Hi All,
I've ben re-coring the bow topsides area on a 1979 C&C 40 and I've noticed that there is a triangle of 3/4" thick plywood completely covered in fiberglass and glassed into the underside of the deck at the very tip of the boat. The triangle extends back about 1.5' from the stem. This triangle is separate from, and in addition to, the rest of the deck -- which is solid glass in this area of the bow. Part of the stem plate, chainplate cover, a couple of bow cleats, and a good chunk of the anchor roller is bolted through this triangle of wood. Over the years this triangle has pretty much disengrated and the bolts have been tightened up to compensate for this. ( and it seems to be fine )
I've been trying to decide what to do about it. I could......
A. Cut out the existing plywood, what's left of it anyway, -- glass in a new piece, line the new bolt holes with epoxy and call it good.
B. Leave it in place and make a large thick backing plate of plastic equal in size to the triangle that is there and bolt that into place. This has the advantage of a much higher total deck thickness. Most of the bolts in this area are large too -- 3/8" and 1/2".
C. Do nothing. It's obviously been like this for years and seems to work fine.
I would perfer to do "B" from above but am not sure if there is an advantage to having a backing plate glassed in versus just bolted in place by all the deck fittings. "C"'s not really an option as I'm going to be doing some offshore racing with the boat and want it strong strong strong.
Thanks for the help,
George Jones
( C&C 40 #21 )