Hi all, I thought I'd post a separate thread on this topic, as it is a stand-alone issue vs everything else we're working on.

Though many of our stanchions were bent from the storm/flood (which is a pretty good testament to the shape our deck is in), we did take a hit that broke the stern-most port-side stanchion clear through the topside, cracking fully into the cabin on the port side just above the galley. I've been researching the repair of this (and did come across your excellent blog-post Bill --http://j30rhapsody348.blogspot.com/p/rhapsody-stanchion-base-repair.html ) but I'm a little concerned about the flange from the hull to which the deck is bolted--which is right in the area where the stanchion base is bolted.

Has anyone else encountered this? I would post a picture, but I am pretty tech-inept and can't figure out how to do so.. If anyone has thoughts or has dealt with this before I can likely email a pic..

Any help is greatly appreciated !

While I would not claim any great expertise in this area - yet, but FWIW here's what I am planning to do with #365's damaged area, a smashed-in hull to deck joint area about eight inches long just forward of the forward bulkhead.



My plan is to grind out until I have only undamaged and unaffected material-any breaking stress on the glass fibers can cause them to be weaker than design strength- and build the area back together with glass mat and west systems epoxy.

In your case, I'd make sure all the damaged material is removed and ground back - that will give you a good strong base to build everything back together with, flowing with the original structure. A small silver lining to this is that when you're done, you won't have core under the stanchion, it will be fully epoxy.

Labor of love, indeed. I can't wait to fix it up slooow!

Well, it seems like I may have figured out how to post an image, however the underside pics are not uploading, despite my craftiest tricks.. (bashing head on table..). I will try again to get the interior cabin pics up, for now, I'm curious to see if I did this right.. Topside it doesn't look bad at all!

Andy it looks like we have exactly inverted damage! On the inside of our cabin we have a stretch of delamination and general mess that is almost exactly as broad as yours on the outside..

trying again..
but still can't get the image up that i want..

so this works for me ... the first few times is painful ... then subsequently it becomes pretty easy and is pretty much what a number of the forum sites use ... On some forums we load the photo jpg into photobucket.com which provides a free site to store an image ... but it is best to load your image here on the J30 site archive. although you could insert any image loaded anywhere on the web including say from your own blogsite.

1. click File Manager
2. click Browse
3. upload image from your computer
3a. fill in file caption
4. click Add file
5. select another image if you want
5a. fill in file caption
6. click Add file
7. click Done adding Files
8. Be aware that system may not allow more than a couple of photos per post. [I get around that by doing a composite photo in Photoshop] if you have a choice of size do width 8 in. at 72 pixels.
9. Click Preview Post
10. when happy ... Click Submit
11. Click on photo link Attachment at bottom of your post, your photo comes up on the J30 site
12. Go up to URL and then control C it
13. Back up to your post
14. Click edit
15. Pick out spot to add photo to text and set up an insert
16. go to insert image and click on it.



17. Control V to insert it
18. Change Post.

Hey Cap'n Vic, Many thanks for trying to help. I have a few pics that are Jpeg files and not too big, but the forum just doesn't like them, says they're the wrong format. Can't figure out why!

Anyway, if you key up that second pic I posted (which I'll try to repost here) on the interior pic on the right hand side of the stanchion baseplate you can see a small white sheet of fiberglass that was pulled off a darker, grey speckled sheet of rather thick material (about 1/8" thick), and you can see that dark speckled sheet of material bending downwards to the plastic base plate, where it may be cracked (unseen). My question is, is that dark speckled grey layer the flange from the hull-deck joint ? I'm planning on using a dremel tool to dissect the various layers away, but I can't help but wonder if you more experienced members have encountered this before. Many thanks for any thoughts!

Dremel will be a bit underpowered ... most of the time you have to cut back to solid connected glass/core/glass or glass/glass.

from the photo of the top that probably is going to be a min of 6 in. out from the stanchion base. below I'm guessing 12 in.

7 years ago with Vee Jay at mooring, a valiant 40 came in to his mooring upwind single handed ... missed the pickup and by the time he had got back to the wheel his bow anchor snagged my stb. bottom life line ... so no problem he backed off, rupturing the lifeline and pulling the base completely out of the deck. That required a semicircle patch radius 16 inches from the base as the top skin had pulled clear of the core. and also required replacement of those sections of toe rail which also had to be removed to get to solid hull. here it is looking like your bottom deck skin my have pulled away more than visible in photo.

yes I am thinking that the dark green fiberglass layer you are seeing is a part of the deck hull joint.

send your problem photos as attachment to Vic@VicFarmer.com and I will look at them in photoshop.

That is quite a story. I bet the Valiant came out without a scratch right? The fates can be so cruel..

And the things I find in the lazarette--it never ceases to amaze me.. In there the hull-deck joint is visible in it's barest essentials. That is the flange from the hull, you were correct.

I'll be in touch when I am less exhausted. I took the opportunity to get an oscillating saw though, thanks for the tip. I'm thinking of removing some of the interior wood paneling below the stanchion so as to shore up the flange and stanchion base with fiberglass. Has anyone out there any experience with removing those wood slats?

The wood slat's come out easily I use a impact driver ( the Makita drill driver set) you may snap off a few heads and have to carefully drill them out. the harder job is finding all the screws to take out the galley locker and tray but worth it That will give you the room to open up the damaged area and re build the deck.
For refinishing the ash strips I ran them thru a thickness planer and the varnished both sides to seal them