Lockers leaked, need help (w pics)

[VERSO I]

After a month on the boat, discovering fun projects left behind by the previous owner is starting to taper off. As noted during our survey, the wood panels near the stern berth showed signs of water damage. Most panels on our boat show signs of water damage, but we're starting with the room we sleep in to remove potential mold problems.

I started by removing the majority of the rotten wood from the inside, and pretty quickly poked a hole through into the starboard lazarette.

More rotten plywood will need to be removed around the stern edge of the panel. It appears the construction was 3/4 inch plywood with teak veneer inside and gelcoat in the laz. Near the bottom of the locker some fiberglass was layed up to support the plywood, but most of the interior facing sides of the locker were made waterproof by gelcoat, and it was bubbling away from the plywood. I have removed the parts of the gelcoat that had delaminated, and have started sanding the other surfaces in the laz.

So, I'm dealing with fiberglassing an area that is largely inaccessible due to its depth from deck of 4 feet. And I've never glassed anything larger than a magazine. And I need to fit new plywood, and at some point new veneer. And then the port side (a mirror image except no plumbing) needs the same treatment start to finish. Help?? Even just ideas on order of operations would be helpful, I'm a bit lost and have not much money or tools. I do have a bunch of cut mat glass and a gallon of polyester resin. Do I need to get rid of all the plumbing for this project? How much fiberglass should I add?

[senormechanico]

FWIW, I would first find the source of the water.
Deck leak(s)?
I've got one small bulkhead leak which I've been trying to find since 2001 !

[VERSO I]

Yes, thank you senormechanico. At first I was pretty sure the leak originated only from inside the laz, and leaked through basically at the point where I broke through. A week before I started removing rotted wood, I sprayed down the inside of the laz as a pre-cleaning, and the drain was apparently clogged. I found out about the clog because later I found a trickle of water running under our mattress, and then found the laz still full of water. Thankfully the drain freed up with just some shots of air from a pump.

That doesn't really explain the rotted wood that extends up the same panel on the stern wall, though. Very possible there are other leaks as well.

I've just done the silicone caulk method on several of the deck hardware screws, just to hold off problems there until I can really address all the cap rail problems.

[DeepFrz]

You might find some informative reading and advice on the West System website.
Fiberglass Boat Repair and Restoration

[bcboomer]

NO NO Don't use silicone
When you do the actual repair nothing will seal until ALL the residual silicone oils are removed. That means wet sanding after removing as much as you can with whatever solvents you can lay your hands on. The previous owner of our boat smeared silicone around every window and the hand rails. What a pain.
See Mainsail's site for butyl rubber techniques.
Welcome To MarineHowTo.com Photo Gallery by Compass Marine How To at pbase.com

[Sputnik]

Oh dear, this is a major project....what make/model is it?
Neil

[UNCIVILIZED]

“Easy way”:
Tear out everything loose inside the cockpit locker; glass & wood, etc.
Fair the bulkhead smooth on the cheap, including using temporary filler pieces as needed for the rotted away holed sections.
Cover everything with a layer of clear plastic packing tape.
Laminate a cored bulkhead in place: One made of glass/core/glass, on top of this.
Carefully cut away half rotted out interior bulkhead.
Bond new wood onto new composite bulkhead from inside. Seal & varnish.

Note: You can build both the new composite bulkhead, & the interior wooden bits, off of the boat. And trim them to fit, just prior to glassing them in place. Which on the interior, “pretty” one, gives you the option of using a variety or pattern of fancy, colorful woods & patterns, up to & including inlays. Or even glue on veneers or inlays. That, or vertical cedar strips, etc. Which always look nice.

[VERSO I]

Thanks for the tip on the silicone, it makes sense. It's frustrating because a marina neighbor gave me bad advice.

Originally Posted by Sputnik

Oh dear, this is a major project....what make/model is it?

Neil

Its a 1988 Irwin 43. I'm finding rotten plywood all over the place ☹️. Need some power tools, and some more power to put in said tools.

Thanks for the assist!

[Suijin]

If you have rotten wood all over the place, then you have leaks all over the place, which means that you need a full deck refit; pulling up hardware, fixing rotten core, rebedding the hardware.

The deck is your roof. In a house you don't run around with buckets to catch leaks, meanwhile refinishing the floors. You fix the roof, then you refinish the floor.

