Soggy decks

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by Tomi

oh yes i forgot--as i have only been here 3 plus years repairing/completely refitting a ketch while cruising... i wouldnt know as much as someone who hasnt been in mexico as long...or in as many locations in mexico as long......lol

LOL![/QUOTE]

Ask which one of us has an operable vessel right now.

[RedHerring]

I think, in that size range and that part of the world for $10k you are almost definitely buying a "project boat" one way or another. Or a basic club racing soapbox. Not a seaworthy cruising boat. And rotten balsa core, while fixable, is one of the bigger and nastier repairs. "Keep saving" would be my advice.

QTE
most of the time the wet area will be limited to just around the leaky fitting
UNQTE

The deck wouldn't flex if it was limited. The ones OP describes must have wide areas of delamination/rot.

On my boat (soggy deck is a common problem on San Juans) one of the previous owners did a really nice job of re-drilling every hole in the deck to a bigger size, filling it with epoxy, then re-drilling to the original size again. No core rot that I'm aware of on that one.

[Tomi]

Thanks, Red Herring... while that sounds like bad news, I appreciate your advice. I will keep looking though, you never know when some ex wife will want to ditch hubby's first love! Gotta be quick!

[Cheechako]

Decks are not all soggy, but some of them are for sure. One thing to look for is a boat that has not been messed with alot over the years... the PO's havent added fittings and other things everywhere. Another thought is whether you really need to "fix" a deck with a few wet spots or not. Everyone wants their boat "perfect".... but the reality is many people out there are sailing around with wet deck core and dont even know it. Depends on the boat I suppose. Some boats are built with glass real thick.... then they are cored on that and then sheathed over the core with glass. If the outside galss is real thick, does it matter if the core is wet?
In some cases it's the "Pristeen logic" working.... if one house in the neighborhood doesnt have the lawn perfect... no weeds. edged perfectly, bright green etc, all the neighbors look down on that owner!

[thomm225]

Keep Looking!

I have a 1974 Bristol 27 I bought for $2,000.00 in 2011 (estate sale) and the decks are fine. (the decks and cockpit sole are balsa cored btw) I do get a creak or two out of my cockpit sole in the winter from time to time.

There's a guy at our dock with a 30' Pearson Wanderer (60's vintage). He and another guy have been redoing his cockpit sole and the aft deck for the past month or so.

He checked mine and saw that it was in very good shape. My boat came from the Falmouth, MA area. Left on the Eastern Shore of VA on the guys return trip from Florida. It sat for 5 years. It took about a month to clean it up and get all the crap out of it that the guy took with him to Florida. He was 2 years on his trip.

I've used it for two years and have only painted the hull. I did buy a new mainsail, new sheets, replaced the diesel with a new outboard, added solar and an inverter.

[Tomi]

Originally Posted by thomm225

Keep Looking!

I have a 1974 Bristol 27 I bought for $2,000.00 in 2011 (estate sale) and the decks are fine. (the decks and cockpit sole are balsa cored btw) I do get a creak or two out of my cockpit sole in the winter from time to time.

There's a guy at our dock with a 30' Pearson Wanderer (60's vintage). He and another guy have been redoing his cockpit sole and the aft deck for the past month or so.

He checked mine and saw that it was in very good shape. My boat came from the Falmouth, MA area. Left on the Eastern Shore of VA on the guys return trip from Florida. It sat for 5 years. It took about a month to clean it up and get all the crap out of it that the guy took with him to Florida. He was 2 years on his trip.

I've used it for two years and have only painted the hull. I did buy a new mainsail, new sheets, replaced the diesel with a new outboard, added solar and an inverter.

You're a man after me own heart! I know there's one out there.

[Tomi]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

Decks are not all soggy, but some of them are for sure. One thing to look for is a boat that has not been messed with alot over the years... the PO's havent added fittings and other things everywhere. Another thought is whether you really need to "fix" a deck with a few wet spots or not. Everyone wants their boat "perfect".... but the reality is many people out there are sailing around with wet deck core and dont even know it. Depends on the boat I suppose. Some boats are built with glass real thick.... then they are cored on that and then sheathed over the core with glass. If the outside galss is real thick, does it matter if the core is wet?
In some cases it's the "Pristeen logic" working.... if one house in the neighborhood doesnt have the lawn perfect... no weeds. edged perfectly, bright green etc, all the neighbors look down on that owner!

Thanks. I'll certainly try look at the original specs for each boat to see what has been added. A couple of soft spots can always be repaired later and the boat is still capable of sailing.... and you're right about the pristeen thing, as long as the rigging and engine are sound I can get sailing again.

