Panama - Linton Bay Marina - Repair of Bulkheads

We detected considerable movement of internal furniture panels, and suspected that we had a major problem with our Main Bulkhead.

Nicholas removed all the furniture and wall cladding in the Starboard Forward Cabin, and our fears were confirmed.

Inside the Starboard Forward Cabin:

Main Bulkhead looking aft - Vertical crack 

Tabbing no longer attached to the bulkhead

Main Bulkhead, aft side looking forward - tabbing has separated from the bridge deck

Main Bulkhead Aft Side - Vertical tear

More cracks in the Main Bulkhead

Main Bulkhead looking aft, outboard side

Tear-out on underfloor hull half bulkhead

Secondary Bulkhead - Cabin Forward Wall - cracked with tabbing tear out

Secondary Bulkhead - Cabin Forard Wall Outboard side - and deck delaminating

Secondary Bulkhead - in Heads Area looking aft - tabbing delaminating and cracking

Secondary Bulkhead - in Exterior Locker - view of the crack and continuation of tear in the locker

We then Hauled Meshugga out of the water on the Travel-lift, and loosened the rigging. Meshugga was set down on bridge deck stands to straighten and parallel the hulls.

Nicholas and Matthew using a water level to ensure the hulls are exactly level and parallel

Sandbags to prevent damage to underside

Grinding off the tabbing, sanding all surfaces and repping the area for repair

Additional support structures - 1” marine ply

Plastic sheeting protecting the boat from fiberglass dust

All surfaces sanded. Clean all dust and triple acetone scrub before glassing.

Epoxy and biaxial glass only. All tabbing = progressive layers.

Main bulkhead additional 4 layers each side.

Secondary bulkhead plus all other wall an additional 2 layers.

Building Fort Knox!

Installing a 6 biaxial layer “plate” using Sparbond (super strong epoxy glue) to the relatively inaccessible aft side of the Main Bulkhead crack.

Using screws to clamp the plate to the Main Bulkhead - later removed before applying glass.

Plate glassed to Main Bulkhead aft side to tie everything together

Applying additional layers to Main Bulkhead forward side, plus tabbing to tie the plate to that skin

Glassing complete

Sand all surfaces and finish with epoxy paint

Now time to re-install all the wall cladding and furniture.