I am the new owner of a 23 ft Sea Sprite, my first
boat. I am obviously very enthusiastic about making my new vessel as sea worthy as possible and getting her out on the
water for some weekend trips. I purchased the
boat knowing that there would be some
repairs... what 30 year old boat doesn't need some
work? It was inexpensive and I love to tinker, so its a good start for me.
Now, to my questions:
The
hatch on the foredeck was leaking badly so I pulled it out and re-bedded it with tips I have learned from reading older posts (thanks to all for those!). When I had the
hatch out, I saw that there is a pretty significant gap between the layers of
fiberglass creating a, approx 2x2 channel around the hatch. looking inside the gap, it appears that it was constructed this way as the balsa
core is cleanly cut on the inside and doesn't show any signs of
rot. The bottom has pulled away from the top though and split the
fiberglass, as evidenced in the
photo i attached. Also, the bottom skin of the cored
deck has separated from the
wood though and the
headliner can be pushed up back to the spar that supports the
deck stepped
mast. So, my question is, has anyone ever seen this before and is it something I should try to re-bond? I haven't figured out how to un-step the
mast and there are no bolts visible, so I don't know if it is intentional to allow access to the base of the mast from the underside. I feel like it would be a pretty easy fix to inject en
epoxy into the gap between the balsa and the fiberglass and clamp the two together until it cures. I also though about replacing the screws that hold the hatch in place with through bolts, but the open channel would require some type of spacers to bear the load and getting them into the channel would do more harm than good as I would have to pry the deck further apart. I am interested in anyone's thoughts and appreciate the input.
Some amplifying notes: The top of the deck is rock solid with no soft or hollow spots. The underside has several spots where there is a similar gap as the channel around the hatch. There appear to be designed into the deck to access the underside of throughbolts.
I really appreciate any input from the community!