soft deck?

[kickingbug1]

  a 90 cp19 i am thinking of purchasing has a little bit of "give" on the top of the cabin. i dont see any signs of water intrusion on the inside or any cracks on the outside. the tabernacle seems solid as does the foredeck. the boat in general appears very solid with little or no cracks in the gelcoat. the give that i mentioned is very slight but it is present, not the case with my 16. i guess what i want to know is if this is normal. ----jason i dont think you mentioned anything when you looked at it so im thinking it is a normal condition,

[Salty19]

  a 90 cp19 i am thinking of purchasing has a little bit of "give" on the top of the cabin. i dont see any signs of water intrusion on the inside or any cracks on the outside. the tabernacle seems solid as does the foredeck. the boat in general appears very solid with little or no cracks in the gelcoat. the give that i mentioned is very slight but it is present, not the case with my 16. i guess what i want to know is if this is normal. ----jason i dont think you mentioned anything when you looked at it so im thinking it is a normal condition,

Sounds like the same problem Doug's old boat had. He said the roof liner has delaminated from the outer glass (which added stiffness) and had to drill holes in the cabin top and inject epoxy to relaminate them.  His sounded a lot worse though.

How much give are you talking about?  1/4"? 1/2"?

[Harrier]

Does it feel the same with the mast up?  Deck can feel "spongy" when the rigging is down - at least on my 27.  The tension helps draw everything together. 
Have you given it the "tap test"?

[kickingbug1]

    mike it hardly moves at all, just a slight flex is all.  its probably ok but i just wondered what is norma. i dont know what the "tap test" is

[skip1930]

Nobody ever said that fiberglass was never inflexible. My CP-19 cabin top will flex a bit when I kneel or walk on it.
Look how thin the sliding hatch is and well that holds up to someone walking on it. It has a very thin core of several layers of 20 ounce glass.
 
I'm guessing that the flex noticed on a CP-19 would naturally be less noticed on a CP-16 simply because the span on a CP-16 is less AND I'll bet the fiberglass thickness and construction is identical.

Buy the boat and on to the next concern.

This reminds me of the very first fiberglass commercial sail boat offering. I read in Small Craft Advisor in a interview with the Montgomery boat people that when the TRIDENT sailboat [I have one down the road from me] was being considered nobody really knew just how thick the glass should be. And as a result these first few boats were built with a very, very thick layer of resign impregnated glass cloth and hand layed-up on the bias.

She's heavy for her length but maybe the 'ice cutting bow' could be strapped on to extend the sailing season?


skip.

[Salty19]

Oh, OK...yea, if you don't think it's even a 1/4" at the center, that's just normal give.    I think skip is right.

The tap test is when you take a lightweight hammer, or perhaps the hard plastic end of a big screwdriver, and lightly tap around the ENTIRE hull and deck.  You listen for differences in sound, echo, reverb that might indicate rot/water retention.  It should kind of sound like "ding" and when you hear a "dong" be suspicious (again unless you're near a fitting, a sharp bend, hard point, thick point of fiberglass, etc. 

I would say let your local expert McGyver make the call on this or anything related to soundness... we can't feel the give or hear the tap test over the internet.   

If this deal goes through you're going to have a great Christmas present.  You and Sarah will love it, it is so much more boat than a 16 but not too much. 

[kickingbug1]

   as always i can count on your support. i dont think stepping the mast will be an issue. im in pretty good shape for an old guy and i already know how to cuss. more measuring found that i have maybe a foot to spare lengthwise and an inch in height if the mast is carried beneath the pulpit (if i dont increase the door opening that is. towing might be interesting but im pretty close to the lake.  big issue is money. if we can work a deal there will be another queen mary at next years rendezvous. and hey the boat has a spinaker which should add to the laughs.   thanks so much for the advice everyone. ill let everyone know where to send money to the "sail fund"

[MacGyver]

No deck issues,
I thought it was good, and I do remember walking up front.

Really to be honest not much can go wrong on these 19s and even if somethign was wrong I can help you fix it all, and easily on these boats.

Mac

[kickingbug1]

   i think im gonna adopt this kid