Mar 24 2007
Rotten to the Core!
The worst possible nightmare for a San Juan 21 (other than sinking) is core rot. These spunky little boats have a deck constructed of two layers of fiberglass with end grained balsa sandwiched between. When holes are drilled in through the deck to hold on hardware, (rails, hatch covers, etc.) it provides the opportunity for water to get between layers and begin the cancerous process of rotting out the balsa. Once started, the enivitable end of this process is a mushy deck, unsafe for sailing, likely to cost more in blood and gold to repair than just getting a new boat.
I decided that my very first project on Limpet would be to permanently seal every single deck fitting hole such that core rot would never claim this little boat. To do this I became a master at what might essentially be considered Boat Dentistry.