1997 Sailfish 272 Hull Side Rotten Core

[Richard1572]

I took my boat out today to go fishing and test my new electronics and one of my plastic fish boxes drain thru hulls broke off. It’s a pain to get to but a pretty simple fix. However, I can now see that the inside coring of my hull side is complete mush. I press the side and it does flex. It feels rotten back to about 1 foot forward of the transom to just below the outriggers. I did a little digging on this site and THT and it seems this has happened to others as well. This obviously explains the blistering I had been seeing on the starboard side. I also think this thru hull may have been cracked for a long time and have been the source of the water intrusion to begin with.

I have some questions before seeking out a fiberglass guy. I do my own tiny fiberglass repairs but nothing like this. I have re-cored some hatches. I assume they can do a similar procedure on the side but would have to do a good gelcoat job to cover the seams?

Is the boat safe to use with the side having a rotten core? Does the core add structural integrity or just serve as a stiffener? Do I have to park it until I get the work done?

Anyone on this site recored their hull sides and if so, any insights would be appreciated.

 

[DennisG01]

Coring adds structure in the sense that it keeps the layers of fiberglass firmly separated. But once the coring goes bad it no longer does that. Is it safe? Hard to say - and not something I'd feel comfortable saying as it sounds like there is significant damage. Plus, the damaged/soft area is ALWAYS much larger than it appears. A good glass guy can fix it and closely match the color - but it will be tough given the oxidation level that a 3 decade boat will have. However, you could always paint the hull side.

This is hindsight, of course, but with the existing indicators you had, this should have been addressed a long time ago. Most boats of this size don't use a cored hull side (built srong w/o the coring) and those blisters were a dead giveaway that something was amiss.

 

[Richard1572]

OK so this is the preliminary plan for now. I have good access to the thru hull that broke off and one just forward of it that broke off while I was trying to remove the attached hose. Since I have such good access from the back, I’m going to cut out a section around the thru hull holes and recore around the thru hulls. This will give some new thru hulls something to compress against. I’ll leave the cutout open with a fan running on them for a few days to dry out before recoring and I drilled a few holes just above the chine to drain the water out. I’ll close them up and install the new thru hulls and call it a day. This should get me through December.

How easily the thru hull broke off in my hand is very concerning especially for the plastic scupper thru hulls which are now halfway submerged with the 4 strokes. I do carry a large selection of bungs on the boat to plug any holes. My original January project was going to be new AC but it now is going to be to recore both sides of the hull, replace all of the plastic thru hulls with stainless thru hulls including the scuppers in the rear, maybe even move them up an inch or two. What I would like to do, is to do most of the cutting and recoring myself as it’s not that different than recoring a hatch, except on a larger scale. I’d do all of the recoring with epoxy instead of polyester resin making it that much stronger and use something other than wood, maybe Coosa but Coosa is pricey and maybe too stiff for the curves on the side. Then take the boat to a fiberglass guy for the final fairing and repainting. I think I ‘m going to have the boat painted as my wife has always wanted to have a blue boat and it seems like the appropriate time.

Thoughts, suggestions please.

 

[DennisG01]

Yeah, plastic stuff only lasts so long - especially when it's constantly barraged by UV. I can appreciate your predicament, as well. I knew when I bought this boat that the floor was soft and a deck re-core was to be my first project - but still... But, hey, I like that you're turning this into a "positive" with finding the brightside in finally having an excuse to paint it!

FYI, if any part of the scupper will be below the waterline, don't use SS. Bronze is better.

 

[Richard1572]

Thanks for the encouragement. Yes if I move the scuppers up and they are above the waterline I'll go with stainless but if part is below I'll do bronze. However, if I move them I'll move them all the way above the water line. No bigger deal to go 2 inches up vs 1. The only thing I need to make sure the rear of the cockpit floor is above the waterline, otherwise they wouldn't drain and I need to make sure the scupper thru hull is still below the cockpit floor. Next time I have it in the water I'll take some good measurements while at the dock and full of fuel to start doing placement planning.

 

[ROBERTH]

Hi Dennis, did you have a link to show how you restored your flooring?

 

[DennisG01]

Hi Dennis, did you have a link to show how you restored your flooring?

Is the picture not showing up? It's showing for me.

 

[ROBERTH]

I did some searching and found your restoration post steps.
I am mainly interested in how you refinished your floor and what you used? If you did, any pics?

 

[Richard1572]

I've spoken to a few fiberglass guys and what I plan to do is have the boat restored to like new condition. This will be about an 8-month job and will include new gas tanks, new none wood stringers, none wood transom, none wood recoring the sides, powder coating the aluminum tubing, paint or regelcoat the whole boat, the whole works. The problem is it seems very likely that I get into the job and run into supply issues. I spoke to one guy whose boat had been waiting for I think it was some cousa board for months so supply chain could extend the job to a year. I’m not going boatless for a year.

So, this is my plan, uses some wire ties and duct tape to get it by for one or maybe even two more seasons. I’m going to go ahead and replace all the plastic through hulls with stainless and while at it I’ll recore the area around the thru hulls area with some none wood material. This will give the thru hulls something to cinch down on and be water tight. My biggest worry is the thru hulls for the deck drains\scuppers. If they bust like the one further forward did that would be a big deal. I think I can get to the port side by removing the bait well and I’ll cut an 8 inch access port to get to the starboard side. When I get the big job done I can close up that access port if I want.

Here in South Florida I’m generally never that far out of sight of land. I just won’t be taking it to the Bahamas or the Tortugas.