J/30 Class Association Forums J/30 Forum The Boat, Sails and Equipment Vermiculite Replacement?

So there is core touching the keel fore and aft and it stop just short of the sump along the sides? How many outside layers of glass before it is exposed and how much did you have to remove/replace from your leaky aft end of the keel? Sorry about all the questions, this is a learn as you go experience for me.

Core comes right to the edge of the sump. Skin is about 3/16-1/4" there. Tapers down a mat/roving layer 6" out and another taper 12" out. The inner skin is much thicker here and th thickness extends further. Right behind the keel it's 1" thick solid glass. That's how mine is/was anyway.

This exposed area was original. This is as far as we ground down
Voids are observed along core/spine joints from original build.
I am sure repair is stronger than original but I have no plan to test it.
We also ground and relaid in the shallow keel sump area aft of the drop.
I was just questioning the idea of removing the vermiculite from outside. The presence of the spine

So I'm about to tackle the floor issue discussed above and hoping that I can get a couple questions answered by re-opening up this thread. Reasons for removing the floor;
1) Water is obviously coming through the interior glass under the floor, even if I re-core through the outside (which is my plan) wouldn't it be thorough to grind and re-glass the area behind the bilge where the glass is porous and letting in water?
2) There is some serious oily-moldy-funky odors coming from the void filled by the Verm. My wife has a bloodhounds nose so if I want her to come cruising with me this coming season at all, I'm going to need to pull out all the moldy, oily verm. (Unless someone out there has a brilliant way of getting rid of that smell.)

Things I'm worried about:
1) Cutting through all the tabbing and removing the floor will ruin the rigidity of the rest of the cabin mould?
2) Is there anyplace that there is no gap between the mould and the fiberglass? My fear is that I will cut into the hull accidentally with the oscillating blade if I cant feel the transition.

Cheers,

Josh

So I went ahead with the old college try and happy that I did, sometime in the j's past on oil change must have gone horribly awry and the amount of foul black mold is staggering, it will be nice to have it all out of there.

I bet that smells really good too! I'll be cutting Rhapsody behind the keel from underneath to repair a weakened area from past groundings. I drill a hole and drain it each season.

Yeah, it makes a world of difference already now that I've picked and chipped all that verm out. I'm thinking that I will cut a second bilge access aft of the main one in the floor and reinstall to the new support struts with exposed brass screws so the whole thing can be removed fairly easily for maintenance or hull inspection. (knock on wood, no more groundings; found an abandoned mooring in our field at 4 kts. at low tide last summer.)

You are revealing some hidden secrets.
Send more pics.
How does engine bilge drain to main bilge?
Thanks for sharing

Hidden secrets indeed. After chipping out more verm it's looking like there are extra layers of roving coming from main bilge that end at the old edges of the through floor bilge access. I'm guessing a former owner tried to stem the leaking by doing another layer of glass where it could be laid through the bilge opening. (see pictures) I'm guessing my leaking problem comes from stress cracks behind the keel which let water through the hull and up the back side of the "new" roving in the bilge. I am going to reglass from the outside behind the keel but don't know what I should do about the roving in the bilge fix.

Thinking that I will grind down the transitions from new roving to original hull glass, rough up the whole floor and do a layer of resin to seal everything smooth and watertight then do all the re-coring and re-glassing from outside the hull in the spring. ...Any advice anyone?

Cant find a drain from the engine floor to the main bilge (my impeller gasket is leaking a little so there is a small pool of anti-freeze under the engine, thinking I will drill a hole so it can drain to the main bilge.)

Cheers,

Josh

Josh,
I can see the drains that come into each side where the wires are. At the engine room I have a small hole beneath the engine, see where the blue antifreeze is puddled on the stbd side.
Also there are two holes on each side of the ridge where the engine cover seats, all the way aft. Look closely at this pic.
My boat is newer at 1984. There are of course differences. I have never seen any vermiculite and wonder if there was just seepage to the drains or actual paths, particularly with respect to the engine room drain.
I will NOT be taking up my floor, having refinished it recently.
Whatcha think?