Typhoon WE delam and soft spots

[Rick Gedney]

Discovered my newly purchased 76 Ty WE had many holes sawed into her that were not sealed right and have quite a bit of wet rotted balsa, Most alarming is a jury rigged rear running light that allowed water in near the transom deck joint close to rear stay. The other is a 1.5" diameter hole for unknown reason next to the where the mast steps. Couple others, two large cabin fans, etc.

To get sailing I hope to have a shop use a tool to get in there and dig out the rot and epoxy and glass the whole area. And I will add a compression post. Anybody had this experience and have advice on these type repairs?

At some point I will need to do a complete restoration to patch holes, awl grip, etc. Perhaps with deck off. Does anyone know if a company owns the molds and makes Ty decks? I may just buy a new deck and hit the re-set.

Thanks

[David van den Burgh]

Discovered my newly purchased 76 Ty WE had many holes sawed into her that were not sealed right and have quite a bit of wet rotted balsa, Most alarming is a jury rigged rear running light that allowed water in near the transom deck joint close to rear stay. The other is a 1.5" diameter hole for unknown reason next to the where the mast steps. Couple others, two large cabin fans, etc.

To get sailing I hope to have a shop use a tool to get in there and dig out the rot and epoxy and glass the whole area. And I will add a compression post. Anybody had this experience and have advice on these type repairs?

At some point I will need to do a complete restoration to patch holes, awl grip, etc. Perhaps with deck off. Does anyone know if a company owns the molds and makes Ty decks? I may just buy a new deck and hit the re-set.

Thanks

Hi Rick,

A recore job is doable, but fairly labor intensive. Before you go digging into it, I think I'd consider a couple things: how bad is the damage - can she be sailed safely as is without doing more damage?; how much do you want to sail vs make repairs? If you are trying to take advantage of a short sailing season (I don't know where you are), and the damage isn't too bad, consider saving the repairs for the off season.

If the damage is bad enough that it needs to be repaired before sailing, then you'd be wise to fix it or have it fixed. I just wrapped up a sizeable recore job on a Morgan 30, which required cutting off the top fiberglass skin, scraping/scooping out the old, wet, damaged balsa, laying down new balsa, and glassing over the area with several layers of biaxial cloth.




There are easier ways (depending upon the extent of the damage), such as drilling a series of holes in a grid, drying the wet core (or removing it), and filling the holes with thickened epoxy or resin. Another approach is cutting off the top fiberglass skin, replacing the core, then gluing the original fiberglass skins back in place, tying in the joints with fiberglass tape. That method certainly saves time and materials, but it can be tough to get all the air out from under the skin.

If your damage is fairly isolated, I'd take the least invasive route. If you can get away with removing the damaged core through the thru-deck opening and filling the area with thickened epoxy, then I'd do that. Have you probed around to see how far from the deck hole the damage extends? If it's only a matter of inches, there's a good chance you could repair it without ripping any of the deck off, which, to my mind, would be far preferable.

Anyway, there's tons of great information out there. I'm happy to share my limited experience and insight, just let me know.

Good luck,

David

PS - And you might want to hold off on the entire deck replacement.

[Dick Villamil]

Been there, Done that on my '76 Typhoon. The hole near the mast step was for the plug for the mast wiring - just fill with thickened epoxy and then sand smooth. I also had the wet core on the poop deck around all fittings - I tried the drilling of holes then used a bent finish nail on a drill to scoop out the wet balsa. I also let it dry in the sun for a week or two. Any hole was then filled with thickened resin - but make sure that each hole is beveled to give more adhesion to the resin - or eventually the plugs will pop and create an unsightly ring - mine did that and now I will be redoing the repair 10 years later. I sanded, faired and primed the entire deck (and hull) then added three coats of one part paint (roll and tip) with non skid added in the appropriate places. As for compression post - there are a lot of ideas on this web site - take the least invasive method - I used a varnished piece of pressure treated plank and attached a 2-part stainless tube with all thread inside and two nuts and washers to adjust the post. Has worked for the past 9 years. It is removable if you want to use the cabin and easily replaced when sailing. I think I added a photo to this post a few years back. I also rebedded all fittings and teak - amazing aty the number of skips from the factory in the bedding caulking.