Following on Mark from Netherlands’ thread on his Nonsuch 36 refit I wanted to chip in on the wet core issue. Mark mentioned moisture meter reading being helpful but not that accurate. For my Niagara 35 refit (built almost identically, and with same materials as Nonsuch) - during my pre-purchase inspection my surveyor brought a moisture meter and a couple of mallets. The moisture reading is a relative indication and needs to be interpreted, understanding how long the boat has been out of the water and what and how long its storage conditions were, etc. Then he said the moisture reading is just the first guide. The second and more accurate step is tapping to test for delamination. If core is going bad, there will not be a solid thud when its tapped because it is delaminated, or starting to. That’s as far as it got with the survey. It turned out to be very accurate, finding deck, coach roof and hull issues. So I knew what I was getting into, kind of…Once I bought the boat I started the intrusive inspection, drilling holes in a pattern radiating out from the detected rot until I found dry balsa. In my case, I was able to cut out deck panels in manageable size pieces, and reuse them after cleaning, recoring, saturating new, totally visible core in place in epoxy. New core was tucked in an inch or two under edge of adjacent deck. With a bit of grinding, glassing and filling with thick epoxy and sanding I got a decent finish, and it’s mostly underneath Kiwi Grip so it looks pretty seamless. I attached a few pics of the first spot I tackled in the bow.
The Niagara 35 has a number of characteristics in common with Nonsuches - for example the through-deck bulkhead tabs which can be a source of moisture ingression in our cored decks. Both boats benefit from Mark Ellis’s design, Hinterhoeller build, high quality hardware suppliers many of whom are still in business, and Mike Quill.
Best wishes and good health to all,
Greg Silver
Misty Cat 26C #121
Cape Breton
