Beneteau Grid Repair, Homebrew Edition

[C420sailor]

All,

Discovered the grid separating from the hull in my Beneteau earlier this year. I won't get into the details, but insurance denied the claim and I don't have the funds (or the desire to be on the hard for many years) to get into a legal battle with a large insurance company.

I've reached out to many local yards, including the one the boat is in. All are completely overwhelmed with work from COVID landlubbers crashing their boats last year, and won't even come out to perform an estimate. My yard lost their glass guy, and they have no timeline on when or if they'll replace him.

IOW, it's looking more and more likely that I'll have to repair this myself. Before you tell me to junk it and buy a new boat, that isn't in the cards---this boat has tremendous sentimental value, and I don't wipe with $100 bills. $5, tops.

Beneteau is very tight lipped on how to best perform this repair. I tried getting information out of Beneteau dealers, and they quickly stopped returning calls. I found in the Cheeky Rafiki mishap report that Beneteau recommends grinding all grid flanges and pans to 5cm, replacing the putty in the gaps, and then tabbing the grid to the hull. This is obviously a keel off job.

I've done some relatively basic glass work before. Repaired/re-skinned some rudders, glassed in some holes in hulls, repaired pedestal parts, etc. This being extensive structural work, I need some guidance here from those who have BTDT.

In terms of putty, does anyone know for sure the original or recommended filler to use here? Was it Plexus? Colloidal silica? Something else?

Also, in terms of glass layup, what cloth type and weight would be ideal for this? Any tips or tricks for this application?

Lastly, would it make sense to reinforce the keel bolt areas in the bilge with tabbed in G10 and larger doublers? Or just tab the grid in, drill, and call it good? The existing SS doublers seem awfully small to me.

If I'm going to do this, I want to do it once and right. Please advise.

[TheOffice]

Wish I could help. Identifying the model/year might allow others with more experience to guide you.

[flee27]

Not sure how relevant it will be but maybe go to YouTube and watch some of expedition evans. They bought a savaged Beneteau 49 with grid damage from a hard grounding and documented their DIY repair.

Good Luck
Foster

[OliveJuice]

I can't comment on the procedure in detail but these 2 youtube channels have done a similar repair to what you're describing. One was done DYI with some professional consulting (off-screen) and one was done by professionals.

Evan Expedition: https://www.youtube.com/c/ExpeditionEvans
Sailing Aurora: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsq...HTb5qUUpyKiPkQ

Both processes are similar with some minor differences and are well documented, especially Aurora.

Good luck!

[shimari]

Sorry to hear about your problem. My guess is most professionals don't want to help for liability reasons as well as being beyond busy.

You might want to check out 'Expedition Evans' on Youtube. They did exactly that with a Beneteau 49. It took them about a year of nearly full-time work, and they had a number of people behind the scenes advising and inspecting the work.

Good luck!

[C420sailor]

Thanks all.

I’m not sure I like what Evans did with regard to jacking the grid down to the hull. I don’t like the idea of glassing stress into the structure—static stress is sorta what I’m looking to avoid here.

The other guy’s repair is more along the lines of what I like. Flanges retained but cut back, adhesive injected into gaps, then glassed over. Looks like they used 2x 900g CSM under 3x 1200g triaxial...then repeated that layering on top. They used poly resin...not sure if I want to go that route or epoxy. Working with poly is a damn dream compared to epoxy, but my belt and suspenders brain keeps yelling ‘EPOXY IS STRONG’

I need to figure out the adhesive plan. Plexus MA590 is $$$$$$ and I’m not even sure I want to use what the factory used...since it failed so miserably.

[Utahsailor]

We just sold our Beneteau 49 and the survey found delimitation of a small part of the grid, aft of the keel. Cape Yachts in South Dartmouth MA repaired it in about a week for $5,000. They documented the repair- you may want to contact their service manager.

[C420sailor]

Originally Posted by Utahsailor

We just sold our Beneteau 49 and the survey found delimitation of a small part of the grid, aft of the keel. Cape Yachts in South Dartmouth MA repaired it in about a week for $5,000. They documented the repair- you may want to contact their service manager.

Thanks!

Edit: Did you hit anything? Mine is aft of the keel as well.

[Matt Johnson]

We switched to Scigrip (Arjay) SG230 from Plexus due to better specs, lower cost, and adjustable work time with different catalyst.

Matt

[Utahsailor]

We ran aground in the ICW a few time- mud at low speed, we are certain that we never ran hard aground and believe the separation was from the factory (with no proof).

This is the second Bene 49 we have had. The first was destroyed by the delivery captain who ran it hard aground while still owned by the dealer. Most of the grid was smashed and a 4' diameter circle at the aft end of the keel was delaminated. Beneteau built another in about 3 months for us, the tall rig and deep keel were swapped and the wreckage sold to a person in Australia who rebuilt it.

[C420sailor]

Same. We put it into a sandbar at idle power about five years ago. Gentle stop. No damage noted.

We think the stress cracks from that impact worked their way through over the years, and now it’s very obvious.

[mcconkd]

I would recommend going on you tube and there is an entire series of a younger couple that had a similar issues and their series is very complete in how the boat was repaired. Beneteau would not offer them assistance either, my guess is a liability issue.
Look up "Evans Expedition"
Hope this helps

[Sandy Frank]

Originally Posted by Utahsailor

We ran aground in the ICW a few time- mud at low speed, we are certain that we never ran hard aground and believe the separation was from the factory (with no proof).

This is the second Bene 49 we have had. The first was destroyed by the delivery captain who ran it hard aground while still owned by the dealer. Most of the grid was smashed and a 4' diameter circle at the aft end of the keel was delaminated. Beneteau built another in about 3 months for us, the tall rig and deep keel were swapped and the wreckage sold to a person in Australia who rebuilt it.

Eek..

[flee27]

Eek.. is right. I by no means am dogging Beneteau. But I hope the boat is built strong enough to handle a light grounding in sand/mud. I understand hull speed into a rock/reef etc but not a gentle ooops.

Good luck
Foster

[Deep Blue Water]

Has anyone heard of this issue with other manufacturers or it is just Beneteau?