[Blue Crab]

My recent buying experience was that most owners know what they have, and they aren't knocking off any more for me and my moisture meter. Eventually someone will come along who doesn't even know what a wet core is.

Couple of folks looked at the meter maxing out and said, "yeah, that chainplate was leaking but I fixed it last ...

Even better, I looked at a Pearson 28 that looked wonderful at first glance but smelled like the inside of a holding tank, and was wet everywhere I tested. Man was asking $8500. I told him he'd better find a sucker. His response was impolite. A month later it was briefly on Craig's list at $3500. An 80s boat with a lot of nice stuff!

Beware the deck fittings with a bead of silicone around the baseplate.
Portlights too. Nothing says wet core faster. No meter required.

[DeepFrz]

I wonder if it's a climate thing, hot summer and freezing winters, be easy to imagine what would happen to a water logged deck in the depths of winter?

You got it. And its a big job.

[Tomi]

just read DSDman's thread on the 60 footer - grinding all that must have been as close to hell as one can get. Hope I can find a sound one and invest the effort and money into keeping it that way.
Thanks DeepFrz and Blue Crab! I'm making yet another list!

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by Tomi

You're a man after me own heart! I know there's one out there.

Here's a link to my boat. It includes lots of the pictures of how I found it. I replaced the diesel myself using the boom etc, but ended up screwing that engine up not that it was running that great. I wanted to learn about replacing one. And when I say myself I mean me and me alone.

I put a new 5 hp Mercury 4 stroke outboard on it that is stronger than both of the old 1974 Model 352 lb Westerbeke Bukh 10's.

Bristol27.com » Hull #335 – Winter Dream

I was over there this weekend, and there is a 1973 Alberg 30 for sail at the same boat yard. It's s/n 530 I believe with a 1997 Westerbeke 20 HP diesel in it. The guy is asking 18K but he's high. You might get it for 12-14K. When I say over there, I'm talking the Eastern Shore of VA. You can sail it home when you are ready. And the storage is about $180.00 per month if you needed to wait to move it.

The exterior has not been painted over. It has the original nice fiberglass.

Let me know if you are interest and I can take some pictures in a couple weeks next time I'm over. It's sort of out in the boonies with a for sale sign on it.

Well, I found it on line. You can do more searches maybe if you are interested and get more pictures. The interior is clean!

http://for-sale.yakaz.com/alberg-30-...02d7loqfo5vkqa

Tom

[Tomi]

nice Alberg, and would love to see what you've done with your Bristol - I saw an ad for one today.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by Tomi

nice Alberg, and would love to see what you've done with your Bristol - I saw an ad for one today.

I haven't done a lot to my Bristol besides what I mentioned above a few posts back. I just painted the bottom then added the new mainsail later. The jibs were near new, and it came with 5 anchors. An old salt owned the boat before me.

It took me a while to get used to the motion. I raced small catamarans for years. This old boat had to bring me across the lower Chesapeake several times in heavy weather on autopilot while I blew chunks over the side.

Btw, I have raced a local Alberg 30 six or eight times without being beaten yet! But, I'm an experienced catamaran racer with a new mainsail and he is somewhat of a beginner especially to singlehanded racing.

I just fixed a spot on my cabin sole and am about ready to pull the boat in a couple months to paint the bottom properly and begin painting the interior. The upper hull is painted over fiberglass, and although ugly, to me it just means the fiberglass hull has more protection from the elements.

I did add a 60 watt solar panel and an inverter so I can have coffee, run the flourecent light, and a fan. Plus charge my lap top or run it.

Videos cruising. One playing around at around 20 knots. Sorry for the video quality:

003 - YouTube

002 - YouTube

The mainsail needs more downhaul. I was lazy:

003 - YouTube

[thomm225]

Here's a Bristol 27 that looks to be in good shape if you have the time to come down and check it out:

1976 Bristol Bristol 27 sailboat for sale in Rhode Island

Or you can buy mine if I decide to buy this other boat I'm looking at:

1974 Bristol 27 sailboat for sale in Virginia

[Sam Plan B]

If water can get in, water can get out. I had some deck leaks and soft spots. The core plywood was wet. I found the leaks from above at some deck fittings. From below I drilled 1/4" holes up into the core. Then I stuffed paper towels into the holes to wic the water out. The drying went on for the whole summer and worked nicely. When no more damp came out I taped the holes closed and injected the best part of a gallon of West System epoxy from above. It seems to have worked okay.