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Soft deck

S

saler

New Member
I just bought a 1973 25 with a centerboard/swing keel. Should this boat have one mast spreader pair or two? Mine only has one. Also the deck is soft just forward of the sliding hatch cover where the centerboard winch is mounted. What is the accepted practice to remedy that? It looks to be a sandwich construction with foam in between? I'm thinking I'll have to cut it open and fix the soft stuff in the middle. Any advise is greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time!
Dan
Selma, OR
 
N

nukey99

Member III
You are on the right path about cutting it open, digging out the old rotted core material and doing a new lamination. You can work from the top or the bottom. I prefer to do such a repair from the top and do a Gelcoat patch on the seams. Where we used to keep our old boat in FL, new power cats were delivered from New Orleans and final rigging for sail done at the location. I watched a pro do a pretty good sized glass ding, and he did it from the top. The seams where he did the work, were turned into new drain channels, you really couldn't see the repair.
 
tenders

tenders

Innocent Bystander
Welcome, grasshopper. For nearly twenty years, core repair has been a well-travelled topic onboard my boat, which is four years older than yours.
* The power tools to do this repair properly on a DIY basis are not expensive or exotic (grinder, sander, oscillating saw, table saw or equivalent)
* The supplies are ubiquitous for boat repairs (sandpaper, West System epoxy and fillers, fiberglass tape, fairing compound, Kiwi Grip nonskid)
* The structural components are modern and awesome (G10 and foam core)
* The skills necessary are honestly pretty modest and useful for all sorts of less-involved future boat projects

It is dusty work, mostly, until it transitions to sticky work, and then it becomes a bit dusty again, but having done several I now find it pretty enjoyable because you make very steady progress and it results in a stunningly solid outcome. The costs to have a yard do it on a turnkey basis have caused many boats to be sent to The Crusher. But there is no need for deck repair to be the death knell of any boat. If the boat is sailing in Squish City, just DIY the worst part every season for a few seasons in a row. Or, like me, somewhat in the Squish City suburbs, do one area that really bugs you every few years.

Avoid shortcuts like “drill a bunch of holes in the flexing deck and inject foam and epoxy until it comes out the holes” - they do not work.

Yet another deck core replacement example

The foredeck of my ‘69 E32 became increasingly disconcertingly springy to the step, so this was the year for the repair. This is the fifth section I’ve done with my long suffering boat partner, which include the cockpit floor, the mast step, an area around the main hatch, and the port side deck...
ericsonyachts.org ericsonyachts.org
 
N

nukey99

Member III
tenders said:
Welcome, grasshopper. For nearly twenty years, core repair has been a well-travelled topic onboard my boat, which is four years older than yours.
* The power tools to do this repair properly on a DIY basis are not expensive or exotic (grinder, sander, oscillating saw, table saw or equivalent)
* The supplies are ubiquitous for boat repairs (sandpaper, West System epoxy and fillers, fiberglass tape, fairing compound, Kiwi Grip nonskid)
* The structural components are modern and awesome (G10 and foam core)
* The skills necessary are honestly pretty modest and useful for all sorts of less-involved future boat projects

It is dusty work, mostly, until it transitions to sticky work, and then it becomes a bit dusty again, but having done several I now find it pretty enjoyable because you make very steady progress and it results in a stunningly solid outcome. The costs to have a yard do it on a turnkey basis have caused many boats to be sent to The Crusher. But there is no need for deck repair to be the death knell of any boat. If the boat is sailing in Squish City, just DIY the worst part every season for a few seasons in a row. Or, like me, somewhat in the Squish City suburbs, do one area that really bugs you every few years.

Avoid shortcuts like “drill a bunch of holes in the flexing deck and inject foam and epoxy until it comes out the holes” - they do not work.

Yet another deck core replacement example

The foredeck of my ‘69 E32 became increasingly disconcertingly springy to the step, so this was the year for the repair. This is the fifth section I’ve done with my long suffering boat partner, which include the cockpit floor, the mast step, an area around the main hatch, and the port side deck...
ericsonyachts.org ericsonyachts.org
Click to expand...
Good advice on the shortcuts, we have some soft spots and previous owners tried the drill and pump epoxy trick and it of course didn't work.
 
kapnkd

kapnkd

kapnkd
nukey99 said:
You are on the right path about cutting it open, digging out the old rotted core material and doing a new lamination. You can work from the top or the bottom. I prefer to do such a repair from the top and do a Gelcoat patch on the seams. Where we used to keep our old boat in FL, new power cats were delivered from New Orleans and final rigging for sail done at the location. I watched a pro do a pretty good sized glass ding, and he did it from the top. The seams where he did the work, were turned into new drain channels, you really couldn't see the repair.
Click to expand...
Good advice. Years back we had similar problems around our ‘73 E-32 companion-way and main salon hatch. The companion way was done from above and we made a sea hood which covered the cuts.

The main salon hatch was done from below as it wasn’t as severe and we were able to not disrupt the non skid pattern.
 
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