'72 Custom Sailboat -Fiberglass over Wooden Hull

Hello everyone,

I have been a silent reader of these forums for several months now, trying to learn from everyone while I worked on my project. I've gotten to the point where I could use some advice and thought I would say hello and get some feedback.

The boat as I originally bought her had dry rot everywhere. I knew it was a huge project to undertake and so far, I think I have done fairly well. Here she is on day one.


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Since I have started working on her, I have completely replaced the stern deck section with new framing and fiberglassing.


Over the past several weeks I have been demolishing the interior so that I could get to the hull and rebuild from the ground up. As expected, there are a few problems that need addressed. I'm just not sure about the best way to continue.


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Questions I need help with:

1. In the next photo you can see that the beams in the bilge area are shot. I assume they need replaced or reinforced. But, being in the bilge area they will be constantly wet again and the same problem will happen again right? What is the best way to proceed with this section?


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2. On the hull planking, there are several sections where the planking has warped and is no longer flush. Is this a problem that needs to be addressed, or a normal part of aging that can be left as is?


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3. Some of the deck beams have sections where they are no longer attached to the planking. In places there is up to an inch gap between the beam and planking, but as you follow the beam back, it rejoins the planking with no gap.
Again, is this something that needs to be addressed? Do I need to use epoxy and filler to fill in the gaps?


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I know this is a lot in one post but, any advice or guidance would be appreciated greatly.

 

The very first thing you need to do is get her out of the water and well supported on the hard. Some athwartship stiffness would be a wise thing too. Your deck beam gaps are very likely the result of hull distortions. I suspect the list is a long one.

 

Thanks Par. Taking her out of the water is not an option at the moment, though when the tide goes out the boat is supported against the sea wall as it rests on the rocks. I like the idea of some more athwardship stiffness, do you have any example pictures you can suggest?

What do you mean by the list is a long one. It seems to me that the repairs needed are minor in nature, would you not agree?

 

No, I would not agree. The hull is clearly distorted, probably from a number of things. There's no way to correct this unless she's on the hard and cradled properly. Removing her innards was a bad move as it provided considerable reinforcement, particularly locally. She's probably suffering from untold issues, but without much better pictures and seeing her belly, most of it is guess work, though I'll bet on some hogging, the deck is clearly sprung, the topsides partly caved in and sagging bilge turns. As I said the list will be long, mostly because of the approach you've taken towards the repairs. Letting her take to ground at each tide, is about as bad a disservice as you could do to her, if interested in saving her. There's not much inexpensive about restoring a yacht.

 

Wow......this is a big project. The interior looks (or looked) a bit worse than my boat when I started. PAR's right about the interior adding structural rigidity. Without the interior and decks/cabin that hull's just a bathtub. It certainly looks like you have labor invested in this, but hopefully not much money. Perhaps you'd consider another project. I really enjoy woodworking but I've done a boat with a fiberglass hull and wood cabin/interior/decks. This restoration (everything with the exception of some stringers and floors) has taken me about 4 years and I'm mostly retired working only 5 hours a day for 10 months of the year for a local school. I have lots of time compared to the average working guy. Financially I've not spared any expense but the bill is around 25K when you add in the yard charges. Your boat will take more time and IMO more money. I'm no surveyor, but to me it looks like you'd almost be better off building from scratch.

I'm not trying to discourage you but some of these dreams turn into long term, stressful nightmares. If you're married your wife better like this boat a lot more than you do. If not you will probably be in a world of hurt a couple of years from now as the boat consumes all of your time, energy and money.

Of course if you have limitless amounts of all three, well, full steam ahead!

Also, if you actually demolished the interior what will you use as a guide for installing a new interior? A preferable approach would have been to disassemble the interior so that you had at the least a starting point for rebuilding the interior at some future date.

Good Luck and please accept these comments in the spirit in which they are given.......

MIA

 

Hmmm. pretty bleak outlook. I've been operating under the philosophy of "almost anything can be epoxied" perhaps incorrectly. Simply bracing athwartships, ribs and beams seems to me like a possible solution. Granted, not something a professional boat builder would do, but surely something that can make the boat serviceable and usable. Again, it sounds like I am way off basis and from reading your bleak response I get the impression your of the opinion that as is, the boat is a lost cause.

Would anyone else have a differing opinion? What are the potential repercussions (realistic) to the bracing and epoxying amateur repairs?

 

Thanks MIA for the response. Yes, luckily I am not in too deep from the boat so far. I'd rather not scratch the project as a whole, especially as I had considered rebuilding the interior and adding structural integrity as I go.

After these two responses however, I'm not sure what to do in order to proceed.

 

No,

you will hardly find any expert here with a differing opinion, or more encouraging advice. And you have already found some of the most experienced.

Of course almost everything is possible, but you are not only already at a newbuild (counting the effort required), you are costwise probably already above that!

And not everything can be epoxied! In fact in this case Epoxy is not much of a help except for glueing some parts.

Sorry to blow a bubble.

Regards
Richard

 

I've got to tell you seoatsea, these projects are waaaay easier to contemplate than they are to actually accomplish. You're looking at some serious money in materials and more importantly time and effort. Lots of boats are just too far gone. You've done a wise thing though. Back a few years ago, before I really started my rebuild I posted a detailed report here with as many good photos as I could get. PAR, Alan White and a number of other very knowledgeable people sort of gave me "permission" to go forward. In other words based on what I told them and what they could see they considered my old boat in reasonable condition to be restored. That was the easy part. After that I had to actually teach myself how to do it. With a lot of help from this website I might add. Not all boats are canadates for restoration (due to condition) and I think the only way you'll know if you have the determination to complete a project like this is to actually try.

I'll tell you one thing though. After building one I truely understand why boats cost as much as they do. They are extremely labor intensive objects to build.

Regards,

MIA

 

Awesome MIA..thanks! Thanks as well to everyone else who responded. Obviously, one way or another, there is a lot to think about here.

 

At this point I don't know enough about the hull, it's heritage, value when completed, current condition, etc., etc., etc. to honestly tell you to do much more then walk away. Without the resources to put her on the hard, you'll never fix what ills her. In fact, without sufficient athwartship stiffness, she'll collapse into a pile of tinder, in the travel lift straps. As a matter of course, if the travel lift operator has a look inside, before he slings 'er up, I'll bet a hundred dollars that he'll refuse to hoist her, for fear of fouling the haul out pit with debris. If the cost of haul out is too much, then you're in way over your head on this old gal. Haul out is an annual expense for wooden yacht owners. I don't know you, nor do I have any animosity toward you or your boat, maybe you can post some full on profiles of the boat, it's make, model and year, general equipment (that works) and the stuff you think is wrong with it. Maybe I'll see what you do, but currently I see the classic B.O.A.T. scenario each time you arive to work on her (Bring Over Another Thousand) and you know you have lots of trips to the boat in store for you, right?