Tyler, I see no need to remove the fiberglass deck on my boat. My game plan is to cut some 1/2" plywood to fit in the empty space. It will take several pieces as I can only cut them as large as the samson post opening. I will do some test fitting first. Then I will sand the fiberglass top and bottom on the inside to rough it up a bit for the expoxy. I'll coat the ply with epoxy and let it dry so it will be waterproof. Then I will put epoxy with filler on the end of the ply and push it up against the existing good plywood. I hope this will fill any voids. I'll try to do this before the epoxy sets so I hope to have some epoxy push out with the last piece I fit in.  I don't think I will have any voids. But if I do they won't be to large as I plan on cutting the plywood to take up most of the space. I will be tacking this project tomorrow so I will try and post pictures on Sunday or Monday.

Tyler, I repaired my deck this weekend. It sounds like your damage is greater than mine. I had only about 4-5" at the most away from the Samson post openings. It was too small for me to open up the deck as far as I was concerned. I did drill some test holes to see how far the rot went.

 I ended up cutting smaller pieces of plywood to fill up the void. I mixed the epoxy thick like peanut butter and shoved a bunch in the void then started putting in small blocks smeared with the thick epoxy. I did sand the void and clean it with acetone as best I could before I started.  Once the epoxy at the opening  set I washed it with soap and water to remove the blush so sealant can stick to it.

I don’t see why you couldn’t repair the deck from the bottom. But I think it would be harder. First you have to get into the chain locker. I know that is tough as I am working in that area now. Then getting the plywood to stay up as you wait for the epoxy to kick might be difficult. You tape across it to support it. Anyway just my thoughts for what they are worth!

My bulkhead was removed when I bought the boat, so this is a non-issue for me.  Also, I have not investigated how far-reaching the rot is in my deck as of yet, but it is on my near-future-to-do-list.  Thanks,

Tyler

Hi Jim,

This sure looks like a piece of first class workmanship. I personally prefer an "A" frame type, but yours has a certain elegance too.

Btw., something like that could be designed as a swing up bow sprit, as some marinas charge a fortune over 40 feet. I have seen one bowsprit on a W32, I think it was in Redondo Beach, Calif. a swing up "A"  frame that shortened the mooring bill by five feet (pun intended). That was for me too much trouble, as the bobstay and forestay have to be adjusted everytime you go out.

What you have there could be for someone to think about, and maybe even stabilized with a short platform for dealing with the jib more safely.

Theese attractive pictures show the boat in a marina.

Mike

 

 

Jim Focha wrote:

I've posted these photos before.  In case you didn't see them, this is our solution

to using wood. We changed over to Bud's SS bow sprite about ten years ago

and it is on our list of best things we've done.  No more varnishing or worrying

about rot. It also made mounting the Lofrans electric windless easier 

This year we removed it to have the u-bolt added for jacklines, etc. That led

to having it polished, which led to the SS knights heads.  Things tend to 

snowball on us. Our wooden Knights heads were well worn from from many 

years of anchoring. At the time of changing over our wooden bow sprite was

near perfect and we gave it to another Westsailor.  But we believe it was 

worth the expense and would recommend stainless, especially for a cruising

boat.  The idea of the U-bolt was Dave Brown's (WS 32 Mandalla) who

also fabricated the Knights heads, which turned out to be a work of art..

Jim