Chunks of foam core floating in the bilge

[ejholmgren]

Hello all, just picked up an '88 Capri 14.2 for a song, and I now see that there are chunks of the foam foam core delaminating here and there on the inside of the hull under the seats. Is this a major structural issue I should consider repairing or can I sail as is? It appears to be sturdy from the outside.

Eric

 

[gregwcoats]

On my 1987 boat there are large plastic bottles attached under the seats for floatation, perhaps your boat has foam blocks. If that is the case, the boat might fill with water and sink when/if capsized. The time will come that you end up with the boat on its side or upside down. I would find a way to fix this problem.

 

[ejholmgren]

Mine has the floats in there too. This appears to be foam core from the inside of the bottom of the hull. It looks exactly like this:

 

[gregwcoats]

Think about contacting Catalina, I asked them a number of questions when I had a 1991 Catalina 30 and they were very helpful.

 

[woodbark]

I agree with you Greg, Catalina would be my first call in this situ. Flotation is obviously a #1 priority on a tender boat since the capsize monster is always lurking around every wrong move

I doubt that it is structural since the boat is Fiberglass but how does one restore the floatation inside?
Second line of defence would be a well sealed hatch/cuddy in case of "Turtling".

My mod.2 barely draws any water when on its side probably about 3" to 4" the most and my mast is well sealed so it floats also. Of course the floatation inside contributes nothing to this buoyancy, it's all due to lightness of the hull and sealed mast.

My problem with all this buoyancy is, ......my short arms barely reach the centreboard to haul her back up ......I'm only 5'5", so my solution to this lack of reach .....I bought a high buoyancy Kayak PFD .....We'll see how that works on the next capsize exercise

 

[ejholmgren]

Here's a better picture of what I'm talking about (shot straight down the tunnel under the seats). All of the inflated float cubes are still with the boat (10-12 of them?), so I'm not worried about sinking to the bottom. I'm assuming Catalina built these with a foam core covering ~ the area under the cockpit and ~12" out and that's what's coming off. What am I worried about is catastrophic failure and only being held above the waterline by the floats.

 

[woodbark]

Definitely a question for Catalina
It looks like strips of thin foam sheathing glued directly to the fiberglass. The glue has now broken down.
Just my guess! It was added for stiffening and sound proofing the hull and of course, since it is foam, it would contribute to floatation?

I am anxious to hear what Catalina has to say!

 

[ejholmgren]

It appears that I have something similar to this going on http://www.capri14.org/forum/rotten-wood-t1391.html so it looks like I've got a project ahead of me this winter. I'm 5'10" 160lbs, so hopefully I will still be able to get in there to reach everything. I was able to get myself all the way into the cuddy, but crawling down the voids under the seats might be a contortionist act.