1982 Cape Dory 27 Deck Recoring Project

[abreece]

This spring Angelina, my Cape Dory 27 is at Northern Yacht Restoration getting a partial deck recore, non-skid renewal, and all hardware rebed. The owner of the yard, Tim Lackey, does an incredible job documenting his daily work. For those who are interested, here is the link to the log:

http://www.lackeysailing.com/angelina/angelina.htm

Afterwards, Angelina will be trucked to Mystic, CT where we will spend our first summer discovering Long Island Sound. Any advice or recommendations on sailing Long Island Sound and nice places to drop the hook are greatly appreciated.

[MikeD]

Tim did my decks a few years back. It's fun to watch his logs and see your boat come together as he rips through the project. I can't say enough good things about his professionalism and attention to detail. You'll be very pleased.

[Duncan]

This spring Angelina, my Cape Dory 27 is at Northern Yacht Restoration getting a partial deck recore, non-skid renewal, and all hardware rebed.

Thanks for the link, that's a great-looking boat you've got there. I got the heebie-jeebies looking at all the different spots that delaminated, though. This gave me some increased motivation to get on with the rebedding and crack-filling.

Afterwards, Angelina will be trucked to Mystic, CT where we will spend our first summer discovering Long Island Sound. Any advice or recommendations on sailing Long Island Sound and nice places to drop the hook are greatly appreciated.

There are others here with much more local experience, but I did get my boat in Rhode island, and I've been down for about five seasons or parts of seasons. My impression is that the best sailing is west (edit:- oops, east!) of Mystic. My favourite spots are Cuttyhunk and the bays of Rhode Island.

[drysuit2]

This spring Angelina, my Cape Dory 27 is at Northern Yacht Restoration getting a partial deck recore, non-skid renewal, and all hardware rebed. The owner of the yard, Tim Lackey, does an incredible job documenting his daily work. For those who are interested, here is the link to the log:

http://www.lackeysailing.com/angelina/angelina.htm

Afterwards, Angelina will be trucked to Mystic, CT where we will spend our first summer discovering Long Island Sound. Any advice or recommendations on sailing Long Island Sound and nice places to drop the hook are greatly appreciated.

What a great job. Super documentation. I'm definitely saving that link.
How did you determine where the wet, soft core was? And how did you determine when it was finally spongy enough to do something about it?

[jim trandel]

Thank you very much for taking pictures and time to share your experience. This was very helpful for me
Best regards,
Jim

[Dixon Hemphill]

Duncan,

While you're in the area be sure to stop in Watch Hill. It's a bit tricky following the buoys but the trip is well worth the effort. Anchor in Little Narragansette Bay and if you can get ashore visit the oldest merry-go-round in America and the Olympia Tea Room (about 95 years old) for a delicious ice cream cone. If you venture up the Pawcatuck River you'll pass Hall's Boatyard where my father kept his sailboat 80 years ago and where a friend and I docked on our trip from Annapolis in 2008. My hometown is Pawcatuck CT some five up the river from Watch Hill. And be sure to visit the Mystic Seaport about 20 miles west.

[Markst95]

I second Watch Hill \Napatree Pt. Its a great place but can be busy on summer weekends. A nice lunch spot to drop anchor is a small sandbar called Flat Hammock. Its just off of west harbor on Fishers Island. Just be careful of the shoal that runs NE. There are two other islands nearby, North and South Dumpling. North is owned by the inventor of the Segway Scooter. If you sail by you can see he has a miniature model of Stonehenge.

[tpq]

This is really helpful to see the extent of repairs required with soft decks.

I'm shopping for a 25D, 26 or 27 and have seen this cracking issue and the resulting damage if left untreated. I realize there are varying degrees from the cosmetic to the open cracks that allow water to pass through but the prevalence of this in CD's has caused me to become very cautious now.

I'm wondering how owners can be sure the cracks won't come back if the overly thick gelcoat is still beneath the new paint job. I am repeating what I've read at this site about the thick gelcoat being the cause, not stating it as a fact so please don't jump on me. If this is incorrect I'd like to hear more about it.

Thanks for sharing the details of your project.

[Ron M.]

Most of the problems with water intrusion into the balsa core are in areas where hardware passes thru and the sealant was nonexistent or lost it's effectiveness. CD's are notorious for this and it's one of their major failings. The remedy has been well documented and can be to greater or lesser degrees of repair. My boat needed extensive work along the cabin top where grab rails are fixed and the cockpit floor was totally rebuilt.
The cracks mostly are cosmetic but can lead to intrusion. A good sounding with a mallet and a going over with a moisture meter can give a good idea how significant the problem may be. Then it's time to start drilling holes.
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WildJasmin cam

[frankfurder]

I have some soft spots around the cockpit pump out fitting, the crazing on the gelcoat is worse here and thus the water intrusion. I plan to remove the pump out fitting, mark the soft spot, cut out the top skin with a Dremel tool, remove the saturated core, replace core and epoxy in with the top skin back in place. Perhaps repaint the skin or epoxy to seal from further water intrusion.

Any comments or corrections?

[bhartley]

I wouldn't get too uptight about reusing the "skin" you cut off. The edges all have to be feathered out so it is often faster, easier and less work to simply reglass the area. Once faired, you will never know the difference. And, yes, we have the same problem around the pump out on our 25D.

[Ron M.]

When I rebuilt the cockpit sole I too had ideas of reusing the top layer 'skin'. Didn't work out at all. Built it up with marine ply. biaxial and fiberglass cloth, all gooped together with epoxy. Primed and painted with added non-skid. Stronger than original. Not that bad a job.
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How to roll a joint