J/30 Class Association Forums J/30 Forum The Boat, Sails and Equipment Looking to buy a 1984 J30

I went to look at a J30 today. The boat is in winter storage and has water in the bilge...The salesman said that this is normal for an older J30. There are also a few soft spots on the deck, or places where there is cracking from water under the fiberglass. Can anyone confirm this? I'm fairly new to this so any help would be appreciated.

Hi - not that I would trust the salesman either, but I'd go as far to say this is common for an older anything. Rain water can seep in around various fittings in the deck, hull joint, whatever. Water can even come down the inside of the mast and find its way to the bilge (rotting the holly sole up there in the process).

Every boat I've owned (J/30, Tanzer 22, Melges 24) just plain collected a bit of rain water.

My J/30 will collect a gallon or so in a few weeks if its been raining.

I guess it doesn't mean that there isn't a bigger problem resulting in water ingress as well as a lot of wet balsa somewhere, but this should turn up in the survey anyway.

Assuming we are not talking about a LOT of water, I would not worry about it. Maybe tell the surveyor to keep an eye out for something along these lines.

Good luck with the J! You will find this forum is an amazing resource for these aging boats.

-djm

The water in the bilge is not, to me, a big issue at all. As mentioned, these boats will let water in. With the boat on the hard, it means it's just rain water and, while you would want to limit it as much as possible, it's presence is not that big a deal.

However, the fact that you mention the soft spots is a concern. I've seen a lot of "small soft spots." They all have two things in common:
1. They're not really small
2. The core will be rotten: by the time the deck flexes, the core has turned to mush.

The fact that there is enough moisture in there to crack the deck when it freezes should tell you all you need to know.

That said, core repair is a very doable DIY job. Not a small project by any means, but it's certainly manageable assuming the core damage is not pervasive. Just know that you will need to remove the top deck skin, excavate and replace the core and repair the deck. If a broker or anyone else tells you that you can repair it by drilling a bunch of holes and filling them with epoxy, then they're misinformed.