Which C&C sailboats have balsa cored hull?

[junkmeister]

My son owns a C&C Corvette (31') and I know it has a solid hull but the deck is Balsa Cored. I know because I've helped him with the rebuild of the boat.

Larry.

[KeelHaulin]

Originally Posted by pdqsailor

All early larger C&C's were balsa cored and the smaller boats became balsa cored to save weight.

This is not necessarily true. The "Redline" 41 was not a cored hull; and it's successor the Newport 41 (the same hull mold as the Redline 41) is not a cored hull either.

I do agree that many of the C&C hulls were balsa cored; but they were done very well and were not just thin sections of fiberglass on the outside of the coring. Red Jacket is still sailing on it's original layup with no core problems (core section testing eventually stopped for lack of finding any wet core).

[avazquez]

Yes Redline 41 was/is a beauty I almost buy one a couple of years ago...

[yogisailor]

we were avoiding balsa cores also till a broker explained that the fiberglass adheres better to the balsa wood than the foam cores. That means that a hard bump at the dock may be less likely to detach the fiberglass layers from a balsa core than from the foam core.

just something to think about.

[boatpoker]

I simply said "beware" of balsa bottoms. No balsa bottom boat should be surveyed until it is out of the water at least 24 and preferably 48hrs. There are many sound balsa bottoms out there but there enough with rotted core (and more each year) to warrant my warning. Nothing lasts for ever and FRP is hygrophobic.

[yogisailor]

Originally Posted by boatpoker

I simply said "beware" of balsa bottoms. No balsa bottom boat should be surveyed until it is out of the water at least 24 and preferably 48hrs. There are many sound balsa bottoms out there but there enough with rotted core (and more each year) to warrant my warning. Nothing lasts for ever and FRP is hygrophobic.

yeah - are you ever right.

balsa cores will rot and plastic won't - delamination can be fixed a lot more easily on the plastic insulation cores than balsa cores.

best not to bump into anything anyway.

didn't know about the 24-48 hour wait - thanks for the info.

any advice on foam core boat haul outs - no time limit there I presume? worst case scenario on moisture being the moment the boat comes out of the water - a moisture meter will pick up the most moisture then?

[KeelHaulin]

No; a moisture meter will not work properly below the waterline when the boat is first hauled; even 24-48 hours is not long enough. Using moisture meters below the waterline is iffy at best; unless strict guidelines are adhered to.

See my post here:

http://www.sailnet.com/forums/boat-r...tml#post588704