[C38] genoa track recaulk

[phil]

Seems we are all chasing leaks- Anybody been sailing lately?

We're pulling our genoa tracks (and most everything else) trying to find the source of a leak which showed up during survey. Using a moisture tester, the surveyor found a wet patch of core on each side of the boat near where the two pieces of genoa track overlap.  We're half way through the project, so I can describe how I'm dealing with it and yet still benefit from any tips you have.

The situation is this- The forward genoa tracks haven't been touched since the factory.  The aft genoa tracks have been removed, redrilled, and replaced by a PO. Why this was done is a mystery, but the forward ends of the aft tracks were shifted outboard about .75 inch; so maybe some  interference with track hardware and windows?? The old holes were filled with silicone. The new set of holes got new washers which are too thin and sucked up into the ceiling liner.  No lock washers on aft tracks either.

Bought the following supplies-
A Gal winshield wiper fluid for cleaning
A pump container of heavy-hold hairspray (contains a water-soluble plastic such as PVA which is sold by the drum to industry as a mold release).
New washers and lock washers. (had to go to WEST M. to get heavy ones)
A tube of cheap latex caulk 
A tube of 3M1000 for bedding.
2 rolls blue masking tape.
2 1x2x8' sticks
2 cheap plastic turkey basters for injecting epoxy.

The dissassembly is straight forward enough.  Need a helper topside to hold the screws. Its easier to mask off the topsides if you do it before you pull the tracks.  I taped down trash bags over the sidedeck and cabinsides then slit the bags using the tracks as guides, then taped the slits down to the deck exposing only the tracks.  This all stayed in place until the tracks were bedded and reinstalled. (We couldn't see out the windows, though, so clear stuff would have been better).

Inside, we tarped everything down below- tons of loose stuff was floating about by the end of the day. Then cleaned the entire area with wiper fluid and drilled out all the holes to get rid of old caulk.  The areas where the PO had reworked the tracks required a lot of scrapping since most of his sealant was applied from below, or at least thats where it ended up.

Next, we wiped the liner and anything else that might get gooey with a hairspray soaked rag. After this dried, we put a bead of cheap caulk around each hole on the inside then pressed the 1x2 into place and screwed it to the liner using the holes for the trim pieces.  This wasn't good enough, several holes leaked when filled with epoxy.  The 1x2 needed some screws outboard paired with the inboard trim screws.  Also, I split one screw hole and epoxy poured out the crack. Predrill you holes carefully.  The rest is just monotonous mixing and filling. I used a 2 dollar turkey baster to inject the epoxy- they happen to have a 5/16 nozzle.  Filling holes can take a long time if the epoxy disappears into rot pockets. I was very lucky on this boat (so far). We used less than 16 oz of laminating epoxy with a tropical hardener that gels in about three hours at 100F forced in under slight pressure over a 2 1/2 hour period. Nowhere did epoxy well up in a neighboring hole when I was forcing it in. Needless to say I had a helper inside dabbing at leaks the entire 2 1/2 hours.  
We waited for about an hour for the epoxy the set "green"; then dissassemled the whole rig, peeled off all the goo from the liner, and used a box cutter to cut the epoxy. 

The thing that would speed this job up the most would be to have exactly the right bit for those 5/16 screws. We spent a lot of time fussing with a crescent wrench holding a screw driver to get sufficient torque on the screws when reinstalling them. Another piece of advise would be to keep track of the order you remove the screws. The deck thickness varies and you'll waste time swapping short screws with longer ones if you don't keep them in order. 

It took roughly 20 manhours to do the starboard side. I was surprised that it took 6 manhours to reinstall them. Putting a dab of caulk on the screw threads after they are halfway in really lubricates the heads and it takes lots of torque topside to resist the wrenching going on below.

-- 
Phil Sweet

Cat38 158 Our Tern
Key Largo, Fl.