Many years ago I had a 21 foot French built Cap Horn sloop of molded
ply. I inherited it as salvage after a hurricane had punched some holes
in her and the original owner threw up his hands.

At the time I was not too good with wood, and so I made my repairs by
sanding back the holes at a taper and filling with glass and resin
against a wax paper coated piece of cardboard on the outside.

The cardboard and wax paper captured the curves OK and I spread the
patch load on the inside of the hull. No problems.

If I had to do it over I would make life much easier on myself and patch
it back with laminate wood, much the same way.

The biggest problems these boats had was with the plywood used for
bulkheads and such within the hull. Most of those fixtures developed
problems within the last 2-3 inches of plywood where it was fitted
against the hull.

Years later I had a Carl Alberg designed wooden sloop, and all the
interior bulkheads were plywood, again, but American, I would guess. In
any event, at 20 years older than the French ones, there was no
delamination in the bulkheads. I.E. the French boat was 15-25 when I
had it, the Alberg 30-40.

I think what you see, and feel is pretty much what you get, if it feels
solid and the interior bulkheads etc. are solid, and still well
connected, it's probably OK. If you see edges against the hull
delaminating, think real hard, c use the entire piece, and everything
attached to it probably has to come out to fix it.

Hope this helps,

Jonathan


ashore wrote:
I'm considering one of these - a 26-ft not-too-young sailboat - and
I'm curious re its prospects for the long haul, incl what to look for/
at in a survey. Any surveyors around specializing in this? Any
insurance issues known?

I can't avoid the impression that they might be difficult to repair
well after some physical damage.

Any experiences, pointers, etc. will be appreciated. Thanks, all.

-AS


I am building my daughter an Argie 10 sailing dinghy, check it out:
http://home.comcast.net/~jonsailr