Sad day

Mashmaster

Active Member
My son finished sailing practice today and our 1974 Laser hull had a 1.5' split in the deck of the cockpit and it seems that the bottom of the cockpit is delaminated and isn't looking good. So, we are in the position of either purchasing another Laser or fixing this hull. We are leaning to purchasing another hull.

Is is possible cut out and fix/replace the cockpit decking? or is it just a parts boat now?

He is pretty devastated
 
Cockpit floor delamination can be fixed. I've had it successfully done to my boat, and there are several threads here discussing it.

A long and suddenly-appearing crack is something else. Could you post pictures of the problem area? (I can't quite figure out where "the deck of the cockpit" might be :confused: )

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Here are pictures, you can see the crack in the deck. It is a clean break and if I put my hand along the deck of the cockpit there is play so I thing the entire floor would need to be cutout and replaced. I don't know what is underneath the floor.
 

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Flex Seal to the rescue! :D Someone on here has covered the entire bottom of the cockpit with that stuff, if you want a temporary fix. I would try fixing it properly, personally.:confused: Looks like its where your feet would be from standing up on a roll tack...too many times! Heavy footed maybe? Nah, probably just an older, frequently sailed boat issue (wooden finger rails). Does water get into the hull? Hopefully not. Good luck with the repair.
 
It is a 1974, and he races. So I think it is signs of age. I would like to fix it properly and the boat will be a non-racer for his old dad.
 
There's your answer: fix the boat and sail her yourself, and let your son get another boat... everyone will be happy. :rolleyes:

That old workhorse is showing signs of age, but you can still repair that damage and simply use the boat for recreational purposes... ;)

I've been dealing with a bad foot injury for almost a week now, but today it's showing signs of improvement... there's life in it yet!!! :cool:
 
Looking at the boat pics again, that crack won't be too difficult to repair... looks as if the cockpit floor is just showing its age, and perhaps your son is a vigorous racer who habitually puts the boat to the test when competing. I'm not gonna say he's someone who "throws his weight around" during maneuvers, and it COULD be an inherent flaw in the factory glasswork which is just now making itself known. Hard to say... you know the old saw about some cars being built on better days than others? Well, I guess it's not much different with glassworkers... you don't want your boat built on a Monday morning by some fooliot with a severe hangover, lol. :confused:

As for the technical aspects, here's the good news: that curved glass nearby (where the cockpit floor meets the cockpit wall or bulkhead to starboard) is still plenty strong, and the damage is where you can still sand or grind along it, fairing out the area a bit to either side and end of the crack. Once you do that, you can re-glass the area using strips of matt and/or cloth cut to spec. As long as you expose enough clean glass to either side or end of the crack, you can lay strips in there, one atop of the other, and build the cockpit floor back up in that manner until it is plenty strong. :)

Now, be careful not to grind & sand all the way through the floor, just take it down enough to form a good bond when you start re-glassing. Right along the crack itself is where you want to grind & sand the "deepest" (so to speak), and the strips you cut to lay over the crack and rebuild the floor can be cut in gradually increasing widths and lengths as you progress with the repair. You understand me so far? Your faired-out area will be like a long rectangle with rounded ends, and you will be rebuilding that target area only, no excess work required. I don't see any inspection port nearby in your pics, but you can do this without one. :rolleyes:

It'd be nice to access that damage from the hull void and add some backing strips of glass where nobody would ever see them, but IMHO that isn't necessary, you should be able to repair this crack in a satisfactory manner just working in the cockpit. Just don't make the crack any worse by putting weight on it or messing with it too hard. Get it ground down, faired out, and sanded till it's ready, then get your materials laid out and handy: resin, catalyst, pre-cut matt and/or cloth strips, throwaway resin pot(s), rags, acetone, gloves, etc. Don't put any weight on the cockpit floor as you effect the repair... lean over from either side, aye? ;)

You can do this, no worries, it's nowhere NEAR as bad as you & your son think... once you've rebuilt the glass in a roughly linear strip (with rounded ends) along the original crack or damaged area, the cockpit floor will be plenty strong. You want to grind down deep enough to allow several layers of glass matt and/or cloth to be laid down where the crack originally ran, THAT is important. You'll get maximum strength out of your repair that way, the number of layers doesn't matter so much the farther you are from the original crack itself, you understand? Think of it as a linear 3-D "bandage" in a faired trough, lol. Cheers!!! :cool:

