Laser 2 deck sag... does this happen on 1's?

[John McKee]

Several people have asked about deck sag. Pictured here is the rear of my project:

Internally; the deck lacks support................ or does it? Here is the inside:

After shoving the flotation around to get clean pictures. It occurred to me that the flotation bag itself once provided a limited amount of support. At least to push the sag up. And it's natural aged deflation could be the cause of sag. The front has two bags. And you can see that it really does push up the deck when fully inflated.

These flotation "jugs" were made by Reliance. They actually look like water jugs. And must have been installed before the deck was joined to the hull.

You don't actually sit or stand on these sagging deck places. So; in my restoration I'm going to try to fix them anyway. And blow the sag up and out. Get rid of sag. The problem is finding a replacement. All I can find are plastic toys.

 

[John McKee]

one more picture of the rear pair

 

[LaLi]

You can't rely on air for structural support. My guess is that something heavy has been stored on that deck.

 

[John McKee]

Or possibly sat on a sawhorse upside down using incorrect support. In the wrong place.

 

[John McKee]

Well....

I inflated the aft deck, with a beach ball (actually my wife's Pilates ball she lent me), to the correct alignment. After doing so found that structural defect. The starboard portion of the deck had become delaminated. A couple of small repairs in the past appears to have leaked. Allowing water into that zone and weakening it. I'll need to cut open the bad repair. and; give it a GFlex infusion while deflated. Then inflate it to the proper position.

After doing this............ I will then discover that the port section is also partially delaminated and have to drill holes/pump in GFlex in that side too.

That will shore things up. But it's hard to imagine a return to the original structural strength. There is a great analogy here in the threads about deck stiffness being a good sign of age and wear. Fortunately for me; the hull is very stiff.

 

[Mike Honcho]

Sounds like two balls are in your boats future