J/30 Class Association Forums J/30 Forum The Boat, Sails and Equipment J 30 bulkhead technical discussion

I have discovered after my recent purchase of Nice Pear that the bulkhead design has a flaw that WILL result in wood rot within the bulkhead. I have discovered that if I had sailed the boat once, the rig would have come down. Thank God I discovered this. Rod Johnstones' attempt to improve the bulkhead design from the J-24 is flawed because it traps the wood core between two fiberglass liners. If moisture gets into the wood, which is a matter of when, not if, rot will occur. I have hired a surveyor to have a look this Saturday to determine the proper method of repair. I STRONGLY suggest that a technical commitee should be formed to review this bulkhead problem, and determine a repair / retrofit that would be allowed under class rules, and that would possibly bypass the wooden bulkheads that we currently have. Frames have been used on racing boats that tie the shroud chainplates to the keel and hull without relying on a solid wooden bulkhead. I will be discussing these options on Saturday. Any strong structral solution that may or are may not be class legal, but provide safety to sail the boat safely again will be considered by us.

keep us posted on your findings. IMO this has become a largely non-issue when properly addressed annually during the entire life of each J/30 when we dig out last year's bedding compound and follow up with a fresh application of compound at the deck level turnbuckles. Each year @ launch time remove the deck plate, remove the old caulk, refill with new, rebed the cover plate.

I concur with Dell. The issue is from neglected maintenance, not a design problem. Digging out the caulk and rebedding around the chainplates should be normal annual maintenance on everyone's list.

I bought my J-30, a 1981 model, #363 in 1986. It had not been properly calked and I discovered an area of about six inches of delamination around each of my chainplates. I chose to repair the problem from inside the boat and keep the deck intact. I cut out the rotten balsa and sealed the area with epoxy. I filled the void with marine plywood sealed with epoxy and used west system to all the voids. I finished the head liner with kitchen counter type laminate to cover the area that I had cut out. I also injected epoxy into the bulkhead at the chainplate attachpoint area. It has held up great through the years. I too, recalk (if neccessary) each year.

Suggest at a minimum that the balsa core exposed around the chainplates should be covered with epoxy to prevent intrusion into the deck core.

Could someone explain specifically what the issue is here? When we bought #426, "J/24 bulkhead" issues were brought up as a concern but I was told that the plywood/bulkhead issues were solved getting rid of the plywood in the bulkhead on the J/30. But, this sounds like there's balsa core behind the chainplates.

Does this span the entire bulkhead? OR, is it just in the deck area around/above the bulkhead?

When I heard the plywood-J/24 issues had been fixed on the J/30 design, I sort of moved along. I have rebedded the deckplates/chainbplates at the deck with Sikaflex a couple times. But, any background and definitive details would be great here.

Thanks (and sorry if this has already been covered elsewhere in a post)!
- Jeff

Jeff - two issues. One is the balsa cored deck and the cutout area around the chain-plate. If not properly caulked, the core gets wet and rots. The fix is to dig out the area, recore and seal the edge with epoxy so water can't get in. Do NOT epoxy the deck to the chain plates because the deck needs to float relative to the rigging.

The second problem is if proper caulk is not done annually around the chain-plates, water can run down and wet the wood that the chain-plates are attached to on the bulkhead. This can result in a loss of structural integrity where the chain-plate attaches, and compromise the strength of the rigging.

The second is a maintenance issue, not a design issue. The first is a construction issue that is aggravated by neglected maintenance.

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.......

no need to reinvent the wheel here. your problem is the same as many others, the fix and the problem are well documented here on the forum.

1) remove all rotted core
2) isolate new core from water intrusion (epoxy + overbore & edgeseal methods)
3) rebed deck plates annually

congrats on the new boat. a survey would have been a good way to avoid the surprise. its not a huge problem but its a critical piece. where else do you have water? you might want to reschedule your survey a couple weeks, have your boat hauled, give it a chance to live in jackstands for a little while to give accurate meter readings, have the whole hull & deck moisture metered. talk it over w/ a few surveyors.

Thinking about the Cost to Repair vs the Market Value (CR/MV)-- most of us have a J30 because it is a great sailing boat irreplaceable at $20-$25K.

Last year I went to Waterline Systems to get an estimate on doing a non skid deck on Vee Jay 526... it was close to $7K!!!

the CR/MV "check" --which indicated 1/3 of the value of the boat to gain an aggressive non skid surface on the deck -- ruled it out. Instead I spent $300 for a kicked up Interdeck paint with additional silicon dioxide ... with enough left over to do the 505's deck.

My point is that the J30 is not a Ferrari ...if you are obsessed with keeping the boat as it was built ... you are going to spend a lot of money emotionally.

The easiest way to handle it may be to cut the problem area out from the forward side of the bulkhead, epoxy a piece of G10 to cabin side and firm up against the deck. and sail away. So OK you will have an extra 20 lbs of fiberglass around the chain plates.

If I remember right we've only had one case where the chain plate pulled straight out of the deck. But not the whole deck ripping apart.

So OK I'm a G10 addict.