Balsa Core question

Dan,

I looked at the list of boats on this site, called "Our C-Dorys".
You can see it by clicking on that name in the menu at the top of the page.

The list can be sorted in various ways and I found a 2008 25' Cruiser with a production number of 273. Based on that, I would estimate that between 273 and 300 25's have been built by the new factory. Of that number, how many have been reported with core problems? Perhaps 5 to 10 is my guess.

Any boat can have problems, just try tossing some copper pennies, or copper wire clips into the bottom of an aluminum boat, add a little salt water and see what happens. Those two metals will make an electrolysis couple that will eat holes in the boats bottom.

If a 25 ft C-Dory fits your needs, buy one and then remove each screw or hatch that penetrates the deck or floor, squirt in some 4200 sealer, and reinsert the screw, or reseal the hatch. That should take care of the problem for your ownership lifetime. Bob(thataway), would recommend removing the core around the screw hole and filling with epoxy, then redrilling and inserting the screw. That is a better repair, and needed if the problem is severe, but just sealing with 4200 will be adequate preventive care, in my opinion.

No boat is going to be 100% perfect, so the new owner will need to spend some time doing maintenance each year.

I have heard of the Boston Whaler problem of the entire core becoming saturated with water, and I would not like to endure that, but the C-dory problems should never reach that stage. They are mostly small problems and easily fixed.

Good luck on your search.
 
Once and for all, what parts of a CD-22 (newer than 2002) are balsa cored?? Isn't the transom marine plywood?? Are the hull and deck the only balsa cored parts?? Then that begs the question how would they bond a plywood transom to a balsa cored fiber glass hull?

I ask because I've got screwed in dealer installed sensors below the waterline on the stern for depth, speed, etc.

Thanks much!
 
The bottom of all current C Dories are balsa cored. The part of the roof is variable by model. Some bulkheads of the 25 and TC 255 are cored.

Older boats had plywood transoms, some newer boats have foam cored transoms. The balsa and plywood are not bonded. There may be a void between the balsa and plywood where the transom and bottom join. Basically the outer layers of glass are placed in the mold, then the plywood and balsa are laid in place--this tends to give a void in the juncture. The strength is from the box sections of the construction. More glass is laid on the interior.

The balsa problem is not just the bottom, but far more common in the cockpit deck of the CD 25.

If the transom is plywood, then I suggest that the starboard is applied first, because there is a real problem of rot in the plywood transom. (See my album on the CD25 repairs).
 
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