Marine trader 34

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In hindsight... I would have been better off doing what you suggest, but for me personally the charm of these old trawlers is all the teak, which one would loose in a re-do unless a fortune was spent.

And I actually enjoyed the work...
 
Manyboats, not everybody likes little. My neice likes that show about tiny houses. I live in a tiny house compared to most, 1 bedroom 1 bathroom, big kitchen big living room and no room for guests. At one time it was the "guest house". It suits us because we're not here to often. My son and his family live in the big house and he takes care of everything. I've found that on boats, I like bigger much better.
 
I once told my vavorite surveyor I had my eye on a CHB. She said "Eric .. You don't want a CHB". Decks and cabin as I recall. I rather like the boats. She lived on an old 40' wood Monk.

Eric, she was just prejudiced. Why do you think there are so many CHBs still out there, and going right back to the early 70s, mine among them..? Because yah can't kill them. They'll take a lot of flesh wounds, for sure, but they keep going. Their drive trains are legend, and they handle seas so well, everything on them is fixable, their hulls are really good, and well...they just look like proper boats, inside and out, and for the money nothing else comes close, is all else I can think of to say.

I love my old Clipper 34, even with all her imperfections, because none of those imperfections impair her doing what we want to do, and she'll do an honest 7kn @ 7 Lph forever. Yah just godda luv'em... :D
 

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Fine lookin' boat, Pete!
I covet your aft sun shade and the white painted trim makes it look modern in a good way.
 
I love my old Clipper 34, even with all her imperfections, because none of those imperfections impair her doing what we want to do, and she'll do an honest 7kn @ 7 Lph forever. Yah just godda luv'em... :D


I couldn't agree more. But I just couldn't keep up with the maintenance on Moon Dance.
 
I just picked one up mine for $5,700 the Ford leman-120 is an excellent condition and looks almost brand new and all the copper is nicely tacked onto the wall down in the engine compartment you can see they were meticulous with the engine compartment with that said the previous owner swapped out the fuel and water tanks with plastic ones and reduced them by 50%, which kind of sucked I too have soft spots in my decking I'm planning on using some foam with fiberglass resin and paint it on and let it cure hard then get some fake teal rubber matting and running around the decks for the looks what do you guys think of that? It was already in the water so I jumped in took it at a 83 mile journey to my Marina where I am not working at it in the water
 
... I too have soft spots in my decking I'm planning on using some foam with fiberglass resin and paint it on and let it cure hard then get some fake teal rubber matting and running around the decks for the looks what do you guys think of that?
Are you intending to epoxy glue foam in sheet form over the existing teak and then epoxy glue fake teak over the glued on foam?
How will you finish the outer edges of the foam? What about the change in deck height? How will you accommodate any fuel/water deck fillers?
Normally the foam would replace the rotted core in the fibreglass sandwich deck the teak is screwed to.
 
Greetings,
Mr. V. If you're not going to remove the rotted core, why go to all that trouble? Just paint the whole works with truck bed liner and be done with it.
 
Vandeusen - I’ll be very interested in hearing what you finally plan to do with the areas of soft decks (and if they are teak or glass) - and how it progresses…..
 
Vandeusen - I’ll be very interested in hearing what you finally plan to do with the areas of soft decks (and if they are teak or glass) - and how it progresses…..

Sure, we are working on her daily... The wife and I are inexperienced at fixing boats but this trawler was a good enough deal to get me out of my perfect Silverton.. lol.

We just started the galley, all the beautiful woodwork is still in place and shiney so we work around it.. I have a friend coming today who will show me how to harden back up the deck
 

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We've been working on her now for a week and inside and out you can already see a major improvement
 
That's the nice thing about a Marine Trader: Everything you do makes it better.
 
I was putting the matting down with or without fixing it I decided to put the foam or kind of paint the boat with resin just to kind of harden the deck up and stop any more potential leaks then I was going to put the mat on for cosmetic I'm not talented enough to tear up the deck and replace it with a new one I'm at the disabled vet I sure can't afford to do one so that was my solution
 
I was putting the matting down with or without fixing it I decided to put the foam or kind of paint the boat with resin just to kind of harden the deck up and stop any more potential leaks then I was going to put the mat on for cosmetic I'm not talented enough to tear up the deck and replace it with a new one I'm at the disabled vet I sure can't afford to do one so that was my solution

Vandeusen, my Clipper 34 had soft decks, and the PO had addressed this by just removing the teak, then having a boatyard lay down marine ply over the top of the top layer of the GRP sandwich the decks are made of. They then fibreglassed over this ply, finishing with a non-skid surface.
The damp core was then trapped between the upper and inner layers, and rendered effectively harmless.
it worked well.

However, whatever you do, as long as you seal it enough to prevent any further water ingress, it will be about all that is worth doing for this age of boat, and the price you paid. A full rip-out of the damp core, which is a huge job, requiring removal of almost all of the top GRP layer as well, unless you do it all yoiurself, is just not justifiable in terms of cost, and the little it will affect re-sale later on.

If you are planning to leave the teak in place, then that will be enough stiffening if you then encapsulate it in a waterproof layer, then finish off with something non-slip, like the truck deck stuff someone else suggested. So I doubt you need to mess about with a foam. But whatever you do make sure it is watertight. Then even if there is a bit of spring in places - you will never go through it..!
 
