"Elevated moisture levels"

[MorneB]

Hi guys and girls. New to this forum and glad to be here. I am interested in buying a 1977 Tartan 37. The broker states that there is elevated moisture levels in her deck.

"There are high readings around a lot of the stanchions, an area at the anchor locker, spots on the cabin top near the handrails..
The boat itself does not feel soft but during survey the readings were medium to high.No sign of blisters on hull
Percussion hammer and tramex moisture meter were used to determine moisture levels
"

How worried should I be? I am in South Africa and the boat is on the East coast USA so no easy or cheap way to go look first. (flight costs would basically be what the boat will cost me) Ideally I want to get a boat that I can buy, maybe spend a month on to get sea ready before taking her south to warmer climates where I can then haul her out and spend more time on doing a refit.

Thanks in advance for any input.

[DeepFrz]

Deck replacement is a long, extensive and expensive process.

[billknny]

Originally Posted by MorneB

Hi guys and girls. New to this forum and glad to be here. I am interested in buying a 1977 Tartan 37. The broker states that there is elevated moisture levels in her deck.

"There are high readings around a lot of the stanchions, an area at the anchor locker, spots on the cabin top near the handrails..
The boat itself does not feel soft but during survey the readings were medium to high.No sign of blisters on hull
Percussion hammer and tramex moisture meter were used to determine moisture levels
"

How worried should I be? I am in South Africa and the boat is on the East coast USA so no easy or cheap way to go look first. (flight costs would basically be what the boat will cost me) Ideally I want to get a boat that I can buy, maybe spend a month on to get sea ready before taking her south to warmer climates where I can then haul her out and spend more time on doing a refit.

Thanks in advance for any input.

I'd not buy it. But that's me. I'd be looking for a boat to sail, not refit.

For a couple of reasons: If there is moisture intrusion around virtually every place that a bolt penetrates the deck that tells me the boat wasn't built properly with sealed core. You will need to strip EVERYTHING off and rebed it properly.

If this is a balsa cored boat you'll have a lot of repairs that must be done. If it is wet, it will rot at some point--even if by some miracle it hasn't yet.

Since this is the broker's opinion, it's not going to get any better than this.

[slug]

Hard to say

See if your can find a tartan 37 specialist

Someone who knows how the boat was built when new

Is tartan still in business ?

Perhaps they can provide insight

For instance was the core removed from the sandwich in the area of mounted hardware

What was this core replaced with ?

What is the general background history of the tartan 37! model deck

[Mike OReilly]

Obviously there is some water intrusion from the fittings. I wouldn't necessarily be scared off by the report, but I'd consider it carefully. It likely means you're going to be deck fitting work, rebedding the fittings, and possibly some actual deck repairs. Depends on how bad it is.

So, in part, it depends on the price of the boat, and how well it looks otherwise. No 40+ year old boat is going to be without problems, even ones that have been well cared for.

I say this as the owner of a 1977-vintage boat that needs some deck work .

[malbert73]

Maybe. Tartans are very well made. Moisture can be there for decades. And metal can cause elevated readings on a moisture meter so if it was right around fittings could be from bolts. Not al surveyors understand meters.
But that said there probably is moisture. Show me a 30+ year old boat without it

[Island Time O25]

I think the devil is in the details. Is the mast keel stepped or deck stepped? Is the core balsa or some sort of cell? How far moisture readings project from the stanchion bases - is it inches or feet?

Getting a 40+ year old boat you should not be expecting it to be 100% in like new condition. As long as it's solid enough structurally to cross the Atlantic you can take care of nonstructural items at your own pace.

A friend who is a naval architect and hands on boat builder with many decades of experience once mused that a well built sailboat with a keel stepped mast and a wet deck would outlive its owners 9 out of 10 times.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, MorneB.

[Siberianhusky]

There is wet core then there is wet core.
Despite what the owners might think there probably isn't a boat of any age with a cored deck that doesn't have SOME moisture somewhere.
It depends on where and how much, a couple square inches of dampness is one thing a few square feet of sodden core is another. My biggest question is what has it done to the interior of the boat, if bulkheads etc. have started to rot I'd run for sure.
Pretty easy to hide some small, cheap and ugly deck repairs under a good coat of Kiwigrip.