Morgan 27 Floor

[odpuskas123]

Hey, I have a Morgan 27, and I was wondering if anyone can send some photos or explain what it should look like under the flooring?

I lifted my flooring panels to clear some water that went under them, and found some stuff that I am not sure about. It looks like there is more wood with fiber glass on top of it in some places. I was wondering if that is the way it is supposed to be or if someone did that to fix some problem they had? It looks wrong, especially since it is easier for that wood to rot, but I am pretty knew to this, so I am not sure. The plywood under the fiberglass is all rotted and falling apart because water got under the fiberglass, so I am going to be taking it all out, but I want to know the right way to put it back together.

I got some photos of it and have attached them.

You can see where the wood starts to blend with the fiber glass. There are some spots of white paint on the wood to the left, and the white strip on the right side is the fiber glass.
I started taking out the really rotted wood that basically fell apart in my hands.

Any help is appreciated, thanks, Oden

[Spot]

Oden, welcome to CF.

You may want to search the interwebs for 'Morgan 27 cabin sole' to see what other have done.

How does the mast step/base look?

[TrentePieds]

Hm... You got some work ahead of you, but if you are handy and willing to put in the hard work, you'll probably be okay :-)

First job is to lean out ALL the loose *****, first by hand, then by using a shop-vac.

My reading of your photos is that the keel-bolts, the top of which you can see, are too shiny to be original, i.e. the keel has been off the boat at some point, quite recently, either deliberately or through having run the keel onto a rock and broken it loose on the hull. The damage to the wood is consistent with the latter because the bilge would have filled with water.

This keel is NOT integral to the hull. It a "bolt-on", so even if it turns out that there is damage to the hull itself, it's repairable. At a cost yet to be determined. You need to weigh the anticipated cost of repairs against the cost of destruction of the boat and disposal of the detritus if you scrap her, because under Canadian law, at least, as the legal owner of the boat you'll be responsible for those costs.

On the surface of it, that calculation would come out in favour of repairing the boat, certainly so if you can do it yourself. Which at this point I'm pretty sure you can :-)!

Did you buy this boat fairly recently? Do you have boating experience? Where are you located? Is the boat in the water or on the dry? The answers to those questions will speak to how to approach the repairs you have before you!

Because the hull is GRP, it's repairable, and in your photos it appears that the hull itself is still sound. We'll get a better idea if you clean out the ***** and post photos taken once the bilge is emptied of debris and vacuum-cleaned out.

Screw up you courage and have at it. We can walk you through it :-)!

TrentePieds

[odpuskas123]

Hey, yeah I got this boat about a couple years ago, and was just too busy until now to start fixing her up. Last winter it got snowed on and I think the snow melted into the boat from a partially open hatch, so there was about two feet of water all the way through it, which I then pumped out, and took off the floor paneling to find that. Everything appeared fine until I took off the paneling to make sure none of the water that I had pumped out had escaped under there.

I have experience sailing on tallships, and day sailors, and some experience on boats this size, and I am definitely willing to put in the time and work to fix this up. I am located right off the St. Lawrence River near Brockville ON. Its on land right now, but I am getting it put into the water early this week.

I am going to clean everything and take out as much as I can, then I will update with more photos.

Is this how the Morgan 27s are supposed to be built? A wood floor under the already wooden floor, with fiber glass mixed in on parts of the wood?

-Thanks for your help, Oden

[Ragtime morgan2]

Originally Posted by odpuskas123

Hey, yeah I got this boat about a couple years ago, and was just too busy until now to start fixing her up. Last winter it got snowed on and I think the snow melted into the boat from a partially open hatch, so there was about two feet of water all the way through it, which I then pumped out, and took off the floor paneling to find that. Everything appeared fine until I took off the paneling to make sure none of the water that I had pumped out had escaped under there.

I have experience sailing on tallships, and day sailors, and some experience on boats this size, and I am definitely willing to put in the time and work to fix this up. I am located right off the St. Lawrence River near Brockville ON. Its on land right now, but I am getting it put into the water early this week.

I am going to clean everything and take out as much as I can, then I will update with more photos.

Is this how the Morgan 27s are supposed to be built? A wood floor under the already wooden floor, with fiber glass mixed in on parts of the wood?

-Thanks for your help, Oden

I also have a Morgan 27 also with the same issue. The previous owner however had glassed the floor, however he missed some spots and I may have to do the same as you.

[odpuskas123]

Hey Ragtime Morgan2, I got a fiberglass specialist to show me what to do. It looks easier than I thought.
So the cabin sole only goes a little bit under the port bench and just before the starboard bench. You should be able to see/feel where it meets with the hull. You need to get a grinder (diamond blade works best, but others are fine also), and cut just before where the glass meets the hull (that will be the end of the cabin sole. cut all the way up to where it ends just before the berth at the bow, and back to where the glass meets the hull near the engine compartment.
Basically cut that out, remove the old cabin sole and you can put in new cabin sole (which is just plywood) and glass over that.
I was thinking I may just leave the cabin sole out and put something that is easier to remove. Makes more sense to me to be able to quickly get stuff out in an emergency.

[boatpoker]

First order of business is to install a garboard plug and leave it open as long as the boat is on the hard.

[Pete59]

Hey Fellow Morgan 27 Owners,
I also have the same issue with a rotting cabin sole on a 1972 Morgan 27.
I have removed the cabin sole and found several differences in my boats build.
First, there were many, approximately 20, 1” inch plugs in the floor through the plywood. The plywood was like mulch when removed.
Second, there seems to be a large quantity of material used to flood the hull to level the floor under the plywood cabin sole. Not sure what his material is? It looks like leveling cement. There are deep cracks in this material, roughly 1” deep. There are no cracks in the exterior of the hull, hull is solid.
Third, behind the port berth is an “L” steel angle the full length of the port berth which is fiberglassed into the cabin sole and glassed into the vertical plywood of the port birth, adding structural support fore and aft?
Now my question is although the cracks in the leveling material are deep is it possible to grind out the cracks fill with epoxy and move on with cabin sole replacement.
Anyone on this thread seen this?
Thanks,
Pete

[boatpoker]

Originally Posted by Pete59

Hey Fellow Morgan 27 Owners,
I also have the same issue with a rotting cabin sole on a 1972 Morgan 27.
I have removed the cabin sole and found several differences in my boats build.
First, there were many, approximately 20, 1” inch plugs in the floor through the plywood. The plywood was like mulch when removed.
Second, there seems to be a large quantity of material used to flood the hull to level the floor under the plywood cabin sole. Not sure what his material is? It looks like leveling cement. There are deep cracks in this material, roughly 1” deep. There are no cracks in the exterior of the hull, hull is solid.
Third, behind the port berth is an “L” steel angle the full length of the port berth which is fiberglassed into the cabin sole and glassed into the vertical plywood of the port birth, adding structural support fore and aft?
Now my question is although the cracks in the leveling material are deep is it possible to grind out the cracks fill with epoxy and move on with cabin sole replacement.
Anyone on this thread seen this?
Thanks,
Pete

What did your surveyor say about this issue ?

[Pete59]

Don’t know, I haven’t seen him in 33 years. Boat purchased in very good condition in 1992.
I must admit boat has been neglected with little maintenance other than hull and keel repairs for roughly 12 years.
In late 1992 I ran her aground and holed the hull. the repairs were done correctly and no other issues were noted. Until late 2024 when I decided to replace rotted cabin sole.
Pete

[odpuskas123]

Hey,

Do you have any photos?

-Oden

[Pete59]

Hi, images are attached of what was found under plywood cabin sole.
Pete