Look on any sailing forum and often there are owners posting issues they have discovered with their cherished yacht. The majority of the issues are quite common and get spotted at a pre-purchase survey. When it comes to a yacht’s decks and deck fittings, though, any assessment of the deck core is almost always an inspection from the working deck side. This is because the underside of most working decks cannot be seen thanks to fitted cabin linings or nice cabinets. That’s before we even start to consider fully fitted lockers and side deck voids behind the bunks.
The majority of boat builders for the last 40 years, the likes of Westerly, Moody and Sadler, normally fitted ply blocks in the areas where deck fittings are required and continued with normal balsa core in the non-load carrying areas of decks. This has worked, to a point, but as fittings age and get overloaded, these deck fastenings can start to allow moisture into the sub-deck structures.
With some types of craft, moisture ingress through deck fittings is more of an inconvenience, but for a yacht that has a balsa core to provide the required reinforcement to support you and me lumping around on deck, (trust me on this one – there are a lot out there) it’s much more serious.
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Denne historien er fra July 2020-utgaven av Yachting Monthly.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Midsummer on Hanö
This wonderful little island in the south-east of Sweden is a real gem off the beaten track
ADVENTURE SAILING TO HAITI
After spending two months in the Dominican Republic, Andy Brown sails west to Haïti bringing medical and school supplies to the town of Mole Saint Nicholas
In celebration of bad sailing
New owner Monty Halls tests his sailing skills with his family aboard their Colvic 34 ketch, Sobek. A recently qualified Day Skipper, Monty faces a few unexpected challenges...
Winter brings excitement and opportunity
Oddity’s double glazing, insulation and heating create a warm, homely environment as I bash out this column.
ADVENTURE MAISIE GOES TO GOES
To depart or not to depart? That is the question. Is it safer to stay, or suffer the wind and weather of a rough North Sea?
'MAYDAY, GRANDAD OVERBOARD!'
When David Richards and his grandson Henry went out racing from lowey, they didn't expect their sail to end with a lifeboat rescue
VERTUE
For a 25-footer, the Vertue has a huge reputation and has conquered every ocean. So what makes this little boat quite such an enduring success? Nic Compton finds out
Sailing siblings
Mabel Stock, her brother Ralph, a friend Steve and an unnamed paying passenger passed through the Panama Canal in December 1919 on the sturdy Norwegian cutter Ogre. They were towed to a quiet anchorage in Balboa away from the boat traffic but within rowing distance of the shore.
TECHNICAL MAINSAIL MODIFICATIONS
Safety and performance improved hugely when Mike Reynolds reduced the size of his mainsail and re-configured the systems controlling it
PILOTAGE DONE PROPERLY
Chartplotters are an amazing aid, but can detract from your real-world pilotage if not used with caution, says Justin Morton
