Leak over my bunk

"Honey, I found why it is leaking over my bunk!" "Oh, and don't come back here!"
Ha ha. Why on earth would anyone build a boat like this? I know you get what you pay for and I'm opening myself up for a lot of criticism, but really? Really?

For today, West Systems is my friend. Next year, gotta do the decks. They literally nailed the inside wood into the bottom of the deck above. Maybe it doesn't rain in Asia!

Trying to add pic

And the resulting holes...

Just one of my many gripes about TT construction...really gotta wonder what else was done with no thought to longevity...

I've found insanely stupid construction in my 77 MT.
Then again, it has lasted for over 30 years.

My teak deck lasted about 42 years before the leaks got bad enough to move off the boat.

What was really weird is the teak deck screws were not penetrating this thin FRP. I know they are going into the sub deck above but it wouldn't have leaked as much if they wouldn't have driven nails into it from below.
My wife took my saw away too....she doesn't know I have a crowbar in the bottom of the toolbox though!

Capthead said:

My teak deck lasted about 42 years before the leaks got bad enough to move off the boat.

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I wouldn't compare construction techniques between a wooden boat and a glass one...nails through wood are diff than nails through glass...and then if the whole area freeze/thaws.

psneeld said:

I wouldn't compare construction techniques between a wooden boat and a glass one...nails through wood are diff than nails through glass...and then if the whole area freeze/thaws.

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I was only saying, not comparing. As to this construction, it appears anything goes in some boat yards. At least in his case the fix is easier than my fix.

Jbear, I have two crow bars and two pry bars.

Greetings,
Mr. j. Your deck is probably two layers of FRP with some sort of filler/core (plywood, teak blocks/strips) in between. The deck screws most certainly are penetrating the top layer and as your picture shows screws have now penetrated the bottom layer. Soooo....You now have a direct pathway from water on the outside to a leak on the inside with, and I hesitate to say this, most probably fully saturated core material.
Who knows what was in the Asian workers mind when they....did whatever has you scratching your head now. It is what it is.

Oh yeah, core is saturated. I knew that going in and purchased accordingly. The nice thing on this boat is fly bridge and intermediate deck were all FRP. No teak on those. Only main deck has the issues.

Best news of the morning is that for the first time since we bought the boat, no water leaks after last nights rain. Pretty happy this moment. Now to get some of the fixes more permanent!

The leak over my bunk started as the emergency tiller fitting had water coming down because of the water migrating under the teak deck....fixed that and still had water dripping on my head...turns out the bronze fitting was prone to accumulating a lot of condensation in colder weather so I had to roll up and plug it full of foam...

Absolutely not, any core is suspect , especially balsa. I would guess that all the core on this boat is wet and act accordingly. Drill and check. Otherwise you will not know. Replacing balsa core is not as much of a big deal as most folks make it out to be. Ignoring it or shortcutting the repair is a sure recipe for failure.

Some of the CHBs and that ilk had old packing crates and other scrap wood in the decks and the house. When it got wet it rotted spectacularly and expensively. You could tell one that had failed decks or windows because the lovely teak interior was all water stained and the mildew/rot smell gave it away immediately. The correct way to fix this was to remove all the wood. Many of these boats have since had their interiors painted because the cabinet work is just too expensive to rebuild. A cheap repair was to inject epoxies and the like into the subfloor and fibreglass or truck-seal right over the teak. A crappy repair which looks good for a while. A broker who says "the decks have been done" is selling crap unless he can certify that the wood was removed. All of this was the reason I gave up looking at Taiwanese boats after 8 out of 8 that I looked at had rot.

actually my decks have teak blocks as the core...while soaking wet for quite awhile they were not rotten in the slightest....however they were separated from the glass skins....

Where separation had occurred to a great extent...I yanked the blocks out and replaced them with a sheet of epoxy coated plywood...

Where the decks were solid,,,I dried and drilled tacking holes and filled them with epoxy to further strengthen the matrix...

I have no hope of this boat lasting another 30 years and can't expend the time or money or energy to try to...if it gets crushed in a dumpster 20 years from now with minimal further outlay it was the best value boat I ever owned...to each there own on how they solve boat issues.

Just one of my many gripes about TT construction...really gotta wonder what else was done with no thought to longevity...

NOTHING WHATSOEVER was done with any thought beyond getting the boat on to the delivery ship.

Some because of a basic lack of knowledge , some because even 12 year old labor adds up.