hull to deck joint back together

[maynard]

 After pulling the rub rail to investigate leaking we found most of the port side joint was staying together from the small bolts only, the adhesive had let loose, not good.
My son and I razor knife cut and rough filed the old chalk out after removing the bolts. Cleaned it up with 50 grit sandpaper and acetone.
Held the hull and deck apart with 1/4" thick wood. We used a tube of 5200 for the one side. Labor time was around
5 hours for the two of us one day and a couple of hours the next to chalk and rebolt. Next up getting the rub rail back on, which
sounds hard from some of the posts. Thought I'd post the man hours involved for those of you thinking about this project.

[Billy]

Why not get a new rub rail? Mine is original and showing it's age. At the st pete boat show Rich mentioned the new ones are worth getting. They are not rubber. Forget what they were but they gotta be worth looking into.

[Allure2sail]

Hi:
I would suspect I will be going thru the same exercise this spring. I lifted up the rub rail on the port side where I suspected there was a leak. Very surprised, no more liked shocked to find duct tape over the hull to deck seam !!!!! Is this factory or did a previous owner try to address the problem with tape? Not looking forward to this job but I do suspect that is where the water has been getting in. Is this a troublesome part of the boats construction, seems like others have had to redo the hull to deck joint as well. What are your feelings on this? Guess I'll be looking for some tubes of 5200 on sale between now and sailing season.

[Bob23]

I doubt that duct tape is original equipment...that's not Hutchins style. Hmm...this post makes me wonder if I should check mine (1985) although I have no leaks. What year is your 23? Did you find bolts or rivets holding the joint together? I wonder what the new rub rails are. I think the new 23's have stainless steel rubrails..maybe the compac site will show 'em.
Bob23

[edbuchanan]

Hi Maynard,

I had a similar problem with the hull deck joint, but only within a foot or two of the main bulkhead, and only on the starboard side.  The joint looks and feels strong elsewhere.

My boat had the duct tape also; my guess is that they installed it during manufacture to prevent the 5200 from oozing out all over the boat.

I installed new rub rails with no problem due to the weather being sunny and about 90.  The job went quite quickly with no assistance (2 hours?).  If they were cold I think it would have been quite a different story...

Ernie (Molly, 23/II 1984)

[maynard]

There was no duct tape on mine, middle 80's C23. There was evidence of earlier work so the duct tape may
have been removed then.  We'll be putting back the rubber rubrail hopefully, I'll have a heat gun on hand
to help it along. There's so much gear to be bought for a planned cruise that it'll help to save some money here.
The factory chalk had held tight to the top, or deck, but failed to hold all along the top of the hull.  Not a
bad idea to check this out on older boats for safety. Even hitting up against a dock piling overnight would
be hard on this joint.

[HideAway]

We had the same problem.  After returning from a  long rough day on the water I found the bilge over flowing and salt water in the forward bins.  A close look at the hull joint proved where the leak had come from.  I scrapped out the caulk and found broken rivets and a gap so big I could put my fingers through it. 

The hull, released from what ever was holding it, bulged away from the deck a good half inch.   We were in a slip at the time so I winched us up to a piling to align the hull & deck.  I used ss bolts and 5200 to seal both sides then came back and sealed the joint smooth to the inside hull.  That was 11 years ago and the joint has never leaked again.

We had taken my folks for their first sail on our boat to escort the HMS Bounty into St Petersburg - its about a five hour sail one way.  Tampa Bay  can get nasty and we spent most of the trip just hanging on - rail down and being doused with water more often than we wanted.  White knuckle- high drama sailing for sure.  I was worried about my folks but they were enjoying the wild ride.  It still haunts me that we were actually sinking the whole time!  Matt

[Allure2sail]

Hello again:
Curious about the fasteners that were used in the deck to hull joint. Anyone else out there with an 1986 to 1988 27 footer do any work on the deck to hull joint. I doubt if it would be rivets, assuming they are screws or bolts how far apart are they? Are they buried in sealant (5200) and cannot be seen from the outside of the seam? Anyone know off hand what a new rub rail is worth? I'll have to check out the "parts boat" and see if they are worth taking off. Are the new ones made from a different type of material and are they still black?
Thanks for any help.
Bruce

[mike gartland]

I have also experienced hull-to-deck leaks on both sides...both centered about the shroud chain plate locations.  I am of the opinion that the "duct tape" is an original factory install as it exists on my 1989 CP23-3 and there is no evidence that there have been any earlier attempts at resealing the joints.  The original leak was on the starboard side.  The tape was nearly completely rotted out and disintegrated.  My fix (only one side to date) was to strip what was left of the tape, remove all chain plates, remove bolts in the area, clean out old sealant, drill holes for additional bolts at center of each old existing inter-bolt span (don't remember exact distance as this took place 4 to 5 years ago...but would guess I now have bolts every 6 in or less in shroud area), applied fresh 5200, reinstalled all bolts, covered with fresh layer of Gorilla Tape...really tough stuff...and reinstalled old rub rail.  Stretching old hardened rub rail was toughest job.  I have since developed a leak in the same location but on the port side so will tackle that job this spring.  I am glad to hear there is a new rub rail material available and will give that a try as the old ones...now 22 years old...are too old and tired to stretch much any more...(kind of like me...).

Fair winds..

Mike
CP23-3 WindRush

[skip1930]

Putting the rub rail back together.

I'd use copious amounts of 3-M Yellow [also comes in black] Trim Adhesive.

Any number of small C-Clamps or stiff spring clamps will help immensely, as the rub rails needs to be held in compression against both the upper and lower hull/deck bolted fit. A few strips of a heavy wood batten or 1" x 1/4" steel flat bar and less clamps could also do the same job. Anyway to squeeze this assembly together. It's all about spreading out the weight [squeeze] equally.

My buddy's Com-Pac 19 had factory applied double sticky sided tape conformed into the 'C' of the rub rail and encompassing the hull/deck joint without any additional factory applied adhesive.

I'm thinking what ever works and holds the rub rail in place for the 'point-of-purchase' to come and go. And "what ever works" for the factory changed from time to time. So any owner can use any method to hold whatever onto the darn boat.

skip.

[millsy]

My 1981 model 23 H/D joint also was riveted and had duck tape on the interior, probably to hold the sealent in check while the interior joint was covered with the batten at the factory.  I separated the joint, cleaned with anti bond, piano wire, chisels, and copious amounts of sweat, and applied new 5200.  Then for good measure I applied bi-axial cloth along the full length of the inside joint.  This is a lot of work but no more possibility of leakage. 

Reinstalling the rub railing was done on a hot Florida day in August and I also soaked it in a tub of hot water first.  This part was a piece of cake, but get a helper.

Chris
Compac 23 Dolce

[maynard]

That's good leak insurance with the inside covered with the cloth. We put some in a couple of
places. One extra we did was to tab the bulkhead to the hull with biaxial so that the chainplate
just aft of the bulkhead is bolted through the tabbing. Before the tabbing you could easily move
the bulkhead back and forth.