rotting plywood?

ritzpro

New Member
It was bound to happen. I forgot to put in stern plug and sailed for a couple hours. Took me a while to figure out why the boat was behaving so strangely.

After a I snapped the lifting bridle and other misadventures, I finally got the boat ashore and drained.

Inside the cuddy cabin I found some pieces of delaminated mahogany plywood floating about. Should I be concerned?

can't quite figure out where they came from. All in all, if I pieced all the ply together it would be about six inches square.

There's a little delamination of the keel (caused by the pressure of the rollers below, but not enough to release quite so much wood)
 
Plywood

A lot depends on how old your boat is. A few (very few) of the old Mod 1s had deteriotion of the plywood bracing the cockpit floor. If you can squeeze into the cuddy far enough to shine a flashlight back under the floor you might be able to see something. If you have the problem - well, it's a problem, but not fatal. I've only seen one serious example, causing the floor to sink a bit around the centerboard trunk. This caused the centerboard slot to bulge, making it hard to raise/lower the board. He said, to heck with it and sanded the board thinner. That was ten years ago and the boat is still sailing just fine.
 
Roller problem

PS - I forgot to add: Do something about the trailer roller pressing against the hull. That can be a serious problem, causing the hull to crack. If possible, move the roller forward so it's under the hull where it's more of a "V" and thus stronger.
 
Actually, it is causing a bit of damage. The little keel that's extends just forward of the cockpit on the inside of the hull is starting to delaminate from the hull. Presumably from me standing on the boat when its' on the trailer and the roller pushing up.

As soon as I've moved the roller, and maybe made some bunks for further support, I was thinking of doing a little fiberglass repair to that section. Any suggestions?
 
See the post labeled "trailer Info" for some pictures of forward swivel bunks for about $40. I made these for the same reasons that you have. with these it also seems that I do not need to back the trailer into the water quite so far.

Art
 
Thanks. I DID read your post and was inspired to make something similar. I'm off to West Marine tomorrow.
 
I have been nervous about leaving the plug open.

My drain plug is permanently attached so it stays at the drain opening even when completely open.

Whenever I attach the rudder I tighten the drain plug.

I think I may detach the drain plug and attach it to the tiller with a lanyard that is bright in color. This way if I forget to put it in, it will be in my way, staring me in the face. I could then either put it in or get out ASAP to minimize the water intake.

I also will be picking up a spare plug to carry onboard.

Ritzpro,

Let me know if you want additional pictures of the bow swivel bunks or if you have questions.

Art
 
I would definitely love any photos of the bunks you have. I think you can attach them to this forum. I was curious about the rollers between the bunks. Was that just for spacing?
 
Ritzpro,
The reason that I had for the roller in the middle was two fold
1) When loading the boat (remember I do not use a lift) if the point of the bow happen to squeeze through the bunks, then the point would just ride onto the roller until the bow flattened out enough for the bunks to engage.

2) If I was totally off base or the bunks failed for any reason the roller would provide at least as much support as I had before. In actually I now have more because of the new placement of the original roller up farther on the bow wgere it is somewhat pointed.

LEt me look at the pictures and depending on how many I have I will either post them in the Trailer Info thread or I will look into emailing them to you.

Art
 

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