Tim & Iota(Cabin Roof)

[K3v1n]

Hi Tim,
I was looking through your photos of Iota and see you have/had the same problem as I, a rotten cabin roof core. Mine has been leaking through badly weathered glide rails. I raised my tarp up so I can start some interior work and started with the roof, it's soaked throughout.

So how bad was it to repair? Any helpful hints and/or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Kevin

[K3v1n]

Well I ripped out all of the wet material. My next idea is to grind smooth along the edges.

[sawyer]

Hi Kevin:
Is that some type of wood core that you took out?  I thought that the Compac just had solid fiberglass on top except for the screw thru areas for the mast.  Maybe the earlier ones had cored tops. (Either that or I don't know what I'm talking about.) Before I started with this, my first serious sailboat, I read two books by Don Casey, (This Old Boat, and Inspecting the Aging Sailboat), although I must admit, when I saw the Com-Pac 16 up close, everything I had learned in the second book went out the door. It was of course, "Love at first sight. Actually I had been reading for several years and saving money, and was not sure that the CP-16 was what I wanted.  I drove about 100 miles, keep in mind, no money in my wallet, no checkbook, and no trailer hitch on my truck.  I swept the snow off of the 16 when I got there, the owner showed up just a little later, and as amazing as this may seem, I shook his hand, bought a hitch, and dragged it home.  It was paid for about 1 month later, and thanks to "Hippie Dave" I now have "Siskiwit".  Some things may be just meant to be, I was unable to make dinner that evening, wife and friends thought the worst, some terrible crash far from home, but I ended up home ok, with a new boat.  I wanted to name it the "Doghouse" cause thats where I was for a couple of weeks, but that name was already taken.  Anyway Kevin, I too have had some work to do on my CP-16, and learned a lot from those books and this site, and others to boot.  I noticed that Don Casey also has a book on deck and hull repair, I do not have it, but his books have helped me a lot.  You are going great guns on your CP, have you come up with a name yet?  And when you say south Jersey, is that anywhere down near Cape May, that is where some of my ancestors were from, and one old guy owned a coastal steamer, I think thats a sailboat with power too, ran it from Cape May to Cuba (Rum and Cigar runner I am sure) and then back to New York and Cape May again.  I have yet to find out the name of his ship.  Keep working at it Kevin, it is a labor of love.

[K3v1n]

It was some kind of wood, now it was all delaminated and wet. But it had to come out, it gave the cabin that old musty rotten wood smell.  I'll check out the books you mentioned, thanks.  As for South jersey I'm not as far south as Cape May, I'm near Atlantic City.

As far as a name goes I think we are at the point of putting the top five in a hat and pulling out a winner.   :shock:

[K3v1n]

I started grinding the interior roof of the cabin. Seems to be looking good but what a mess!  :shock:

I'll post up a pic when this phase is complete.

[timkil]

Hi Kevin, Sorry for the delayed response, but I've been involved with rebuilding my Tohatsu outboard for the boat. Winter brings alot of projects with it. My 16 had been partially demasted in the past and the outside of the cabin roof had been reglassed but not before a substantial amount of water had soaked into the wood core, the tabernacle base and the compression post. All of which were rotten as hell. I ripped out the tabernacle base and compression post fairly quickly, but the inside of the cabin roof was just too much fun to do fast. I used a cutting wheel on a Dremel tool to cut around the perimeter (oops, don't go too deep...I'll patch that hole later). After the fiberglass was pulled down I scraped, chipped, sanded and cussed the core out. I cut several full cabin width pieces of 1/8 inch Baltic Birch plywood and epoxied them in by bracing them in off the bunks and cabin floor. I did this in smaller pieces because that cabin door is just a little tight for a full size piece of plywood. After the epoxy cured I used a tight weave cloth and covered it with two layers of fiberglass. I reinstalled the cabin top hardware, gave her two coats of plain old exterior house paint and put in my new compression post. It wasn't easy or quick but I can jump on the cabin roof now with no give.  Tim

[K3v1n]

Thanks Tim, that seems to be the direction I'm headed. Still in the sanding/grinding stage. What brand epoxy did you use and how easy was it to set fiberglass on the ceiling?

[Mercrewser]

Well I ripped out all of the wet material. My next idea is to grind smooth along the edges.

Wow.  My boat #759 must be built differently because it does not have these problems and it was in far worse condition then yours.  I was told it was microballon coring, and I dont remember seeing wood in the screw holes for the sliders.  Anyone know when they switched core materials?

[timkil]

Kevin, The epoxy I used to laminate the wood core with was an off the shelf high strength "Loc Tite" product with a relatively long working time. I left the wood panels braced in place for 24 hrs, much longer than recommended, but I have to work for a living. Gaps around the edge and between panels was filled with a marine epoxy putty and sanded smooth. I used West Marine fiberglass cloth and epoxy to finish with. Fiberglassing overhead should be deemed either an olympic sport or two hours credit on the college level. In other words, it ain't fun or easy. I ended up using a 3 inch foam roller to saturate the strips of cloth that were held in place by masking tape trimming off the tape ends after the center of the strip was well saturated. Get a large box of latex gloves and an old hat, you get the picture. Good luck...Tim

[Craig]

I had no idea that the early 16's had a cored cabin roof. I drilled a hole for lights in my 79-80 and there was no wood at all. I do not have the interior lining like the newer models either.  I 'll have to go back and look more carefully at my roof.  

Are your bunks completely glassed in or are they painted wood tabbed to the hull? Do you have the forward anchor locker (a short bulkhead forward of the storage shelf)? I know these were early modifications to the 16/1, but I don't know what hull number the changes were made.

As I look at the project I wonder where the wood stops. Is the whole deck cored? Also, I wonder if it would have been easier to drill out the pop rivets and cut the caulk bead at the hull to deck joint and take the deck and cabin off.

Craig

[K3v1n]

Are your bunks completely glassed in or are they painted wood tabbed to the hull? Do you have the forward anchor locker (a short bulkhead forward of the storage shelf)? I know these were early modifications to the 16/1, but I don't know what hull number the changes were made.

My bunks are just tabbed in as you say and I have the anchor locker in the forepeak, the one that's down in the floor. As far as I can tell the wood core runs just to the edge of the cabin roof. I've done a bit of grinding to smooth out things along the edge but haven't worked on it for a couple of weeks, it has been to cold out.

I don't know about the rest of the deck, only the roof area leaked through the screw holes for the glides. That caused the delamination. The rest feels nice and sturdy.

[Craig]

I had the same leaks. But I think my cabin must be solid glass.  I had no evidence of delamination. Speaking of cold - it's suppsed to be -1 here in Indiana by morning. Brrrr!

Craig

[K3v1n]

Dropped the compression post and completed the grinding part of this repair. Next up...time to mix up some epoxy and put up the plywood.

Now the fun begins.  :?

[Craig]

Let me ask a dumb question: How do you post pictures? I can't seem to do it.

Craig

[K3v1n]

I have a membership @ clubphoto.com. I upload my pictures to an album there and then link it to here in the post.



or for the real thing....