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Originally posted by hlprmnky

I wasn’t able to listen to your video, just watch it, but I would say that the wood under the coaming was meant to be a backing plate for the hardware that is through-bolted there, not an attempt to replace the damaged coaming deck. I cannot say much good about what I see in the bilge; I assume this is a swing-keel? I have a fin keel so I don’t have any experience with what parts of that are structural, but there is zero un-glassed wood in my fin keel bilge and that seems correct to me. Rain or even condensation as a hot, humid day cools after sundown can put a noticeable amount of water down there.

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Originally posted by hlprmnky

Aha! Watched again with narration this time; I missed a critical 180-degree turn into the quarter berth (and 180-degree turn from looking down to up) and thought you were poking the camera down into the bilge, which I think would have been Not Okay.

My SR/FK boat does also have those teak covers for cutouts above the quarter berth; they are for exactly the purpose you’re using them for, inspection and maintenance of the backing plates and securing hardware for through-bolted deck hardware. I have not opened mine up yet, nor have I drilled through the coaming, but my suspicion is that the cockpit/coaming molding area is *not* cored, just because it would be so complex to get those narrow, curved shapes fitted properly. The transom itself *is* cored, which I know because I added a through-hull for an electric bilge pump output hose this season.
I don’t know the answer with certainty, but I would be unsurprised to learn that those pieces of teak are factory-original backing plates for the cleats, etc. that were not glassed in because it would be challenging and expensive to do, and that their succumbing to dry rot has left the hardware “backed” by them in the same structural-support limbo as a deck with rotted coring material. I hope others with more experience and knowledge chime in as well, but I think you will probably want to replace those boards, maybe with same-sized pieces of G10 or at least fresh marine plywood with a good dousing of epoxy to seal them up well, and then use actual thickened epoxy and fairing compound to re-do the “repair” the PO put in place.

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• Do as much of the work from below as practical so as to minimize the amount of cosmetic repairs needed from above.
• Replace all damaged wood and fiberglass.  Don't try wishful shortcuts such as saturating damaged areas with thin epoxy-like snake oils.
• Finish deck surface work with gelcoat, not paint.
• While you're at it, add 'drill-2x-epoxy-fill-redrill' compression sleeves in all fastener deck penetrations.  Let us know if you need more info on that procedure.
• To further reinforce heavily loaded deck hardware like winches & docking cleats, below deck I added backing plates of fiberglass and fender washers to spread the stress.
• My personal preference is to use WEST epoxy and related products for repairs, rather than polyester resin.  No doubt other major brands of boat repair epoxy would work just as well.

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Originally posted by Leon Sisson

Chris,

I have done some repairs to my 1979 Catalina 25 similar to the type you're faced with.  When I got my C25, it had similar damage to the foredeck from the pulpit bashing against something during a hurricane, followed by poor quality repairs.  I have made modifications inside both P&S coamings.  I eliminated both 'clothes drier' vents, and relocated the stern docking cleats to where the vents were.
 
All of the work described (and lots more) has subsequently withstood over 20 years of use (except for adding cockpit coaming pockets from an older Catalina C22 which was done a couple years ago).

In broad general terms, my advice includes:

• Do as much of the work from below as practical so as to minimize the amount of cosmetic repairs needed from above.
• Replace all damaged wood and fiberglass.  Don't try wishful shortcuts such as saturating damaged areas with thin epoxy-like snake oils.
• Finish deck surface work with gelcoat, not paint.
• While you're at it, add 'drill-2x-epoxy-fill-redrill' compression sleeves in all fastener deck penetrations.  Let us know if you need more info on that procedure.
• To further reinforce heavily loaded deck hardware like winches & docking cleats, below deck I added backing plates of fiberglass and fender washers to spread the stress.
• My personal preference is to use WEST epoxy and related products for repairs, rather than polyester resin.  No doubt other major brands of boat repair epoxy would work just as well.

The side decks and tops of the coamings were originally reinforced with plywood, maybe 3/4" thick.  If you're feeling extra fanatical, stacking thinner plywood would be even stiffer and stronger.  For example, I laminated 1/4" plywood with epoxy and fiberglass, pressed into place with a hydraulic jack, to replace rotted core under the crowned foredeck ahead of the anchor locker.
 
Re:  "Unfortunately, during my pre purchase inspection of this boat... I didn't notice this damage... I can only take it as a hard lesson learned,..."

Let this honest admission serve as a warning to others!  Hire a professional surveyor for any boat costing more than you would be willing to throw away!  (I've hauled multiple Craig's List 'bargains' to the landfill, and am currently trying to recoup my sunk costs in a power boat project I'll never find time to finish.  I can be a slow learner.)

— Leon

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Originally posted by Leon Sisson


Re:  "Unfortunately, during my pre purchase inspection of this boat... I didn't notice this damage... I can only take it as a hard lesson learned,..."

Let this honest admission serve as a warning to others!  Hire a professional surveyor for any boat costing more than you would be willing to throw away!...

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