Water damage in cabin

[Atiyeh12]

So we bought a tayana 37! Shes a project boat but thats ok with us. my question is, when i went down and looked at her there seemed to be some water spots, i cant tell if its damage or just the venner stained. Obviously if its just the venner then its an easy fix, but what if its the wood under it thats damaged? Does anyone have any experiance replacing all that wood inside? were talking all the cabnits on the port side in the salon and the dinnete benches. the sole looks to be in great condidtion.

[sparrowhawk1]

I'm surprised your soles in such great shape. The only way you will know the extent of the damage is by removing the veneered plywood. To me it's not as major as it seems. Once everything's removed its pretty simple to replace with new. If the structural plywood is damaged it's a major job but you gotta do what you gotta do. But the fact that your sole looks so good I think you're safe

[Atiyeh12]

Thats what i was thinking. i figured if it was really that bad then it would have affected the sole as well.

[Ukeluthier]

Your sole may be solid wood, not veneer... a lot of the older Taiwan boats are. My '81 Formosa 46 had 1/4"-thick solid teak and holly over a ply backing.

After stripping off the old varnish, a bleaching with oxalic acid should help with the staining on the vertical surfaces. Those are likely to be solid teak over ply as well.

[SkiprJohn]

If you are lucky you can dry it out and bleach and sand it. Poke it with a flat blade screwdriver. If it goes in easily then you will want to replace it. If the ply underneath feels punky you'll want to replace that too. It looks like there was standing water above the sole. That's not a good sign if it was freshwater sitting for a long time.

Good luck.

[lifeofreilly57]

The marine teak ply is readily available from a number of sources, including Jamestown Distributors but shipping costs can add a significant cost to the purchase. If you have to replace it you may want to look for a specialty plywood/ veneer supplier near you to save on shipping, in my neck of the woods I am lucky since there are a number of wholesalers supporting the local boat building industry. Depends on where you live. If there is a boat building/refurbing industry in your area there are suppliers serving them, look into wholesalers, you might be surprised.
If your current wood can be saved by all means do so, the average cost for a 4 x 8 sheet of teak and holly ply (1/2" thick) is about $370.00 before shipping, so it's not too cheap even when locally available. I know, I had to replace the teak and holly sole in my last boat after the 3 and 5 year old got up early and took some tools to it.

[sparrowhawk1]

You need to identify exactly what we're dealing with then more of us can help

[Ukeluthier]

I'll bet you dollars to doughnuts that the staining in the top two pics is on solid teak (maybe 1/4" thick over ply), and on teak veneered plywood in the bottom pics.

Wood sucks up moisture primarily through the end grain, and capillary action will wick it up past the actual water depth... hence the staining in the top two pics. I had almost identical staining on my Formosa.

The bottom pics look like they might be due to deck leaks.

[Capt Phil]

Looks to me like the teak sole has already been replaced at some point and the water intrusion occurred covering the cabin sole and weeped up into the bulkheads. If you check carefully around where the sole meets the bulhead, this should tell you a lot. Bilge pump may have crapped out allowing sea water or rain water to rise to the bulkhead level.
It would be interesting to know the geographical history and if the boat was damaged in a hurricane, partially sunk and moved to dry out. As long as your main members are sound, using an ice pick looking for soft spots and a moisture meter will give you your answers. Be wary of any electrical circuitry hung under the cabin sole or electrical chases behing the water stained bulkheads.
Tayana's are soundly built so probably worth the rebuild... cheers, Phil