Sailboat Racing Adventures

When I purchased J/27 #28 the surveyor noted:

• De-laminated hull core aft of the keel below the waterline
• Water ingress in deck core
• Transom soft at rudder brackets due to water ingress
• Crack in one of the swedge fittings
• Some interior wood staining

I found a few more things. From December through May Toccata was out of the water and getting worked on…

• Repaired 2 wet core areas (4×4 and 3×4) below the waterline under stringers and bulkhead. Removed outside skin and wet core, replaced with new core and 2 layers of wet mat, then vacuum bagged. 3 more layers of mat, then on biaxial. Fair glass-work and re-gelcoat.
• Repaired 10″ x 10″ wet core area on the transom around the lower gudgeon. Removed wet core and replaced with Penske board and laminate, two more layers of wet mat, and gelcoat.
• Core bond lower gudgeon mounting hole.
• Repaired 15″ x 9″ wet core areas on deck at port primary winch. Cut away and remove wet core, replace with Penske board laminated into place with 2 layers of wet mat. Fair glass work and re-gelcoat.
• Replaced wet core area in the seahood
• Replaced rotted/delaminated forward (V berth) bulkhead.
• Removed all deck hardware and core-bonded (overdrill, epoxy fill, re-drill) every deck fitting.
• Replaced the windows.
• Replaced all standing rigging: headstay, uppers, lowers, and intermediates. New open block turnbuckles. New Dynex Dux backstay.
• Replaced lifelines.
• Replaced worn halyard sheaves and axles in mast.
• Sanded and re-glassed cracks on deck including  foredeck, winch areas, cockpit floor, etc. Faired glasswork.
• New gelcoat and Griptex non-skid on the deck.
• Keel faired to design templates.
• Repaired cracks in rudder head, add glass laminate and gelcoat. Corebond rudder gudgeon holes.
• New Harken carbon fiber foil.

After getting the boat back we then added:

• New Tohatsu 6HP OB.
• New outhaul.
• New vang.
• Spinnaker pole upgrade from wire to synthetics.

Pictures

Wet core below the waterline, here’s a section that was cut away from the hull showing the damaged balsa core.

Wet balsa core up close

Adding the new core

Underside of the seahood

Here’s where the new glass over the new core is getting vacuum bagged.

Core bonding – every thru deck fitting is over-drilled and filled in with epoxy so that no moisture can get to the deck balsa via the deck hardware mounting holes.

The faired keel is ready for paint

Installing the deck hardware – almost done!