Hull Construction

To get ready for my first outing this season I installed a Hawaiian righting system on my boat. When I drilled the holes in the transom lip in the starboard hull it was solid fiberglass and resin all the way through. On the port hull, in the same spot, I hit some core material. I had measured to ensure symetry so I know I was pretty close. It worried me that I had opened up an opportunity for exposure of the core so I dug some of the core out and filled it all in with Martek (SP?). It surprized me that there would be core material on one side and not the other in this spot. Anyone else have this experience? This is an '83 that is in really good shape with no soft spots. White hulls if that makes any difference.

Was this material that you hit foam or just glue?

It would seem odd that there is foam in the lip. It would be more likely that what you hit was the glue which is used to bond the deck to the hull. The glue is sometimes a different color than the rest of the fiberglass (for instance, Hobie used red glue for a period in the mid 80's).

If its just glue, then there's nothing to worry about.

If it's acutally foam, then you should seal it. The best way would be to dig out a small amount of the foam (undercut) and then fill the void with resin. You could even just squirt superglue around the perimeter of the hole to seal it (that's probably what I'd do).

sm

Another method used for sealing holes is "drill, fill, drill". Drill the hole oversized, fill with epoxy, drill to the proper size.

_________________
Nick

Current Boat
In the market
Previous boats owned
'74 Pearson 30
'84 H16
'82 H18 Magnum
St. Louis, MO

The material was a "crispy" foam material and was red or orange in color and about 1/4 inch thick nearsest the hull and tapered off to nothing about 3/4ths the way around the hole. I should have taken a picture. I did pull some out and then filled the gap with white Martek(sp?). It seems to have worked alright.

It does sound like the high density foam used in construction of the hull. So it seems odd that it was actually in the lip.

My understanding is that high density foam doesn't absorb water. So, as long as you sealed it (I'm not familiar with Martek) you're probably fine. If you're really concerned about getting water in there, use the drill-fill-drill method. It won't be too much work and it will be totally solid.

sm

The material that I used to seal the edges of the hole is called Marine Tex. I was at work and couldn't remember the name. I have used it to patch chips and scratches before and it works great. I will post a picture to show the location of the hole in the lip where the foam was. Nobody else has had this experience?

The foam in the hulls is tan in color, not red.

It's probably a chunk of the glue used to attach the deck to the hull (with a bunch of air bubbles in it.