water under wood inlay on cockpit seats

[pete]

I have recently bought another boat that has thin wood slats inset into the cockpit seat tops, at the weekend I was washing the seats and noticed that in two corners if I pressed the corner of the wood down a little water came up around the edge of the wood, The boat is a Beneteau and this wood is factory fitted is this ok and if not how can I fix it without making a mess of the wood.

Also I am not sure if the wood strips are separate pieces or all joined together.

And I was surprised to find that none of the heads pipe work to the Jabsco has loops above the water line ? how does a large boat manufacturer get away with this, or am I missing something ?

Thanks
Pete

 

[davidej]

I am fairly sure the panels are plywood with thin planks of teak bonded on.

Is the teak coming away from the ply or is the whole panel lifting?

If the latter, could you secure them with (very) short screws coming up from below?

 

[Tranona]

Think you will find the teak is strips made up into a panel and then bonded under vacuum into recesses in thmoulding, probably using a Sikaflex type polyurethane adhesive. Water has got underneath because the bond has failed locally. You might be able to find the crack, lift the wood, dry it underneath and inject some Sika into it then place a weight on it to hld it down while it cures. Cover the teak with masking tape then polythene under the weight. Sika get everywhere, so mask where you don't want it to go!

Not unusual not to have vents. The inlet is only essential if the loo is below the waterline and the outlet will be vented through the holding tank if it has one.

 

[pete]

Thanks for the replies, I suspect that it is in one piece and that the water has found a way under around the edge as there does not appear to be any cracks.

If water has found a way under it I would not be keen on drilling up from below and screwing down as I expect that would eventually start to drip through my new screw hole above the aft cabin.

I may be able to carefully ease the edge up but will have to proceed very carefully, thoroughly dry the areas and re seal it back down.
Some one else must have had this happen to them.

Pete

 

[paulrae]

Slightly Different Problem, But a Possible Solution

If you don't manage to repair the panel and need to replace it, these guys can manufacture new panels from a template that you send them http://www.kjhowells.com/index.html. The panels on my boat were shot, so I ordered 4 from them. Lovely job.

No connection, just a satisfied customer.

 

[alan]

Water under teak inlay on Benny seats

I had the same issue on my 1996 343. I dried the teak/panel thoroughly, scraped out the old black Sikoflex from the problem areas then injected some epoxy under the teak (where the bond had failed, particularly at the corners), waited for the epoxy to start curing then put some weights on the teak panel. When the epoxy was fully cured, I then put some Sikaflex back in as original. I don't remember which Sikaflex I used, but I can check next time I am at the boat. If you do it carefully, then you won't notice the 'joins' in the Sikaflex where it has been repaired.

Seems a pretty "common" problem on Bennys, bit is really easy to fix; best to fix it before water gets under for any length of time and ruins the wood panels.

Alan.

 

[VADROUILLE]

same here

localised in 2 spots, the trick is to get it dry. You dont need to drill holes or any of that.

The steps i took was wait for some really dry weather (i know thats a bit hard in the uk). Then dig out the old sika, untill you find dry.

Mask up everywhere, the sika gets everywhere. Cant remeber the actuall one but its the deck caulking one you want, says it on the tube.

Get a hair dryer and throughly dry, if you can let the sun do it then even better. But really get it dry.

once masked up you can use you sika gun and squirt where you dug the old out, if you can lift the panel slightly even better as it will get right underneath.

You then need to put a weight on it, i used a boat hook with a pad piece wedged under the boom, bit of a balancing trick but got some reall pressure wedged under there.

Once thats done and sika has squirted out under pressure you can remove the masking tape and wipe away any excess sika thats worked its way onto the teak with apropriate solvent. For obvious reasons you need to do it while sika is still wet.

Leave for 24 hrs and bobs your uncle. Done mine a year ago and still bone dry.

 

[davidej]

If water has found a way under it I would not be keen on drilling up from below and screwing down as I expect that would eventually start to drip through my new screw hole above the aft cabin.

Pete

I am sure that if you can reglue them down that is a better solution.

However arn't all thes panels on locker lids?

They certainly are on mine -hence shouldnt be any question of leaks into the cabin

 

[pete]

Hi Thanks for the ideas

Davidej
The problem panels are not the locker lids ones but are over the aft cabin.

Paulrae
Thanks for the link hopefully I will be able to fix the old panels but if not I know where to start looking.

VADROUILLE & alan
I am not really sure yet if the panels are individual strips or all joined together as a sheet ? my biggest worry would be splitting the panel in two when prising it up, this would be easier if they were individual pieces then I would only have to take up any that are not bonded down.

Thanks again
Pete

 

[VADROUILLE]

Hi Thanks for the ideas

Davidej
The problem panels are not the locker lids ones but are over the aft cabin.

Paulrae
Thanks for the link hopefully I will be able to fix the old panels but if not I know where to start looking.

VADROUILLE & alan
I am not really sure yet if the panels are individual strips or all joined together as a sheet ? my biggest worry would be splitting the panel in two when prising it up, this would be easier if they were individual pieces then I would only have to take up any that are not bonded down.

Thanks again
Pete

Mine look the same as yours, but my boat is not a ben, and the teak was replaced about 4 years ago, so mine is not even a factory fit. Mine were individual strips when i done it.

I would say that either way you need to get the sika out as thats where the leak would be from, once thats done you should be able to tell if they are strips or all as one.

 

[Tranona]

Pretty sure you will find they are individual strips. They get assembled off the boat with the strips joined by what becomes the caulking in the seams. Then laid in the recess on a bed of adhesive and vacuum bagged. You can check by carefully cutting out a short length of seam and you should get GRP at the bottom. The wet bits are those areas that are last to dry after rain, so it is those areas where you have to probe a bit - the crack may not even be visible with the naked eye, so a bit of trial and error is needed.

Best to move the boat to Greece to do it as you can wet the area at night and it is dry enough by 9 the next morning to identify the damp spots and by 11 completely dry so you can put the Sika in - just in time for a well-deserved beer! Bit extreme, I know, but we should get a few summer days when it is possible to do the same here - you just need patience.

 

[davidej]

Pretty sure you will find they are individual strips. They get assembled off the boat with the strips joined by what becomes the caulking in the seams. Then laid in the recess on a bed of adhesive and vacuum bagged. You can check by carefully cutting out a short length of seam and you should get GRP at the bottom. The wet bits are those areas that are last to dry after rain, so it is those areas where you have to probe a bit - the crack may not even be visible with the naked eye, so a bit of trial and error is needed.

.

I have Bene that looks almost identical (a 361). To fit the outlet to the holding tank I used a hole cutter on the deck and now have a perfect 'core sample'.

The bottom layer is of course GRP. In the middle, there is a substrate whick looks much like ply. On top is bonded wideish teak strips about 6mm thick. The 'seams' which give the look of planks are routed out grooves about 3mm deep and filled with sika or look alike.

I am not sure how this helps - but at least you now know what you are dealing with.

 

[Tranona]

You may well be right. Older Bavarias used that method, but changed to just teak strips and pretty sure Benny have also changed, but guess will depend on year. The advantage of just strips (apart from probably being cheaper) is that it is easier to get curves as the panel is flexible before it is bonded down.

 

[pete]

davidej That is what I was wondering ,if the teak was bonded to another piece of sheet material before being bedded onto the GRP. The boat was built in 2001. I will look at it more carefully this weekend.
Thanks
Pete