Bilge Repairs required

[Tenaciousgreen]

Ok so I,ve started work on my recent purchase and all was going well until I found sone delamination in the bilges. Out with the dremel and I had to cut away 1/2 metre of glass, exposing the core substrate and keel Ballast. I now have to wait for this to thoroughly dry, before I reglass and fill.

The culprit appears to have been a leaking port light, after being sat outside for 2 years, which now have to be repaired prior to painting the cabin. The area is just prior to the lowest point if the bilge under therear deck.

Has anybody else had this issue and if so any advice for repairs and does anbody know what the core substrate is, it looks like brick cement!

[Tenaciousgreen]

A photo of said area, drying out I hope!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4bcen5bvni28i ... 093246.jpg

[Yara50]

Strange, normally there are solid ingots of lead, lightly glassed in. It might be possible that your boat has a concrete/lead arrangement.

[Tenaciousgreen]

You can just see the lead ingots, the most aft one has MBM marked on the top, the substrate around is cement.

[Yara50]

Dont think there is much to worry about. The de-laminated glass was probably the extra used to glass-in the ballast, and unless you are going to roll the boat right over in Bass straight, the load would be minimal. Probably they used polyester resin rather than epoxy, which is what you need when you want adhesion and glass over old, cured surfaces.

[Tenaciousgreen]

Thanks, was thinking about applying a thin layer of resin/micro-balloon mix and then glassing over. Its similar to how I repair my surfboards, but using heavier glass on the boat.

[Yara50]

OK, more investigation required before you glass over. (Pardon the pun). Please take more photos. See also pics on this site "Under the cabin sole" http://www.investigator563.com/forum/vi ... ?f=5&t=202 How does your boat compare?

I am wondering if someone decided to add more lead in the mistaken belief that the centre board could be substituted by more ballast. Maybe your c/b case is buried under the cement.

[Steve]

My 563 has no access to the center plate pin, it has been filled and glassed over, but I still have a center plate though

[Tenaciousgreen]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5m7ucjo5k70ep ... 155253.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/rkbg4jsstyidc ... 155043.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0r9hp47v85jle ... 155021.jpg

A few photos, the first shows no evidence of CB at bottom of keel. The second and third show the cabin deck access plate removed. Only apparent alteration is the fitting of Table holder. I am trying to contact the previous owner to get a little more info.

[Yara50]

Looking at the first photo it is clear that this boat has been kept on a mooring. Maybe there was corrosion of the c/b, and maybe some leakage from the pivot pin, and the previous owner decided to glass the whole lot in. That table support indicates to me a p/o (previous owner) who was not afraid to innovate.

Using my imagination a bit more, maybe your boat has a deeper keel, rather than a c/b arrangement. How does it look in profile compared to a standard Investigator 563? (This is rather far out, as many details in your photos are standard production.)

The next question is do you want to try to bring the boat back to original, or could you be happy as is? My suggestion is go sailing, and see if you are happy with the windward performance.

If you want to restore, I would start with a little archeological dig at the aft end of the bilge, where the standard design has the riser pipe for the c/b hoisting cable. See if you can find the c/b case as per the photos on this site.