Wet Balsa Core Repair

I know this is not a design question. I had been looking to buy a Peterson 34 and had found one but decided against it. The price of sail's and the price of a bigger boat made me shy away from it. Plus I have vision's of doing KWRW sometime in the future. So I found a J 29 made and offer and have had it accepted. REAL CHEAP boat has some wet balsa core in a few spots on the hull and I am sure also in the deck. But I am getting the boat very cheap one spot is on the port side mid ship about 10 inches wide by 4 feet long about a 6 inches below the toe rail. This is what the moisture meter says. Boat was in salt water but has since moved to fresh water and in this spot it split the gel coat on the out side when it froze. Just a hair line crack. The other spot is starboard side aft of the keel right about where the aft bunk is egg shaped about 18 inches egg shaped round. I did not go over the deck with the meter but I would guess around the winches and a few other spots. But when I walked on the deck with out my shoes on useing my heels I did not find any soft or sponge spot's. But I am sure ther is some wet ther I would think on a 21 year old J boat ther would have to be.

I have done allot of research on this and repairing the wet core seems straight forward enough. Since it is a J 29 ther is really nothing down below so getting to all the core from the inside should be very easy. I have done some repair work with the West Sytem and am used to working with my hands (Plumber) so I am not afraid to tackle this project. I have access to inside storage with power for as long as I need and would just remove everything from the boat and fix what needs fixing and rebuild the boat and repaint the boat inside and the deck and hull.

Am I nuts for such a project?

Cliff

 

Cliff,

Sounds like you're on the right track. A couple of things to keep in mind though, if you remove a large area of skin and core, you want to make sure to support the remaining skin first, so it doesn't lose its shape. There are several ways to do that, in this case, you might be able to saw a few pieces of plywood to shape, and then stick them onto the outside with little globs of bondo or hot-melt or something else that's easily removed.

On the deck, the most likely place to find wet core on a J is around the chain-plates, however, you should remove and inspect those anyway, and do check the bulkheads carefully while you're there.

As for your last question, I'm afraid I'm not qualified to give you an answer, how does a nutter know if a nut is nuts?

Yoke.

 

I have set up to get the boat surveyed in about 2 weeks. When I was looking a the boat with the broker he went over the hull with a moisture meter an all the spot's I asked. Only place we found moisture was in these 2 places. I am thinking of just buying the boat bring it home park it inside and then have the survey done. The Surveyor is a good friend and is giving me a break on the survey. I am not all that interested in any of the wireing since it is all coming out and the motor is an out board so nothing ther. So I am really just interested in the wet core. Should I wait on the surevey? No matter what comes back, the price will not change. Again I am getting it cheap.

Cliff

 

if you remove a large area of skin and core, you want to make sure to support the remaining skin first, so it doesn't lose its shape. I will only remove the skin or the core not both.

Cliff