Deck Separated from Hull Repair advice

[Sailin Marge]

Good day Sailors! I have a vintage 1980ish Sunfish that has seen some better days, but still has great sailing days in her! But, years of neglect has resulted in the hull separating from the deck in several places.
Need advice on how to reattach hull to deck, please Mates.

 

[beldar boathead]

You need adhesive and some clamps. Be sure to clean the mating surfaces off all loose stuff, scuff with sandpaper, then wipe with acetone and let dry. West Epoxy is a great bonding choice, and apparently 5200 marine adhesive will hold things together too. I think there was some fairly recent discussion of this problem on this board. BB

 

[mhirte]

Good day Sailors! I have a vintage 1980ish Sunfish that has seen some better days, but still has great sailing days in her! But, years of neglect has resulted in the hull separating from the deck in several places.
Need advice on how to reattach hull to deck, please Mates.

My old boat had a bad seam which was recently repaired. Some of the joint was still intact but it was possible to pry it apart with a sharpened putty knife. (A real problem spot is where the traveller attaches as these support blocks are very solidly attached.) The old glue was removed and a Dremel with a sanding drum was very useful at prepping the surfaces. I used epoxy (see previous post) and lots and lots of small clamps. The boat was glued in three segments - front to middle of cockpit left and right – and the rear all at one time. For each segment I used 30 of the small (less than $1) spring clamps and would have liked still more. It was difficult to get the epoxy that had been filled to the thickness of mayonnaise compressed equally. The end result is very tight and solid. If I were to do this repair again I would use the same approach.

It sounds like in your case it would be tempting to repair only the failed portions of the seam, but then prepping surfaces and getting glue into the joint would be much harder. Good luck!

 

[LAuman]

I second the advice to separate them completely and clean the surfaces to get a good continuous bond. If you use the 3M 5200, it will cure slowly enough to give time to clamp it thoroughly (5200 is good; yields a stronger mechanical bond than a lot of RTVS sealers.). If you use standard epoxy, do it upside down so a lot can't run through (you can slow it down a little if it's cooled), and do a second application to make sure it's all sealed (If it doesn't pool on the outside, it's running through.) You can thicken the epoxy with 3 or four additives that have different flow/strength properties. West now offers a thickened product (See West Marine or Jamestown Distributors). In fact, if you're doing any boat repair/maintenance/modification work, check out Jamestown.