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We pulled the headliner out last week. That was a fun day! (sarcasm font) So I'm new at this...and wondering how bad is this?
This is the area around the port large window by the galley. The white blemishes are where I pulled staples out. You can see the line where the core appears damaged, it goes from normal snot green fiberglass to bile green as you get closer to the windows. Here is another of the same spot...
And this is on the cabin top by the companionway entry.
Specifically, will I need to cut out all the discolored areas? Any thoughts appreciated...
Hilary
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Tap around the outside and the inside with the handle of a screw driver to see if the discolored area sounds different from the surrounding area. Can you see any delamination of the fiberglass on the inside or the outside...i.e..layers of the glass peeling up or loose/spongy ? If "yes" to either of these, you can drill into the heart of the area to get a better look at the glass into the core. If it's faulty, you can get the West Systems epoxy stuff and start the repair process. I think there's some good youtube "how to" video's on doing this.
If you bought the DE 38 that was in Benicia....being sold by the widow of the guy who owned it....I looked at this boat and remember some very real fiberglass issues with at least a large part of the fore deck running to the bow.
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That's the one we bought and yes, we felt that area the first time. That will be addressed as soon as we get the boat moved and see how much work we can get away with at the marina. 🙂 ?? Hoping I don't have to haul her again to work on that. Benicia is a little snooty though. Martinez has a yard we can haul out into but hope I can sneak in the work. Not sure if that's realistic or not.
I tapped a little and it doesn't really sound any different. I can look more in depth next week. I could pull one window out a bit on one side (not the one pictured) and dug into the wood around there. It wasn't wet and really didn't seem very rotten. But since I'm a newbie...not sure. Would rather over-repair than under repair.
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Not sure where you're talking about regarding wood around the window. The big windows should be bedded inside their fiberglass cut-outs. I think. That's the way mine are.
Check out Erick's blog for inspiration and how to do repairs the right way on a DE 38. He does excellent work. Way more particular than I'll ever be.
http://www.thequestforwindandwaves.com/
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The big windows are...well were...bedded in the fiberglass, but after yanking enough to get the headliner and foam out, it became loose and now I can pull one of the windows out enough that I can see the material between the fiberglass sandwich on the port side wall of the cabin. And what's in there doesn't look all that rotten overall, definitely soft in spots though. But all that discoloration concerns me. Does that make sense?
I want to make curtains. 🙂 I like sewing and that's something I can do at home on my work weeks. I live in Sac so it's 70 miles each way to do boat work. I'll be bringing stuff home to work on during the week, and then returning to boat on days off.
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Being able to pull the window out after the liner was removed is probably not good and the window should be rebedded. But the fiberglass is probably not good in that area as well. Strong discoloration is usually an indicator of things gone bad. Based on what I remember about your boat, I would carefully go over a lot of it looking for fiberglass damage.
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For small areas like that if your not getting different sounds and it feels solid I might leave it be. However there beside the window, you can inspect the core when you pull the window out. From your description it sounds as if the core is actually exposed where the window holes are cut. That isn't good but it how the factory did everything on this boat. In this case it works out for you in that you can access the core between the inner and outer skin with the window out and inspect it and or repair that small an area without doing anything to the outer or inner skins. (umm.. actually now that I think about it is the side of the cabin cored? or just solid fiberglass?) If solid fiberglass and there is no different sound on tapping it with a hammer then just ignore it, it is fine :). If cored then repair core or just inject some penetrating epoxy and then seal the exposed core around the window opening and re-install windows. Ok on reading some old info posts about redoing windows it does seem to be cored. So if the the core is damaged but it only extend less than 7 or 8 inches I would take and wallow out the core if it is worse than penetrating epoxy can cure and the put some thickened epoxy in there and slide pre-cut pieces of marine foam core or plywood as core into place. Leave enough room from the edge to solidly fill it with thickened epoxy to seal the core. It should be a fairly easy repair. If it is a larger area you will probably need to cut out the inner skin then re-core it and put the inner skin or a new skin back in place. Reference one of Don Casey's books for the detailed how to. 🙂
Here are some links to old write ups about this in the info index.
/info-index/boat-hull-and-deck/windows-and-hatches/cabin-window-upgrade
/info-index/boat-hull-and-deck/windows-and-hatches/de-45-window-replacement
/info-index/boat-hull-and-deck/windows-and-hatches/cabin-window-upgrade-alternate
and a general page with links to working with and different types of lexan
/info-index/boat-hull-and-deck/windows-and-hatches/lexan-and-polycarbonate-workshop
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