Bahia 46: Bridge twist stress

[barrymac]

I've been looking at older Bahia 46s as I'm on a budget and I've seen a few now with stress fractures on the deck in front of the mast. They tend to reach out from the mast diagonally forward and outboard, rippling the top layer of gel coat.

I'm wondering what's the best strategy for managing this situation as it's seems to be an inevitable aging failure that shows up after around fifteen years in service.

One I had seen was left to fester and had de-laminated resulting in very high moisture reasons all across the deck from hull to hull! The sandwich core was soaked and according to surveyor would need to be completely ripped out and rebuilt. Engineers in the dock yard reckoned it would also need struts to retain stiffness.

Pics attached are a much less dramatic example at the early stage of the process. It's not so easy to see in these photos but the contours are around a 5 to 10mm in places.

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[DotDun]

It's hard to tell from your pics if that is stress from the mast or something else going on. The mast sits on a bulkhead that runs laterally from hull to hull. I would in interested in examining that in detail. From what I can tell from your pics, that could be poor quality cosmetic repairs.

[Moody Mike]

I know this is a very old thread but a friend who has a Bahia has the same problem around the mast with ripples in the glass a few millimeters high . I noticed there is also a problem with the structure at the rear of the cockpit that is swelling. I would like to know how these problems were repaired on similar vessels. Has vacuum infusions been tried or is it a cut open remove foam & solid glass.