question about repairing seam between cockpit and cabin

S

surfbird

New member
I just returned from a trip where my 22' cruiser took a beating in rough seas. Upon return I noticed that a 2" wide by 16" long section of fiberglass connecting the cabin floor to the cockpit was loose. As a result, the short vertical section of the cabin wall under the door has play.

I am thinking of removing the loose strip of fiberglass and reforming the connection using a marine epoxy. Is this a suitable repair considering how flexible the connection between cabin and cockpit appears to be? I.e., should I use fiberglass instead of epoxy?

For the record, I have no experience with fiberglass repairs.

Thanks in advance for your input.
Jim

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The proper repair is going to be to put 3" or 4" wide glass tape over this "seam"-- To get proper adhesion, watertight, and structural integrity, you should mask off a 1 1/2" strip on the hull bottom, and a 1 1/2" strip on the bulkhead side. Grind old glass off, get the gel coat off, just barely. Then lay down two strips of 3" glass--a slightly better repair would be grinding back 2" and then laying down first the 4" and second the 3" glass tape. The 3" will be adequate. Epoxy resin will give a stronger bond and better repair, although vinyl-ester or polyester resin will do.

What is important here, is that this aft bulkhead needs to be water tights, except where there is a drain hole or cut along the bottom into the box, where the bilge pump is located inside the door (assuming that your boat is the same as my late 2006 model. You don't want water getting into the core of this bulkhead. Also this bulkhead does give some structural integrity to the hull--and is important.

Just using epoxy, such as " Marine Tex" will fail, due to movement between the hull and bulkhead. You will not have enough strength with the epoxy filler material.

PM me if you want more detailed instructions.
 
Did you get caught out in the weather on the Sound? I cancelled my weekend trip after seeing the forecast. I heard it was horrible out there with torrential rain.
Doesn't sound like it will be too tough to fix yourself however if you are not up for doing the repairs maybe call Boat Works of Alaska. I've seen some of their restorations and repairs, looks like they do a good job.
 
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