Bulwarks, Roughwater 33,Aries 32, Weatherly 32, How are they constructed??

[rkarakai21]

Hello folks. My partner and I have a Tom Gilmer designed, Taiwan built Roughwater 33. We are trying to pinpoint leaks. Water seems to be getting into some of the main saloon lockers, some is just improperly sealed stanchion bases, however, it is evident that some is creeping through the bulwarks and ending up in the bilge. The boat is solid glass hull and deck with no plywood coring. Was teak decked originally but two owners ago there was a "proffesional" job done removing the teak deck and laying more layers of glass over the deck to thicken it up. In places where I can see the deck thickness under fittings at the bow and stern the deck seems to be 1/2 to 3/4" thick solid glass.

The boat has thick bulwarks but the hull to deck join is not visible, seems to be glassed over on the underside.

I have combed the internet up and down trying to find a cut apart view or description of how the join is constructed, with no avail. I even found the previous owners online questioning asking the same thing.

I know lots of boats were constructed back in the 80's in a similar way and I'm wondering if theres a chance that these boats have wood in the bulwark like the older Cape Georges and maybe mine has a similar issue with the screws from say the sheet tracks on top of the caprail penetrating the top of the bulwark and causing water to trickle in.

I won't take this old girl offshore until all the water on the outside stays on the outside.

There has to be somebody around who has cut one of these boats up.

[tkeithlu]

If the issue in your mind is whether or not there is plywood in the bulkheads, which is likely, consider taking a small drill bit and drilling a hole through one. The core material will be on the bit, or kicked out as you drill.

[rkarakai21]

Yeah the main issue is understanding the construction of it so I can determine how to waterproof it. The survey noted that there is a bit of fiberglass separation in the scuppers so if there’s wood in that spot in the bulwark it will for sure be saturated.

The stanchion bases have screws going into the bulwark and I have to re bed them anyway, I can probably probe into one of those pre existing holes.

I wonder why they didn’t just bond the teak caprail straight to the top of the bulwark with thickened epoxy rather than screwing it, seems counter intuitive to make the Hull to deck joint at the top of the bulwark and then put screws through it. They even went to the trouble of recessing the underside of the caprails so they sit snugly on three sides over the bulwark.

[shrspeedblade]

I remember reading a tip, probably in one of Don Casey's books, to use a water based marker and draw a line (as much as possible) around the upper hull inside (and any other place) you'd like to flag a leak. As the water runs down, the line "flags" and gives you a pretty good indicator the area to look. Can also be a nice "early warning" system if you can make the lines out of sight/out of mind.