Vandeusen, my Clipper 34 had soft decks, and the PO had addressed this by just removing the teak, then having a boatyard lay down marine ply over the top of the top layer of the GRP sandwich the decks are made of. They then fibreglassed over this ply, finishing with a non-skid surface.
The damp core was then trapped between the upper and inner layers, and rendered effectively harmless.
it worked well.

This is GENIUS! I love it. Thanks for the tip :):)
 
So I did a test of just putting fiber glass resin over a crack and let it seal dry and I can tell a difference as I walk over that crack so that's food for thought
 
Another approach, easier and less expensive than cloth and epoxy, could be to trowel a layer of wet fast setting sand and cement mixture over the teak. Should adhere well, and be readily paintable in a timber like colour, in a short time after curing.
 
So my tack is bouncing around 9000 to 11,000 RPMs RPM and I'm doing 12.3 knots per mile
am I at a optimal fuel gallon per hour range
I am currently in route on a 53 mile journey for today I think I'm still learning this Marine Trader I figured I'd ask while I'm in motion
 
Vandeusen, my Clipper 34 had soft decks, and the PO had addressed this by just removing the teak, then having a boatyard lay down marine ply over the top of the top layer of the GRP sandwich the decks are made of. They then fibreglassed over this ply, finishing with a non-skid surface.
The damp core was then trapped between the upper and inner layers, and rendered effectively harmless.
it worked well.

However, whatever you do, as long as you seal it enough to prevent any further water ingress, it will be about all that is worth doing for this age of boat, and the price you paid. A full rip-out of the damp core, which is a huge job, requiring removal of almost all of the top GRP layer as well, unless you do it all yoiurself, is just not justifiable in terms of cost, and the little it will affect re-sale later on.

If you are planning to leave the teak in place, then that will be enough stiffening if you then encapsulate it in a waterproof layer, then finish off with something non-slip, like the truck deck stuff someone else suggested. So I doubt you need to mess about with a foam. But whatever you do make sure it is watertight. Then even if there is a bit of spring in places - you will never go through it..!


I like this idea. It seems cheap(er) and easier than a full core replacement. It can't be as simple as simply ripping up the old teak, fitting plywood, and glassing the whole thing in can it? It seems as though you would be encapsulating the new plywood "core" in with a rotten balsa sponge that would soon permeate it with moisture and then it; too; would rot. Do you know if the previous owner did anything to waterproof the original top deck layer to keep moisture from getting into the new plywood from below?

Thanks.
 
Another approach, easier and less expensive than cloth and epoxy, could be to trowel a layer of wet fast setting sand and cement mixture over the teak. Should adhere well, and be readily paintable in a timber like colour, in a short time after curing.

Huh? Does this actually work?
Can you tell me more about this and/or let me know where to get more info about this?

I am interested to know more, but I have my doubts. What keeps the cement from cracking and letting water back into the teak(and the boat, as our teak is leaking at present)

We plan on ripping our teak out first thing this spring. We know its a big job but if there are alternates, I want to know more about them.
 
I like this idea. It seems cheap(er) and easier than a full core replacement. It can't be as simple as simply ripping up the old teak, fitting plywood, and glassing the whole thing in can it? It seems as though you would be encapsulating the new plywood "core" in with a rotten balsa sponge that would soon permeate it with moisture and then it; too; would rot. Do you know if the previous owner did anything to waterproof the original top deck layer to keep moisture from getting into the new plywood from below?

Thanks.
Ralph, I'm pretty sure they glued the ply down onto the exposed upper GRP layer of the sandwich with something that sealed the old screw holes, which were the cause of the whole issue. (Would to God the builders had anticipated a bit better, and avoided thousands of holes in that upper layer by gluing the teak down some other way, like they do now. - but's what's done is done.) The above seems to have worked, as we never had any evidence of ingress of damp into the upper layer, as no soft areas ever appeared.
 
Huh? Does this actually work?
Can you tell me more about this and/or let me know where to get more info about this?

I am interested to know more, but I have my doubts. What keeps the cement from cracking and letting water back into the teak(and the boat, as our teak is leaking at present)

We plan on ripping our teak out first thing this spring. We know its a big job but if there are alternates, I want to know more about them.
Quite right to have your doubts,I was not entirely serious. Though entire boats are still built of mesh reinforced cement.A series of large high performance ocean racing sailboats each called "Ragamuffin"(aka "The Flying Footpath") were built and successfully raced here.
I had decks redone on a previous 1981 Island Gypsy. Teak removed, 2 small areas of soft black teak sandwich in the "real deck"( fortunately the rest of the sandwich material was non rotting foam) replaced with foam, old screw holes filled, exposed fibreglass top of deck faired up. Then the whole deck fibreglassed again, one layer on the side and aft decks receiving fresh glued teak,with 2 layers on the fwd exposed area, finished in non slip paint.
Sadly, the only way to do it is properly/expensively. Short cuts are not advisable but understandable with an inexpensively acquired boat.
 
I have now taken her on 1300 miles I've done nothing mechanical to her other than your pre-trip post trips I am still working on the solution for the water leak. I am going to apply polyester resin today next week I will top that with polyester resin with cloth and if I still feel some soft spots then perhaps I would go over that with the plywood idea however in my worst case scenario when it rains hard the wife and I just have to move to the cabin and sleep until the rain stops the water it's coming from the gunnel area and I've already taken out the interior plywood which allows the drip to go directly to the engine compartment then to the bilge I let out the side not that big of a deal for us but she still a work in progress
 
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