machine screws and butyl tape to hold it down and seal it. I don’t like the idea of wood screws into the deck!

A self-tapping sheet metal screw or a wood screw with the point cut off will have more thread to grip the epoxy than a machine screw. I’ve done this in a mahogany core fiberglass kayak, good hold without a nut
 

CSMcKillip

Moderator
Moderator
I did this repair a month ago- 3 times now. #1 the seahood on our boat had sealant at all edges and the machine screws holding the hood on. The sealant does absolutely nothing in my opinion except help hold down the seahood.

The machine screws run threw the glass and into the core- I think I also read that Ericson added a plywood backing in this area. In my case I had 5 of the machine screws that had leaked water and rotted the plywood. This allows the water to ONE run into the core, and TWO rot the plywood and then the water will run down the liner to the trim right above the port windows and leak down into the teak veneer plywood causing it to rot.

without removing the liner it takes a long arm to try and place tape to have a mixed thickened epoxy to fill the holes. I over drilled all of the holes down into the core and filled with thickened epoxy. The 5 that were all the way thru I took thickened epoxy and glass mat., filling these in stages.. this was my second attempt to fix the stupid leak. The third time I had ONE hole still pushing threw when I added the thickened epoxy. So I had some teak plugs that were larger then the hole. I widdled it down with a knife and epoxied that into place. Let it set for a week and drilled small piolit holes for the screws.

I will go back up in a week and add Buytal tape at each screw to seal it up.. if this doesn’t work I will added a threaded bolt epoxied in the hull and screw the dam thing on..

I can’t believe they used screws... and everyone will have this problem at one point. My seahood has a winch mounted on top.... hate to have that loaded!
 

Michael Edwards

Member II
Bill, I had similar issues that you describe. The plywood simply can't be repaired. My solution was to purchase matching vinyl. The rusted staples needed replacing ( use stainless steel or the new plastic ones). I removed the ports and trim ,used contact cement to place the vinyl, cut the openings, then reinstalled the ports and the teak trim.
I was very reluctant to start, but in the end it turned much easier and went very well. The vinyl around the ports brightened the interior.
 

clayton

Member III
I did this job back in May on my 32-200. If you jump to page 7 the thread is toward the bottom. A fellow owner with your model wrote of his solution resetting the hood. Sorry I don't chime in often enough to know how to give a link to the thread.
 

bigd14

Contributing Partner
Blogs Author
 
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