Yachts/ Catamarans with solid GRP decks

bill bligh

bill bligh

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This is a curiosity question more than anything else. I am trying to compile list of sailing boats between 26ft and above with solid glassfibre decks. So far my list is as follows. Catalac 8m catamaran. Rival 32 and 34. Contest 29 and 33. Halcyon 27. Trintella 29? Wauquiez Centurion 32? I am trying to keep to boats you would find for sale on the UK market. If you can add to this list please do. I have put a question mark after the ones I am not sure of . Over to you knowledgeable people.
 
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Trintella 29: I owned one back in the late 70's.

I do not think they had solid GRP decks. Cabins had a GRP head lining with smooth gel coat on the inside. I never had reason to find out what was between inner and outer skins. I fitted an anchor windlass on the foredeck and think it was cored as I fitted a thick plywood beam that extended between the gunwhales on the underside of the foredeck to take fastenings and loads.

Just out of curiosity, why the interest?
 
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Vancouver 28 may have had a solid foredeck. I viewed one for sale that had teak decks and the tips of the securing screws protruded on the underside of the foredeck, which is very unlikely if it was cored. It was one of the features that put me off the boat.
 
Invicta 26 has solid GRP deck and I guess the similar boat the Contessa 26 is the same.
A bit shorter than your list requires, but the Sadler 25 had a solid deck, like may others it has an internal moulding but there is no sandwich it is just air space between the moulding and the solid deck.
 
Many of the larger boats won't have solid GRP decks because the weight would have been too much or to keep the weight down, the deck too flimsy. My Rival 41C has about 15mm GRP, 1" balsa block, 10mm GRP liner, as measured.
 
Genuine curiosity only and you never know there is still life in this old dog. I have added Halcyon 27 to my list. There could be other people who would be interested in in getting an older boat and not having the possibility of a balsa core deck repair.
 
bill bligh said:
Genuine curiosity only and you never know there is still life in this old dog. I have added Halcyon 27 to my list. There could be other people who would be interested in in getting an older boat and not having the possibility of a balsa core deck repair.
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I have a 1980 boat, design by Van da Stadt in 1977. Airex cored deck and hull. Its still in perfect condition
 
Suspect that choosing a boat on the basis that it has a solid rather than cored deck would be rather unusual, not least because 40+ year old boats which is what you mean effectively are likely to have other faults that are far more of an issue. It also limits you choice to old boats of mainly old style designs. When buying a boat the initial inspection or survey will show up any issues with cored decks and then you can make the decision whether you still want to buy it.

Cored deck problems are limited really to the period of changeover in design and construction methods during the late 70s/80s and those related to specific designs are well known. Tens of thousands of boats with cored decks (and hulls) happily giving good service without any problems.
 
Tranona said:
Suspect that choosing a boat on the basis that it has a solid rather than cored deck would be rather unusual, not least because 40+ year old boats which is what you mean effectively are likely to have other faults that are far more of an issue. It also limits you choice to old boats of mainly old style designs. When buying a boat the initial inspection or survey will show up any issues with cored decks and then you can make the decision whether you still want to buy it.

Cored deck problems are limited really to the period of changeover in design and construction methods during the late 70s/80s and those related to specific designs are well known. Tens of thousands of boats with cored decks (and hulls) happily giving good service without any problems.
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I am not going to disagree with you there are a lot of good boats with balsa cored decks. Its more of a curiosity exercise.
 
Other older Van der Stadt designs (EG Pioneer 9 & 10) had solid decks while Butlers Achilles24 had balsa cores. I assume the larger 9M version did too. I thought the problems got a lot less when they stopped balsa cores and used plastic based fillings.
 
Biggles Wader said:
I thought the problems got a lot less when they stopped balsa cores and used plastic based fillings.
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I thought the problems had already got a lot less once most people (builders, yards and owners) realised it wasn't an issue so long as you made any holes into the deck properly, sealing them so that any leak went through the deck, not into the balsa core.

More of a problem of ignorance and bodging, than anything fundamentally wrong with balsa cored decks, it seems to me. I've had several without problems. (Not that I'm against other core materials or construction methods.)
 
The major problem I have seen with ’cored’ decks is that it is not unknown for someone to attach additional fittings without digging out the soft sandwich core around the fixture area, and replacing it with either a hardwood or similar material, resulting in crushing the soft core and a loose fitting.
Not so disastrous with plastic based cores( but still undesirable) but really bad if it’s a balsa core.
 
I'd be surprised if many of those listed truly have solid decks, the thickness of layup needed to give a solid feeling deck underfoot unless there's shape or a lot of camber is both expensive and heavy, which is why foam or balsa cored sandwich is used.
 
Seam to recall viewing a Westerly 33. that had a cored cabin top. few holes made and it just soaked up the water. went completely soft.

Steveeasy
 
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