Topside deck and cabinet repair - Carver Mariner

I

imspacemancraig

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Joined
May 24, 2009
RO Number
31301
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543
Not sure, maybe this should go under a different group, but thought I'd start here as this is on my 86 Carver Mariner 3297...

Anyhow, on the topside deck are 2 cabinets that you walk past to reach the captain's area. They face the stern and the back bench seat on top. Because this is the only pathway to the captain's area, it gets a lot of travel and over the years, the screws and caulking have come loose and with the weight of someone standing next to them, the deck and cabinet separate from each other. Because of this, when it rains, water can come in through the screw holes and into the inside salon area.

So, this spring I stripped off all the old caulking (looked like lots of years of re-caulking) and used epoxy clue to glue them together and then put caulk over the top of that for good measure. Well, last weekend it rained and I got more water inside. So I checked out the top again and looks like the weight of people walking by broke the epoxy glue seal...

So, looking for a new solution. I think if I can get the deck fiberglass to stay stuck to the cabinet fiber glass, I can caulk and stop the leak. Or maybe I simply need to pull the screws and seal the holes and leave it alone...

Anyone else have this problem and come up with a good solution?

My other thought was to try and use something that a screw would make widen as it gets put into the fiber glass to fill up the hole that was essentially stripped over time (hopefully this makes sense).

Open to suggestions...
 
Well if you're going to fiberglass anything right it means getting strips of Fiberglass cloth, properly impregnating with resin and laying them in there. If the structure of the cabinet is suspect this is your best bet, but there's a learning curve on fiberglass repair so practice on some scrap pieces in your garage first before taking a chance on messing up such a nice boat!!!

The original design may have just been too flimsy. Just like the cockpit sole on my 1980 model 2896 which was, to be honest, total crap and is falling apart. The rest of the boat was so nice but boy did Carver skimp out on the cockpit material...
 
I had a similar problem with my 86 3297. I pulled all the screws out and mixed a up a batch of epoxy and filled the screw holes with the epoxy via a syringe. Let dry, then put the screws back in and resealed with I believe it was 102-a 3M bedding compound. It is flexible. One problem that I found was that water was pooling just to the left of the helm where the long seat makes the 45 degree turn to the actual helm. I have 125 feet of anchor chain and no generator so I am kinda bow heavy on top of the normal bow heaviness the Mariner has naturally. Water was pooling over the screw heads and getting into my salon directly over the stove and the overhead bins at the stove. If this is where your leak is, the problem probably lies with the screws at the 45. I ended up notching a relief vent in the base of the seating where it connects to the floor at the 45 so water could drain from the helm area. It's only been a year since I did the fix so we shall see how long and permanent a fix it was.
 
cmariner32, yes, I think we have the similar issue, although mine leaks more aft over the table and port side salon bench seat. The water seems to flow and sit just to the right of the left side cabinet on top and those screws right there are essentially stripped just from people walki8ng past it over the years. My thought is that the leak is from the screw holes too.

Do you know what the screw tap into aside from the fiber glass? Is there some wood support or something below that? I was toying with an idea of using some heavy duty drywall anchors or maybe something similar that could grab from the bottom and pull the pieces together tight, then just seal along the crease. I found something called Wingits made by the company called Wingit Innovations (google search). But this would require drilling a 3/4 inch hole to fit them through, but could support 300 lbs... They call it their "Master Anchor". Just not so keen on drilling 3/4 inch holes up there, especially not knowing what is under the fiber glass.

Thoughts?
 
Before doing any drilling, I suggest you locate a moisture meeter, and sound the deck for delamination. It sound to me like the deck is flexing under load and that open up the gap around the cabnet structure. I don't know what the deck/roof uses for coreing, but I suspect it is end grain balsa, which has had water intrusion through the cabnet screw hoples and is rotting.

I just had to rebuild the swim platform on my 88 Martiner 32 becaust the bolts for the swim ladder were never sealed. (big job, big bucks)
 
I know there are some wood ribs on top of the headliner-you can feel them usually near where the headliner seams are. I just shoved some scraps of fiberglass down the screw holes and shot epoxy resin in. I don't think there is major wood rot in the coring that is allowing the flexing. Seems to me that perhaps the coring and support structure was maybe marginal when built and is just allowing more flexing with age. My boat has spent most of its life in Florida where we average over 48 inches of rain per year-if anything, my boat would be showing the effects of water intrusion more than most other RO's boats.
 
Other than tearing off the ceiling fabric (I may not live to see daylight if I did this), I am leaning towards what cmariner32 is saying. I don't think there is any rotting but feels more like flexing with age. The deck feels very solid when walking up there. I have felt what rotting feels like on a previous boat and this does not feel like that at all...

When you shot the epoxy resin in there, I assume you re-drilled the holes and put the screws back in? Are the screws just in the fiber glass deck or do they continue into the wood support below? Also, did you notice if anything dripped through to the inside ceiling fabric? I think I may be beaten if something were to drip through and cause a stain or something... :)

Also, could you tell how thick the deck fiber glass was before you filled it?
 
When I redid mine, I stuffed some pieces of fiberglass mat into the hole before I injected the epoxy. I had no drip through, not sure if I would have without using the fiberglass. I didn't re-drill the holes after the injection-just let the screws self tap. Those cabinets you refer to is actually the whole top deck-seats, helm console and front shell covering. The exterior sides of this shell are screwed shoe-box style to at the walkways. Resealing the joint is a must and use a flexible caulking.
 
Ya, noticed that it is all one piece. What do you mean by "resealing the joint". Hard to tell the context in writing, is there a joint I should be sealing or do you mean joint as in the whole place? (hope that even makes sense). I have flexible caulking, figured that would be necessary.

So I pulled out one of the screws, must have been replaced by a previous owner, was just over 2 inches long. I then stuck a wire down through the hole and had my wife put her hand up from the inside and tell me when she felt it, went all the way through and is about 2.25 inches thick. Not much room between the bottom and the fabric ceiling cover, maybe another .5 inches... So, may try some heavy duty drywall anchor + caulking in the hole to try and pull the deck to cabinet tighter and then caulking the seams...
 
The joint I was referring to is where the top shell including the lounge seat and storage cabinets bolt to the floor. You want to keep as much water as possible from getting under the flange where this structure screws to the floor as there is a caulked joint along the inside of the shell next to the walkway. I had a problem with water collecting just to the left of the helm seat against the flange joint during heavy rains-I dont keep my top up or have a mooring cover. It was puddling up higher than the screws and working its way into the salon via the screws. I cut a notch out at the point where the water would puddle so that it could drain under the seat and out one of the side drains on the shell. Redid all the screws and sealed the rest of the flange. No more leak.
 
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