[adamstevens]

hi,
resoring a catalina 22 and have a few large bubbles/delams on the walls up toward the bow. Is there a good trick to fixing these? looks to me like it isjust the thin white material that has delaminated because it is fairly easy to push the bubble back in but once I let go it pops back out.thanks!!!

 

[chuck53]

You might want to check out catalina22.org.

 

[adamstevens]

Im not seeing much over there. what do you think about putting a few short flathead screws in the wall to pin it down

 

[zeehag]

the ply wood fro the bulkhead may have become delaminated..may be easier to replace that bulkhead. definitely safer to replace bulkhead if it is a structural bulkhead. paper layers do not support things well.

 

[adamstevens]

Would that be difficult and or expensive to replace the whole bulk head? It doesn't feel weak in that area just bubbled. If u hit the boats exterior in that spot it feels hard as a rock

 

[zeehag]

boats exterior best sound solid. this has nothing to do with boats exterior.it is a delaminating bulkhead.
delaminating plywood is sheets of paper not doing anything but lying side by side.
perhaps by removing your white veneer or surface layer of plywood, you might see what i am saying a little better. there is no strength to delaminating bulkhead.
go to other side of the bulkhead and tap there. does it sound solid ??
tap all the ply wood you have on board. does it all sound the same??
it doesnt take much to cut away a bulkhead and replace with healthy ply and epoxy. fg it in, and done. no more concern about that bulkhead for looong time.
i replaced 2 bulkheads so far, not difficult, and ye can actually do it yourself, if you can work with wood and fg.....

 

[adamstevens]

Hey thanks... I'm not sure how clear I was in my original description but the interior that so failing is up towar the bow and the exterior is the actual hull of the boat so wouldn't it mess something up if I cut the side our my boat out. Sorry if this is a dumb question thanks

 

[smackdaddy]

I had some of the same thing happening on my C27 near the forward cabin ports. Mine was actually structural as it was caused by the lower shroud pulling the softening 40 year old deck up a bit. But no way was I going to dig into all that. So I just got a bigger backer plate to spread the load and kept sailing. You can see the problem in this pic:

If yours is not structural, I'd blow it off. But if you like perfection it might drive you nuts. Just figure out as best you can if it's worth fixing it.