Water Damage

The windows in the main cabin leak and over the years have rotted the wood sidewall around the windows on both sides.  The sidewall of the hull is fiberglass and the wood panel on the sidewall was epoxy glued in place.

The wood panel will have to be removed and replaced with a new wood or fiberglass panel.  The fixed, non opening windows (dead lights) will also have to be refurbished or replaced with something new.  I am thinking about attaching Lexan or Plexiglass with bolts through the side wall.  I have seen other blogs where this was done and the results looked ok.  The old aluminum frame windows were not sealed against the cabin side and no amount of sealant will cure the problem.

Water leaking through the chain plate holes have also rotted the bulkheads.  I was easily able to push a screw driver through the bulkhead.  They both have to be replaced.  I will replace the two forward bulkheads too, just so everything looks the same.

This is the demolition stage - tear out, throw out until it's ready to be rebuilt.  The rest of the interior needs work too.  The old fold up table is too bulky and all of the wood drawers needs refurbishing.

San Juan 26

This blog will follow the refurbishment of a 1977 San Juan 26 sailboat.  In 1992, I bought the book titled "upgrading and Refurbishing the Older Fiberglass Sailboat" by W.D. Booth, with the dream of . . . well . . . upgrading and refurbishing an older fiberglass sailboat.  Eighteen years later, I am finally getting started.  I bought the boat on ebay without looking at it - the price was right.  It was on a trailer, so I had it hauled up to Virginia, where it sits next to the house ready to be upgraded and refurbished.   The hull is in good shape and it has an almost new 4-stroke Yamaha 9.9hp high thrust outboard.  Good start, but there is a lot to do.