One needs to ascertain exactly what
core was used in the original build, a recent example is a
Formosa 51 which was purchased by clients and personal friends of mine.
Formosa indicated a
plywood sandwich
deck with GRP
layup overlayed with
teak planking and mechanically fastened.
The said
deck leaked like a sieve and was very wet and spongy, particularly the side decks, probably due to the pronounced sheer.
All the
teak planking was duly removed and a section of GRP was removed to reveal a soggy black mess of totally rotten timber which was not
plywood at all, rather a mass of randomly sized blocks not dissimilar to a parquet floor!
Thus the decision was taken to cut away the GRP and remove the muck, however, keeping the inner skin of GRP as a base to
work from.
Patterned
marine ply sections were prepared in two layers of 6mm which were
epoxy saturated, then
epoxy bogged into place onto the inner skin of glass.
Once cured, a further 8 layups of quadaxial and biaxial cloth were laminated over the new base, extending some 50mm up the coachroof and bulwarks.
The last
layup was done with peelply to create a fair finish allowing for priming and topcoating in white.
The end result is a vessel that is entirely dry and has incredibly stiff and strong decks. As a professional boatbuilder/restorer, I believe that anything short of the method mentioned would represent a ‘quick fix’ and as such would be an absolute wast of
money, time and effort.
My sentiment is to
survey thoroughly and know exactly what you are in for prior to
purchasing a vessel disregarding whether the seller has had the matter attended to or not and if indeed such is the case, request all info on materials, methods and if at all possible,
images of the
project.
All the best to you in your search.
Michael.
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