Last Spring during launch preparations and washing the deck I noticed two spots on the Fore Deck that sounded hollow when I hit them with the hose stream. Upon further investigation I found 2 circular ~5" spots that have a fine crack around them. They sound like the non-skid is loose when you tap them but don't appear to be coming loose. There are no chips or large damage spots like any thing was dropped there and no indication of problems in the forward cabin top from the inside. Was wondering if anyone else had seen this before and a possible solution before the problem gets worse.
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Harold Baker
S/V Lucky Duck
Duncan Bay Boat Club
Cheboygan Michigan - Lake Huron
1989 C-36 mkI TR/WK M25XP
Harold can you specify the location of the spots?
Bill Matley
Duncan Bay Boat Club
Cheboygan, Michigan
Lakes Huron, Michigan,
Canadian North Channel
"Spirit of Aloha" Hull #1252
Bill: The areas involved are in the bow area forward of the hatch but toward the starboard rail from center. There don't seem to be any structural pieces of the deck there or cored areas that I know of. We've never dropped anything and there's no other damage besides the very fine circular cracks. I'm going to take a much closer look when I get to the boat this spring and try to seal up the cracks before any more water gets to that area. Was thinking that some penetrating epoxy might seal it up well enough but the cracks are very fine - for now.
Any ideas?
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Harold Baker
S/V Lucky Duck
Duncan Bay Boat Club
Cheboygan Michigan - Lake Huron
1989 C-36 mkI TR/WK M25XP
Two theories. (1) a void between the gel coat and the first layer of mat that has always been there and now after 28 years is starting to show.. Usually a "hollow" sound indicates this. (2) water in the coring that is freezing and putting pressure on the gel coat. Usually a deeper "thud" sound indicates this. If the latter is the case, the source will likely be the nearest piece of hardware that is mounted to the deck. The remedy is to at least locate the source of water intrusion and stem. A moisture meter is a valuable tool here.
The forum has articles on how folks address each one of these situations.
Nick Caballero
Retired C36/375IA Mk II Technical Editor
Nick: Thanks for the advice. Guess there will be a new tool on the boat this year. I plan to get the CT-33 moisture meter and do a little testing before I take the winter cover off. Still reading all the posts on leaks and water intrusion so I'll try to formulate a plan from those. Also read through MaineSail's article at "Understanding the Moisture Meter / Electrophysics CT-33 Photo Gallery by Compass Marine How To at pbase.com" that should get me started.
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Harold Baker
S/V Lucky Duck
Duncan Bay Boat Club
Cheboygan Michigan - Lake Huron
1989 C-36 mkI TR/WK M25XP
Harold; Check for personal Message.
Bill Dolan 1990 Catalina C-36 MKI - Hull #1041 'Williwaw'
Std. Rig, Walk Through, Wing Keel
M35, Oberdorfer Conversion,
Home Waters; Charlotte Harbor & The Gulf Islands of Florida
'You are never out of work if you own a boat'
You have a void in your deck, I wrote a detailed article some years back on how repair our deck gelcoat with pictures and instructions. It's posted on a JIBSHEET issue.
Chic Lasser Past Commodore
Bill: Thanks for the info - quoted below from your email. I wanted to share it since I feel it is great info to know for others with similar problems that come up.
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"Hi, I read your posts regarding the hollow spots on deck and am writing to tell you that our Dec. 1990 Hull # 1041 have the same 'hollows' in the exact same place on deck, although there is no cracking in the gel coat.Our boat is a Florida boat so there is never and freezing temperatures. BUT, we recently took a trip out to the Catalina Factory in Largo, FL and talked to Gerry Douglass about this.He noted that, there are 'hollows' in the deck as a part of the manufacturing process. Evidently,these holes are used as part of the manufacturing process to enable the handling of the deck when fitted to the hull and are not necessarily a manufacturing defect. If they concern you, please drop me a note and I tell of how Catalina suggested filling the voids. Bill Dolan "
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Weird that I never noticed this until lately. Maybe the gel-coat cracked and allowed some water intrusion and the winter did the rest like you said.
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Harold Baker
S/V Lucky Duck
Duncan Bay Boat Club
Cheboygan Michigan - Lake Huron
1989 C-36 mkI TR/WK M25XP
Chic:
I found your technical article on the gel-coat repair and still looking over some others. I'm afraid I may never be as talented as you with fiberglass repair but I may give it a try when we get the boat a little closer to home. It is 500 miles from us now and things don't get done to quickly. In the mean time - I'll practice your techniques a little so I may have further questions or call for help.
Thanks for your article and the response to my post.
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Harold Baker
S/V Lucky Duck
Duncan Bay Boat Club
Cheboygan Michigan - Lake Huron
1989 C-36 mkI TR/WK M25XP