thin cockpit deck

S

sroyall

New Member
I am looking at a laser and laser 2. Both boats are a good price but have thin deck floors in the cockpit. Is this a serious problem? Can you re-glass the cockpit floor?
Thx.
 
I don't think it's uncommon for Lasers to have some movement in the floors, but you'll notice that when standing on the floor there is actually supporting underneath it. Well this is the case with my Laser.
I recommend you go with the Laser. If you are looking for a 2 man boat, go with something that has a strong class, like a 420 or 470.
 
sroyall said:
... have thin deck floors in the cockpit.
Click to expand...
When you say "thin", what do you mean? Is the floor flexing, or has the gelcoat just worn off and the underlying fiberglass is showing through?

Cheers,

Geoff S.
 
Hi,
there is a very good report at drLaser.org. At Maintenance-area there you will find a page that is called "Major surgery for severly dammaged Laser cockpit soles". For beeing able to read the hints there, you have to be an ILCA member, sorry.
Bye-bye
LooserLu
 
Ludwig is right, the really good articles on cockpit sole (floor) repair are all restricted to ILCA members (and I've also had trouble getting to them recently).

However, if the floor is just slightly soft and, most importantly, the foam core is intact, then you might be able to repair it using the same techique as is described for fixing cored decks:
http://www.west.net/~lpm/hobie/archives/v1-i5/tip15.htm
http://www.catsail.com/archives/v3-i4/feature1.htm

I actually repaired my badly damaged cockpit floor by injecting WEST epoxy thickened with a lot of MicroLight filler to fill void left when the foam core disintegrated:
http://laserforum.org/showthread.php?t=764

I can't really recommend this repair, as MicroLight isn't intended for this kind of application. On the other hand, it hasn't shown any indication of deterioration after a season and a half of pretty hard use (I weigh over 100 kg, so I put some wear-and-tear on the cockpit). I'll probably write it up for drLaser sometime this winter after making sure it holds up through the season.

Cheers,

Geoff S.
 
GeoffS said:
Ludwig is right, the really good articles on cockpit sole (floor) repair are all restricted to ILCA members (and I've also had trouble getting to them recently).

However, if the floor is just slightly soft and, most importantly, the foam core is intact, then you might be able to repair it using the same techique as is described for fixing cored decks:
http://www.west.net/~lpm/hobie/archives/v1-i5/tip15.htm
http://www.catsail.com/archives/v3-i4/feature1.htm

I actually re
Click to expand...
 
Thx guys. I think I will go ahead and offer 500.00. I have done some fiberglass work in the past so if I have to put in some hours on it that is ok - Will let u know how I make out.
 
The "thin" floor is more common on the Laser 2 as it is a delamination between the foam core and the fiberglass/gel coat layer. I solved the problem by drilling 2 holes, one to inject epoxy and the other to let the pressure and air escape. This bonded the deck and made it strong again.

I have not had this problem with my laser
 
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