Anchor locker rebuild options?

[Greenhand]

Some idiot A previous owner pulled out a padeye through a weakened spot in the anchor locker, caulked the hole, and remounted the padeye two inches inboard. I allowed my partner to convince me that we could just drill extra holes through the fiberglass skin, dig out the core, let it dry and fill it with epoxy.

Today, I started drilling those extra holes. The core is saturated! When you dig out some of the balsa, you can squeeze it and have water drip down your fingers. One of the holes bubbled as I removed the drill. I leaned on the locker while digging at one of the holes, and water came out one of the other holes. The forwardmost part of the locker is solid and dry, but I have yet to find that as I move aft from the damaged area.

Should I expect the vertical walls of the anchor locker to be cored as well, or would those more likely be solid?

If this is a three foot square area, is there any hope for the drill, dig, fill method or are we going to have to get more drastic?

Now that I have several holes in the fiberglass, is there any hope for removing that skin, cleaning out the inside, putting in a new core, and reglassing with the old skin? Or should we just expect to reglass from scratch if use this method?

Should we just build a whole new anchor locker? Why am I not finding any examples of that on the blogs and forums? Is it that crazy of a job?

[Greenhand]

Oh, I forgot one of the most important questions: Any tips for sealing the anchor locker so that it doesn't keep getting wet while we try to dry it out?

[mike d.]

H I! I just looked at a 39-2 on Y-world. You can cover the locker with a poly tarp taped to your toe rail! Overlap the rail, and go over the bow. I assume there is a flat floor in the locker that you are having the problem with. You can use a cut off grinder to cut the perimeter of the skin in the bottom, then use an L shaped tack pry bar (they are about 8" long with a 90 degree foot, and work it under the edge, and slowly work the shin loose. If the core is that wet it should come up with out tearing it to pieces, maybe. Then clean out the old core and replace with new and put the old skin back down. When you grind the perimeter skin, stay about 2" away from the edge, as this will leave you a lip to be able to grind a bevel on to lay glass over to seal your repair. There will probably be core under the lip, you just have to dig it out! Good luck.

[Hudson Force]

I would not recommend the "drill and fill" method. I have had good outcomes with removing some sections of deck over water soaked balsa core and replacing the core and the top deck laminate.













I should point out that the fourth photo showing the top deck laminate reapplied does not show the increased beveling that I ground out to about six inches wide to provide a wde surface area for strong attachment.

I also placed my new balsa tiles separated with a slight space for the resin to fill between the pieces so no new water intrusion could travel.

There are better High-tech expensive plans, but this does not need to be an overwhelming DIY job. Be safe with your lungs regarding particulates and organic solvents!

[Greenhand]

Thanks, folks. I had wanted to try this out originally, but partner wanted the drill and fill method. After showing the results of the test drills, I was able to make the argument that drill and fill would take MONTHS to dry out properly, during which we couldn't sail. That was enough to tip the balance.

[Benz]

I would use some kind of polyurethane foam--Divynicell or M80 rather than balsa for the re-core. Also, the bulkheads in that generation of boats are usually plywood; I've done my share of cutting out rotten bulkhead bits. As long as you're in there, may as well check carefully for rot.
Good luck!
Ben
zartmancruising dot com

[JerseyJoe]

Not to hijack your thread, but I am also rebuilding my anchor locker. I'm relining with dynel as takes abrasion pretty well and kevlar would be overkill. Also putting a teak grate on base to keep rode from sitting in water while draining and improve airflow.

My issue is the port and starboard weep/drain holes drilled directly from locker to outer waterline hull that seem to be an after thought by manufacturer. I would like to get rid of them as they seem just an absolute invitation to water ingress into hull core. Anybody have any success draining their locker to main bilge? There is already a conduit from locker to aft for electric to windlass, but as I am keeping my sturdy manual SL Hyspeed I could use conduit as drain locker to main bilge. I see only problem is if conduit gets clogged, but I rather deal with that than having my hull core exposed to possible water ingress on daily basis. How are others' lockers drained?

[Hudson Force]

Originally Posted by JerseyJoe

.......................
......................... Anybody have any success draining their locker to main bilge? ...............................

Having the anchor locker drain into the bilge seems to be the standard for boats like mine (1973) and other older boats. I have an approximately 1/2" diameter tube draining my anchor locker into my bilge. During the thirty years I've had this boat I only had a need to clear a block in this drain one time. I do keep a lot of rarely used nylon rode under my chain which acts as a filter for debris. When I do deploy this underlying nylon rode many bits of particles come out to be rinsed away when I'm using my secondary anchor.

[JerseyJoe]

Originally Posted by Hudson Force

Having the anchor locker drain into the bilge seems to be the standard for boats like mine (1973) and other older boats.

Yeah, first thing that popped in my mind when I first inspected boat. Why build a solid, dependable boat, then haphazardly drill weep holes into bow hull? I just wonder if Lien Hwa yard did it or yard in Alameda when first commissioned. I wonder if Little Harbors have same?

They go as soon as weather warms a bit. Drain to bilge as I planned and you reaffirmed. Thanks.

Now how best to fill weep holes,. Thinking tape exterior and thinned epoxy with syringe from interior.

[Greenhand]

There were a couple of places where the fiberglass itself delaminated. We worked on it for about five hours yesterday, ended up breaking the skin we were trying to remove and still have these weird columns where we have to chip out black, wet core that is still pretty solid

[Terra Nova]

OP--forget about dabbling at repairs. Rip out the cored stuff and replace with sound, marine grade material.

[JPA Cate]

Greenhand, it has to be taken back to sound, dry balsa or ply. You may have a situation there where there is a much larger problem than you anticipated.

Persist at it till you are to sound material. At that point, if you want to hire someone who fixes boats for a living, see if you can get him/her to explain, step by step, what needs to be done to fix it properly. Or, maybe you can PM Terra Nova, neilpride or minaret for help. Minaret's really busy now and may not be available, but the others still seem to have time to help folks like you. We've never had a big repair of this sort, and I am not competent to help. Sorry.

Don't throw away the old lid, yet. You may need it for a pattern.

Although a major nuisance right now, you are about to learn stuff that will qualify you to help others, and that is pretty cool.

Good luck with it.

Ann

[Greenhand]

Originally Posted by Ann T. Cate

Although a major nuisance right now, you are about to learn stuff that will qualify you to help others, and that is pretty cool.

Good luck with it.

Ann

I try to remember to take pictures at various stages, since the examples you find online all seem so clean and neat: you just pull up the skin and leave behind the core to be scooped out. In our case, the parts of the skin that came up the best brought the core with them.

[MARC D]

This set-up works very well; with anchor coming thru a slot.

Clean arrangement. Now the original Bruce SS is secondary anchor, lashed to the left of windlass. A 44 lb Rocna is main anchor, self-launching.

Uncluttered deck to fly the Cruising Spi, grab a mooring ball, or sunbathing...

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by Terra Nova

OP--forget about dabbling at repairs. Rip out the cored stuff and replace with sound, marine grade material.

YES.. cut the glass out, remove the mush and put solid material in there, ply, or solid glass, aluminum plate! or what ever works best for you. Seal it well.
Why in the world does an anchor locker need foam or balsa???