J/30 Class Association Forums J/30 Forum The Boat, Sails and Equipment J30 parts for sale

I assumed this strip in the center of the transom was an extra thickness of 3/4" plywood. Following the same construction as the deck under the primary winches.

I dont know what the extra reinforcement is composed of as the failure of the panel occurred at the top of this "cored" portion at the turned in flange. The rip was in an arc just above the core and was definitely solid glass. Basically, the upper gudgeon was punched into the stern.

Mark's 3/4" thickness is probably a close approximation.

It interesting the way we find out about the construction/composition of the boat.

Where is the boat located and is the only damage the transom. Maybe interested in the complete boat. Please reply by e-mail at bltully@ocwa.com

alan, the transom is not solid glass. the exaust is a fiber glass tube that is set in the transom and tabed into place the problem is that when tpi built the boat the exaust hole was drilled thru the transom(balsa core and glassed into place the exterior was filled w/ gelcoat and that was it. the problems all start when due to temp changes the tube expands and contracts and the seal fails.Beacuse the balsa was not isolated or sealed before the tube was inserted the the rain water and exaust water migrates into the transom and in time will rot the core and soak the starbord side of the hull. the port side remains uneffected due to the isolation of the 2 hull haves the joint on the center line is solid glass approx 6" wide. this also runs up the center of the transom. I have had to cut the transom off on the strbd quarter (the skin from the center of the gudgens to approx 3 " from the corner. this is solid glass at the corner the old wet balsa was removed and new balsa fitted and reglassed and re gelcoated. the balsa at the exaust hole was gone turned into a gray paste and further in the balsa was firm but soaked the areas under the transom was also removed and repared the same way. this was a very big job that was done 2 years ago and have had no problems sence, the boat is sailed very hard in over night races and in all weathed not a crack in sight. by the way when i reinstalled the exaust all the balsa was removed 1" in all directions from the inside and the area was built up in solid glass and the new hole was drilled thru and the exaust re fitted.If the seal at the transom ever breaks the water will have no wear to go.

Paul, what you describe is VERY similar to what was found on our hull #89. The fiberglass exhaust tube was tabbed and glassed on the inside, but only caulked on the outside. We found the problem looking for a source for new blisters on the starboard hull which appeared suddenly during spring bottom work 2 years ago. The blisters fanned out in a pattern from the exhaust. We cut the exhaust out and found the "gray paste" about 1" around the tailpipe. We drilled test holes and found moisture migration about halfway up the transom on the starboard side. As you said, nothing on the port side. Rather that cut out the transome and the hull, we drilled 3/8" dia. holes in a 2.5" grid on the transom and on the hull all the way to about 14" short of the ice box. The hull and transom were allowed to dry for 6 months in inside heated storage, tested for moisture with a moisture meter (1% to 4%) and the holes filled with resin. The cavity around the tailpipe was filled with glass filled resin and the pipe was sealed back into place with resin. No problems since.

This same condition was found on HALLEL, hull #88 and repaired. We got a lot of guidance from HALLEL's owner, Bill Anderson, for our repair. The owner of hull #83 (Sugar & Spice) that BrianT has did not discover the moisture incursion soon enough, and the freezing and thawing of a cold MI winter resulted in a split hull from the transom (near the exhaust) about 6 to 8 feet long. The transom also expanded and cracked all the gellcoat over a large area.

It may be possible that TPI discovered this defect and changed production techniques for later hull numbers so that the tailpipe hole was drilled through an area of solid glass. This is only speculation on my part and would explain why some owners report solid glass in this area, but if your hull # is earlier than #89 you should check out the transom around the tail pipe!

BobbyCox, Ricochet

just so you know this is not a problem with the older boats this is a problem with all the j30S my hull is a 1984 #472

I did some more investigation with the drill. Paul's description is right on for hull #62. It is balsa right up to the tube. Looks like solid glass but most certainly is not. Like most other places on the boat, if something needed to go through a cored section they just drilled through and put it in.

Mine happens to be bone dry right up to the tube, but I will fix this design flaw anyway, just like I'm fixing all the deck hardwear installation. Drilling through balsa core and putting bolts in without isolating the balsa is not the way to build a boat if you want it to last 50 years!

Well Paul, all I can say is that I described what I saw accurately. Maybe you can explain it better that I. All I know is that, when my stern ripped above and around the 6" vertical strip down the center of the panel, the rip was in solid glass. The rip was approximately 12" long in an inverted arc shape extending into the panel several inches from the turned in deck flange. And there was no evidence of a step up from the solid glass to a cored section except at the 6" vertical strip in the center of the panel. You would expect the stern panel to be contructed similarly to the hull and deck panels where the transition from cored construction to solid glass at the flanges is obvious. This was not the case on #359.

The point is irrelevent if the issue is water ingression into the core. Everyone should check the condition of their stern anyway.

I am told hull #83 has been purchased whole as a "fixer-upper." I'm happy to hear she's being saved. Welcome to the class.

The J/30 AKA "The '57 Chevy of late 70's racer-cruisers."

I have a '79 J30 with damage to the hull/deck joint from pounding against a piling.

Is the hull balsa core, or solid glass?
Is the wood I see exposed (and very wet) in there for joinery and a base for the deck hardware to bed?

How much work would be involved in repairing such damage?

Wondering if this will be a big deal.

Thanks,

Michael