Is it over?

Mama H Chicago

Mother of sailboats
Very sad day at the Boats by Chandler Boat Yard. While removing the aluminum rail from Fishnet, we discovered that most of her deck was no longer attached to her hull. In addition, someone had used epoxy in one section perhaps trying to seal it, and in the rest of it, a heavy amount of plumbers putty, yes, plumbers putty was used before riveting the aluminum back on. In many instances, the aluminum was drilled all the way through both layers with the rivet…

As we began splitting her open to see how bad the water damage was inside, we heard a crack. The back of the storage compartment split open. :-(.

There was a moment of silence. Then obscenities. Then rum. My helper declared her gone immediately. As a paramedic and a person with an additional 35 years on me over my helper, I explained that I wasn’t prepared to call time of death yet, and we said our apologies to Fishnet and took a moment to reassess options (and I poured more Mount Gay in my glass).

While my helper kid is probably right, that he won’t be able to patch her strongly enough internally where she cracked, I told him that I could not give up on her without consulting you guys here first. If it’s truly a lost cause, I’ll turn Fishnet into a donor boat so that Bluegirl and En V can be complete and have spare parts.

If she is salvageable, we will try whatever is suggested to make her sailable. Either way, I may wrap her up and put her someplace safe, warm and dry, until we can resurrect her…

Here are pics looking aft from inside the storage area (1972 Sunfish), forward from between the split deck and hull, and the for added color, the plumbers putty and epoxy on the aluminum rail.

Thoughts please? Fishnet was my first Sunfish and I’ve actually shed a tear or two thinking that she’s not salvageable, but I’m also a 54 year old mother of three humans who can accept reality if it comes down to it.
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Fishnet lives? I just realized that typically one does not sail with the storage compartment in direct contact with the sea/lake…. So the fact that she is a little delicate back there really shouldn’t cause a whole lot of problems… Am I right??
 
I'm surprised the plumber's putty didn't seal the edge! :p I would defer to Signal Charlie but I definitely think she's salvageable. The damage to the storage compartment doesn't look that bad.
I think I just lost my mind for a moment or a day. To be all sailor-like about it, duct tape over that hole (or nothing) would still make her sailable as long as I don’t routinely fill the storage compartment with water to it’s top!
 
Interesting that the cubby's "roof" has a pair of embedded battens. I'll have to look in the morning's daylight to see if that's something I'd missed in the three Sunfish here.

You could restore whatever strength the cubby provided by jamming some "mat" (non-directional) fiberglass material into the opening, and daub resin generously on it with a brush. Those Styrofoam blocks need to be refurbished, so they support the rear deck again.

I bought my 8th Sunfish hull recently hoping to scrounge some sections for future repairs. However, it is a better hull than the #6 Sunfish I'm currently restoring! :confused: (I've sold #7 and #5, and currently sailing #4--I don't name my boats to avoid "feelings").

Well, one is named "Wind Tax", with an arrow pointing to the $40 decal to protest the state of New Hampshires fee for bending their wind! :mad:

Back to the subject: Set that hull aside and get some "contemplative seat time" (see member Signal Charlie's "Moaning Chair") and think of remedies. It's fiberglass, so everything can be "set-aright" eventually.

Take heart! :)
 
Interesting that the cubby's "roof" has a pair of embedded battens. I'll have to look in the morning's daylight to see if that's something I'd missed in the three Sunfish here.

You could restore whatever strength the cubby provided by jamming some "mat" (non-directional) fiberglass material into the opening, and daub resin generously on it with a brush. Those Styrofoam blocks need to be refurbished, so they support the rear deck again.

I bought my 8th Sunfish hull recently hoping to scrounge some sections for future repairs. However, it is a better hull than the #6 Sunfish I'm currently restoring! :confused: (I've sold #7 and #5, and currently sailing #4--I don't name my boats to avoid "feelings").

Well, one is named "Wind Tax", with an arrow pointing to the $40 decal to protest the state of New Hampshires fee for bending their wind! :mad:

Back to the subject: Set that hull aside and get some "contemplative seat time" (see member Signal Charlie's "Moaning Chair") and think of remedies. It's fiberglass, so everything can be "set-aright" eventually.

Take heart! :)
I didn’t notice those either until just now. I agree, I haven’t gotten on the water at all yet, and I now have …FIVE boats.
 
See "Moaning Chair."

See also "Galloping Horse."

She's a fiberglass boat, put together with adhesives (not sealant). What we'd do is ascertain if there were old repair bits on the tub flange and deck/hull seam, dried fiberglass strips, old epoxy, old adhesive etc... clean that out and put new repair bits in. We'd lightly sand the deck/hull seam. For the tub we'd use a few strips of fiberglass cloth wet out with copious amounts of thickened epoxy, clamp the deck edges closed (for seam alignment) and let the tub repair dry a few days. I wouldn't even be against using 3M 5200 or 4200 to reseal the tub.

Then we'd back our way out, putting in some 2 part expanding marine grade flotation poured from small cups onto the top of the white blocks and along the bottom edge, not much, a little goes a long way. I'm not against Great Stuff either, as long as boat's innards are kept dry after use.

Then we'd wet out the seam with a strip of one inch wide fiberglass cloth and thickened epoxy and clamp everything into alignment. We put paint stir sticks along the deck edge to help spread the clamps light pressure along the seam, The thickened epoxy fills gaps and we look for th epoxy to start to barely squeeze out along the seam, and then clamp no more. We also look for areas where no epoxy squeezed out and use a syringe to inject a little more epoxy into that area.

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If you need some cheap helper clamps, buy a section of thick wall 4 inch PVC and cut them into 2 inch sections, then cut a slit to act as a clamp. They work well in concert with regular spring clamps but you'd need a lot if using just PVC.

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The aluminum trim is fine, now it has drain holes. Clean it up and be careful to file down any metal burrs along the bottom edge. Fill old holes on flange with thickened epoxy or your structural adhesive of choice, drill new holes as needed.

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