Oh Bill, I am afraid I must respectfully disagree. Anytime moisture can be introduced into wood that does not allow air to breathe, rot will occur. There are posts elsewhere in the forum that describe in detail the construction of the bulkhead. Unfortunately, the design of the J-30 bulkhead is counting on keeping the wood in the bulkhead dry. The chances of keeping water out of the wood in the bulkhead after 30 years, and multiple owners is very slim to none. Coming from the J-24 the problem is not unheard of, but it seems to be more prevelant in the 30. Moisture meter readings show moisture in the bulkhead from the chainplate all of the way down to the berth. Will be discussing with the surveyor on Saturday, but it appears that one of the fixes will be to cut away the fiberglass on the head side, remove all of the core and replace it with epoxy treated marine plywood, and NOT refiberglassing the head side. The port side is severly damaged, resulting in a crack in the fiberglass on the aft side. Inserting a knife in the crack shows mush. No damage yet on the starboard side, but still has very high moisture readings. Will probably be cutting away the core on both sides of the door, then replacing the core with marine ply. After the boat is sailing again, then I will be evaluating the hull to see if a "suicide bar" is required between the chainplates to stop the bulkhead from working. Don't know if this fix is class legal, but oh well.......
