There are times....

[dwaynec]

when I think that I made a mistake in buying my boat! Don't get me wrong, I love the boat. But, there are things that were missed in the survey that are now starting to bite me in the aft.

When I bought the boat, the aft deck, above the aft cabin and at the lower helm was covered with carpet that was held down by the double sided carpet tape. Neither I nor the surveyor pulled the carpet loose to see what was underneath. Well, this week the admiral and I decided it was time to remove the carpet so the deck underneath could be cleaned. I should have done this before I bought the boat. It seems like the prior owners had decided to repaint the deck. Trouble is, they neglected to plug four holes in the deck that were at one time utilized to hold something secure. They also decided that properly preparing the deck for paint was way too much bother. They didn't even bother to clean the deck!!!! Sooo, now I have a deck that the paint is not sticking too, and a possibility of rotten core in the area where the holes were left unfilled since I washed the carpet as part of my normal cleaning. Assuming that the core is wet, what would be the best way to take care of this. Should I cut out some sections of the deck where the holes are to let them dry, or is there another way. The holes are 1/4".

Sometimes I wonder what the prior owners were thinking when they did some of the tihings they have done. Hopefully, I will be better.

[Nonchalant1]

Even with 1/4 in. holes, you should be able t see the core and tell if it's wetted badly. Also does the deck feel "soft" there or does it all feel like one single structure? Since that deck is covered and curved to cause water to move to the gunnels, with any luck, what little water got in there dried out OK. If the core does not look or feel rotten and theh deck's not soft there, you could put a vacuum on each hole for a few hours, inject CPES in the holes, let it dry a day, then fill with WaterWeld and your good to go.

If the deck has soft spots around the holes, you have a completely different problem requiring cutting off the top layer, digging out and replacing the core and reglassing the deck surface.

Doug

[Genesis]

Get a plastic mallet and start tapping now that the carpet is up.... if it thuds you've got trouble. If it sounds solid it is.

In that case stick a shop vac on each hole as noted for a few hours, then soak the exposed core with CPES. Let that dry for a week once applied (make sure water can't get in there in the interim) and then I'd fill with epoxy filled with a medium-density fairing filler, fair smooth and you're done.

If you have "thuds" around the holes instead of "rings", you've got trouble to some degree. The bad news is that Hatt's skins are thick enough that by the time you detect delamination by sounding its usually QUITE bad.....

[rangerscott275]

don't worry.... I am guessing we all feel that way from time to time! I know that I just footed an enormous bill to an electrician for hooking up my fireboy system correctly (which I thought was done correctly originally - but found out was nothing more than some bottles suspended in the air), hooking up engine alarm system, and replacing bonding system. When I bought boat, I thought bonding system was just disconnected in a few points...turned out the whole thing had basically been ripped out and needed to be redone from scratch...then upon looking closely in the main circuit panel, my electriction determined that basically the whole boat's electric had issues...(reverse polarity, improper grounding, hot nuetral, etc) and I need to go through a major redo. All in all I love my boat too....I guess it is only when you discover those hidden items and / or write those big checks that it hurts the most. On the upside, I am about 95% done with one big project that I am going to post pics of here momentarily....I've been working on converting SR2 into a combo office / guest room / library and it turned out amazing!

[mstailey]

dwaynec,
What is under the deck where the holes are? If you can get to it look for brown water stains or other signs of water intrusion. If you really can't see anything then the prior suggestions of the vaccum seem reasonable before sealing up. If you see any brown stains you have more than a small wet core problem.

[Pascal]

i also have doubts about the coring on my aft deck... scott, how stiff is your since you also have an early one ? i wonder if the aft deck on the early 53s are just a little more springy than the later one. probably wishfull thinking...

i have a lot of THUDS which i'm ignoring for now, but the springyness is annoying... i someone heavy walks around you can feel the table moving :-(

guess i will have to bite the bullet the day i decide to finally rip the carpet and put either teak or fake teak, cut it up and replace the core...

[dwaynec]

Well, my deck does not feel like concrete, it will deflect to a degree, so maybe my core is not in the best of shape. It does not really sound bad to my ears when I tap on it, but that may be because I don't understand the sound I am hearing.

Now I have a new problem that is going to get my undivided attention as soon as my eyes and brain have gotten fully awake. Last night the admiral and I were sitting on the aft deck and I asked here to turn on the lamp that is up by the helm. She turned it on and it didn't seem to be as bright as normal. Then after a few seconds it slowly turned dim and then went out. Not like a bulb normally burns out. This is only a 25 watt AC lamp so it is never very bright, but it provides plenty of light for just sitting and talking. Anyway, I replaced the bulb and turned the light back on. Nothing. OK, what is going on here? Lamp going bad, or what? So I plugged out little box fan in to see if it was the lamp or something else. Fan won't turn on. I plugged the fan into one of the outlets in the salon and it works fine. OK, check the outlet. It looks good and the connections are tight, but there are only TWO wires going to the outlet instead of three. The wires, one black and one white are stranded copper, but they appear to only be about 14 guage and they are not tinned! Now this outlet is not one that Hatteras put in, but was added by one of the priors. It is wired into one of the circuits for the lights in the salon. Of course the wiring is not easy to follow as it is behind the cabinet in the helm. I am hoping that I can follow this thing to try and get this fixed as electrical problems tend to rear up and bite you in tender places.

Going to have to go to the store today and buy a new electrical meter so I can get this figured.

Always something!

[admiralty58]

I was worried about the strength of the aft deck in my 1970 also- worried enough that I had Hartge Yacht Yard in Maryland do a pretty thorough evaluation of it, headliner down etc- It was completely dry- and springy- was just the way it was built. No Problem Found. Maybe its because of the hatch?

Incidently- my old 1970 is for sale in Boca- and getting cheap by the looks of it- that was a nice boat- I brought it out of Michigan in 99 or so- inside stored every winter since new- it was a super clean well maintained 53- I put 3500 miles on those Cummins in one year - 6 years ago now I guess- but it ran like a watch back then- haven't seen it since- but it is worth a look if you know someone looking for one

[rangerscott275]

I think my back deck is ok (there is some spring but not too bad)...it too is covered by carpet and when I surveyed boat I didn't pull up carpet either...so I guess there could be a hidden problem. Where I did identify problems are around the outside of flybridge - not where you walk in the center, but instead around the outside perimeter, and also on the sides of the boat where (not sure what to call this piece but) the supports on outside of boat that connect from the stern deck railing up to underneath the flybridge...those I think are pretty much shot. I imagine this will be a big project to fix and quite costly but since it is already effed, but not really a safety concern or affecting usability of boat, I am just rebedding all places where there are screws going in fly and calling it good for now.

[admiralty58]

As a veteran of a complete flybridge core replacement on my 73, I can tell you that the curved side areas of the bridge are actually cored with whatever consisted of Marine Plywood back then. It is not balsa, and it does not have the wicking effect that balsa does. The plywood was dry, while the balsa was soaked and rotten...everywhere. It was all removed, (took the bridge off) We left the plywood in place. I would imagine that the structural areas supporting those stainless braces would also be marine ply.