P.S. No need to stress your knees or back while working on this repair, leave the boat on its trailer or put it up on sawhorses or some improvised cradle as you knock out the work. Bring the work up to your level, rather than stoop down or hunker down over it... your knees & back will thank you later, lol. When it comes time to rebuild, you can lay out your materials in the cockpit itself, or on the nearby deck... I'd put a piece of cardboard or plastic down first, just to avoid making a mess as you get on with the business. Be sure you PRE-CUT the glass "patches" you'll use to gradually fill the linear repair area, they should increase in size. :D
 
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Ok, this depends wholly on whether the inside skin is intact or not. You can try poking carefully that crack with a knife, and if it goes all the way trough... then it's a lot bigger job. There's about one centimetre of foam core between the skins, it has been crushed and some is even visible now (it's that brown stuff). Between the inside skin and the bottom of the hull there's just air.

I am not going to tell you how to repair it because I wouldn't really know :oops: What I'd do myself is to get an actual fibreglass pro to evaluate it. Didn't you already get acquainted with Fred Schroth?

(Anyway, it's called the the cockpit floor ;) The deck is where cockpits end in the opposite direction...)

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OK thanks. I will talk to Fred. I have a feeling that the answer will be the closest dump is about 5 miles away :-(
 
THAT would be a waste of a perfectly-salvageable hull... and I AM a fiberglass PRO, as far as that idiotic line goes. WTF, dude, you could always install an inspection port in the cockpit bulkhead with minimal hassle, and THAT would enable you to access the cockpit floor damage through the hull void, IF the damage extends that far down, which it may NOT. I wouldn't TOSS a salvageable hull upon the advice of someone who admits to being CLUELESS about fiberglass repair... enough said, except for the part about how I won the only race I ever bothered to enter, LOL. CHEERS!!! :cool:
 
THAT would be a waste of a perfectly-salvageable hull... and I AM a fiberglass PRO, as far as that idiotic line goes. WTF, dude, you could always install an inspection port in the cockpit bulkhead with minimal hassle, and THAT would enable you to access the cockpit floor damage through the hull void, IF the damage extends that far down, which it may NOT. I wouldn't TOSS a salvageable hull upon the advice of someone who admits to being CLUELESS about fiberglass repair... enough said, except for the part about how I won the only race I ever bothered to enter, LOL. CHEERS!!! :cool:
Thanks, I will look at it and also talk to Fred. Hopefully, I can save it for a rec boat.
 
Cactus... of course you’re a pro :D but as far as I know, you’re not running a fibreglass shop in Mashmaster’s area. Fred is, so he can inspect the damage physically right there. Beats any virtual help.

I didn’t advise to toss this boat, either :rolleyes: It’s obviously ”salvageable”, but it’s also possible that its owner judges that the salvage is going to require too much time/effort/money. We simply don’t know yet because we can’t find out the extent of the damage just by looking at pictures.

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You don't need to put "salvageable" in quotation marks, you can find the word in Noah Webster's book... but that's not why I'm here. Drum roll, please... ;)

"MY APOLOGIES, I WAS HAVING A BAD DAY, DESPITE THE FACT THAT I CAN NOW WALK WITHOUT EXPERIENCING SEVERE PAIN, LOL." :confused:

I shouldn't have unloaded on y'all, I'm just dealing with circumstances here that could p!ss off the Pope... the fact that I'm even considering flipping my home, when I COULD'VE been working this whole time, racking up paid vacay and retirement. :mad:

On the plus side, multiple folks have answered my ad about possibly rehoming my cats, including several Cochise County locals with serious acreage... ranchers & horse property owners, minimum 40-acre spreads for some folks. Good outdoor prospects for the kittehs... :)

So, let me go stand in the corner and slap myself... [Cue the loud slapping noises, accompanied by painful cries of masochistic rage.] :eek:

"OKAY, I'M GOOD!!! NOW, WHERE DID I LEAVE MY DAMNED BEER?!?" :rolleyes:

Better file this one, it ain't often that ol' Cactus Cowboy makes a pubic apology, but I'm man enough to know when my own sentiments enter too deeply into play, and this is one of those times, lol. Could've already taken TWO weeklong paid sailing vacations in Dago, but meh, I've said all that before... CHEERS!!! :cool:
 
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Wait a minute... "pubic apology?" Okay, NOW yer pulling some April Fools prank, LOL. Meh, doesn't make much difference at this point... CHEERS!!! ;)
 
Well, we were blessed with an opportunity to purchase a much more recent boat that will work out really well for his racing that he is just starting. Tomorrow is his first Laser regatta.

I will see if I can get any of Fred's time to look at it for advice to fix the other hull. It won't be a race boat, but it could be a good boat to have fun on.
 

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