Don't worry about the cockpit locker and some teak veneer. Fix the deck.

[VERSO I]

Originally Posted by UNCIVILIZED

...Fair the bulkhead smooth on the cheap

...

Cover everything with a layer of clear plastic packing tape.

...

Note: You can build both the new composite bulkhead, & the interior wooden bits, off of the boat. And trim them to fit, just prior to glassing them in place. Which on the interior, “pretty” one, gives you the option of using a variety or pattern of fancy, colorful woods & patterns, up to & including inlays. Or even glue on veneers or inlays. That, or vertical cedar strips, etc. Which always look nice.

A couple of questions on the parts I quoted:

Any suggestions on a fairing material?

When you say cover everything with tape, you mean in the lazatette to prevent getting resin where I don't want it, in other words as a masking?

For the inside, I'll have lots of quality veneer adhered to quality plywood when I'm done removing rotted wood. To match, will I just need to remove the rest of the veneer? What material is usually used to attach veneer on a boat?

Really appreciate the timeline, and the idea to build a new bulkhead outside of the locker. I'll still need to reach the bottom on the locker to glass in the panel, though. Right?

[UNCIVILIZED]

Originally Posted by VERSO I

A couple of questions on the parts I quoted:

Any suggestions on a fairing material?
Depends on your repair plan. Anything from plaster, to bondo, to epoxy bog.

When you say cover everything with tape, you mean in the lazatette to prevent getting resin where I don't want it, in other words as a masking?
Tape, as in to be used as mold release, anywhere the new bulkhead will be being laid up. Although fully masking off everything for the sake of ease of cleanup is always a good idea.

For the inside, I'll have lots of quality veneer adhered to quality plywood when I'm done removing rotted wood. To match, will I just need to remove the rest of the veneer? What material is usually used to attach veneer on a boat?
Not sure how to field this one, as I'm not entirely sure what you're asking. And again, it depends both on the type of repair you go with, & what materials are used.

Really appreciate the timeline, and the idea to build a new bulkhead outside of the locker. I'll still need to reach the bottom on the locker to glass in the panel, though. Right? Yep. You'll need to attach the bulkhead to everything 360 deg. around it's perimeter.

The basic idea behind my repair, is to use the old bulkhead as a mold on which to lay up a new compositie one. And to then tear out the old rotted wood from the inside, & glue a new pretty veneer onto the composite (structural) bulkhead.

Though it's entirely possible to do the new bulkhead all in one piece. Such as a glass/core/plywood or veneer. Or ply/core/ply bulkhead.
Such structures are incredibly stiff, & light, plus they're easy to work with with tools, given what they're made of. Even more so than solid plywood really.

The idea behind fairing everything smooth is so that you can use the smoothed over, rotted bulkhead as a "mold" for the new composite one. Assuming that you want to mold the composite one in place, as opposed to doing it off of the boat. Such as on a flat mold table.

Plastic packing tape makes a good mold release for fiberglass/composite parts. In lieu of, or in conjunction with PVA (mold release). And it's easy to work with.

Also, some of the size of the repair, & what option you choose will depend on how much of the current bulkhead is rotted or delaminating. Since if you wanted to go the cheap & dirty route, & there's no more rot or delam than shown in the pics, then you could seal the bulhead from inside of the locker. And then cover the hole with a piece of trim. Much like the trim pieces which you see around the perimeters of main bulkheads in saloons & similar.

But trying to scarf a section of ply onto an already half dead, or dying bulhead is usually a lost cause. Meaning that most often it's easier just to replace the entire thing, much as I've described, or via one of another methods.
The catch being that the difficulty in fitting them is related to one's tool skill level, & ability to problem solve on the fly. Which, cored bulkheads are easier to shape & fit than are solid wood ones, if for no other reason than it's easier to do the fine fitting on them with a grinder/sander.


EDIT: There are many, many technical references to guide you through this. Go to the WEST System site, & download all of the various user guides, as well as the book The Geugeon Brothers, On Boat Construction
How to build a bulhead, or partial bulkhead is covered in there, & you can also use the search feature on the website. And the author Bruce Bingham has some good illustrations on how to do this as well, in The Sailor's Sketchbook, amongst other ref's.