Much of this afternoon was spent digging around between the inner and outer layers of fibreglass underneath one of the lifeline stanchions. The balsa core of the deck had rotted away where water had got in under the seals, making the whole lot wobble around in a nasty way. The pre-purchase survey had brought this up as something needing attention, but I’ve only just decided to tackle it. Looks like the problem has been going on for a while since there’s an extra set of holes where the previous owner had shifted the stanchion base a bit, but didn’t seal it well.
So, I’ve cut out a nice big section just small enough to still fit under the stanchion base, squirrelled away all the wet balsa I can reach with a long allen key, and will let it dry out over the next few days. Then I’ll fill it all up with some epoxy and re-drill the holes. The inside of the boat, where the backing plate goes, also needs some attention. The backing plate appears to sit over a curved section of the inner hull, so it never sits flat and square enough to be a decent, solid backing plate. I think that’s the source of the problem. So I’ll figure something out in there with a load of epoxy too; make it flat somehow.
The lack of scuppers on the outboard part of the side decks means that there’s often sitting water just where this stanchion base is. Strange design – possibly an oversight. So far though I’ve found very few design flaws like this, it’s a well thought out boat.
Road and Ocean 