Disaster!

aquaman

Active Member
Winds were in the 5-15 knot range. Hiked out, going fast, heard a cracking sound. When back on trailer noticed that the shrouds were super loose. Then my guts churned when I saw that the main support beam for mast had cracked. Lifted up a piece of fiberglass and dug a fingernail into wet, rotted wood.
This repair will needs professional help, it would almost seem fatal to my boat! But I've got a ton of $$ and sweat equity in her, won't give up until it's fixed. Anybody have a similar experiance?
 

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Once owned a Cape Dory Typhoon with soft areas in the deck and under the mast tabernacle, among other places. The main issue turned out to be seepage which had rotted the balsa core in the fiberglass decking/layup. We cut through the outer fiberglass skin with a small circular saw and/or dremel tool with cutter. Then, we were able to lift the skin off to access the rotten core. The skin was cut outside of the soft spots so we were able to then even up the edges of the core which was still solid. The bottom layer of the fiberglass "sandwich" was left intact. Also, could expose a portion of the beam which was soft by carefully removing the under skin of the fiberglass over the soft areas of the beam. Glassed in a patch on the beam and replaced the balsa core with treated plywood with a matching thickness. I seem to remember that we had some teak lumber which was used to strengthen the beam along with the glassing work. The underside of the new core was epoxied with resin and matting and pressed in place. Edges were then saturated with resin which contained a filler. Then, we epoxied the skin back down in a similar manner. Went back and filled all seams with resin and sanding filler. Sanded and then painted all areas with a self leveling marine enamel (probably would use a two-part paint if doing it today) by rolling and tipping. The configuration of the Typhoon was such that I was able to add reinforcing supports from the underneath of the beam down to the exposed fiberglass bottom in the bilge.
My 14.2 is a Mod3 and has no teak, but I am guessing that if you could remove the teak surrounding the tabernacle, etc. that you can get to the beam edge and then hide the work with the brightwork later. Lots of work but my labor was certainly free and all I had to spend money for was the West System marine materials, piece of teak, and paint. Boat looked great when we finished and was actually more stable under the mast than ever before, and we ran a pretty tight rigging set up, which transferred right much force to the mast base under sail.
As far as I know that old (1974) boat is still sailing although not in my immediate area.
Just for what it is worth....
 
found these pictures at facebook group
 

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I've got a competent boat repair guy on board. His first idea was to run a stainless pipe up, resting on the wood center strip and up to a junction point where it would support the mast. Cutting out the rotted wood as needed. That would cause minimal restoration work but has a few issues. First and worst is that it would destroy the custom battery arrangement that I will not part with. Secondly, don't think the deck would be supported as well. With one new continuous board glassed in across the end of the deck, there's a lot more strength to be had. Thirdly, I really don't want a pipe blocking the middle of the cuddy opening.
Alternately, he could surgically cut out the deck above the crossmember and do a proper job of replacing the board and glassing it in properly. Do a nice restoration job on the deck. If it took more $$ so be it.
Whatever I end up doing will be a good tutorial for all the other Mod 1 owners who may face the same problem some day. Can't understand how the water got into the wood in the first place. All I know is I've put too much time and $$ into my boat to just give up and throw it in the dumpster!
 

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