Non destructive testing for potential delamination

[Monkey]

The last time I had a survey done on a perfect boat, this was the surgery that fixed the found wet core.

 

[Alaris]

Last boat I bought I said to the owner I wouldn't buy it unless she let me take some core samples. I brought epoxy with me to do the repair if I didn't like what I saw. She let me take the samples, everything was fine, though we did later find one small wet spot that needed a repair.

Without core samples I wouldn't touch a balsa-core boat.

Airex core

 

[kinardly]

How can drilling small holes from inside show delam? Moisture presence I get but isn’t delam without moisture likely to grow as the boat continues to age and potentially be as big a problem? I rejected a boat at survey a few months back for potential delam in three areas detected with a hammer test. It was a balsa cored hull. Seller said he would fix it but took the boat off market and hasn’t been heard fro since. I really liked that boat but couldn’t take a big risk. Was I too conservative?

 

[Alaris]

How can drilling small holes from inside show delam? Moisture presence I get but isn’t delam without moisture likely to grow as the boat continues to age and potentially be as big a problem? I rejected a boat at survey a few months back for potential delam in three areas detected with a hammer test. It was a balsa cored hull. Seller said he would fix it but took the boat off market and hasn’t been heard fro since. I really liked that boat but couldn’t take a big risk. Was I too conservative?

I wouldn’t (and didn’t) reject a boat because of moisture. Have repaired large swathes of hull on the J/105, so I’m not deterred by having to do repairs even if there is eventually a serious problem.

 

[DDW]

There's moisture, there's delam, and there's moisture in balsa. The problem with the latter is you can't ignore it for very long.

 

[slug zitski]

Pre purchase destructive testing just doesn’t happen

if it fails survey and destructive testing may be recommended by the surveyor … a second opinion , second survey to verify ..at the clients expense ..is required

surveyors make too many mistakes , to many clowns out there

i recently had boat surveyed …the report…no structural problems only the common survey fail stuff like hose clamps …..

The fact that floorboards and doors were stuck closed and very difficult to open bothered me..surveyor said moisture

the next day I returned with a powerful light to look around

broken main bulkhead ..the whole hull was distorted

the surveyor did not discover this

 

[mckenzie.keith]

Pre purchase destructive testing just doesn’t happen

I almost bought a J/130 (balsa cored hull). The owner agreed to let us do destructive testing from the outside of the hull. We used a hole saw. We did this because there were several areas that sounded "dead". Rudder also sounded not dead, per-se but funny.

The rudder was really bad. When we drilled a hole in it, tons of water poured out as if we had punctured a water tank. All of the dead areas were damp. No black goo or anything like that. Just damp. The owner fixed everything but I didn't buy the boat (for a combination of reasons).

 

[kinardly]

I almost bought a J/130 (balsa cored hull). The owner agreed to let us do destructive testing from the outside of the hull. We used a hole saw. We did this because there were several areas that sounded "dead". Rudder also sounded not dead, per-se but funny.

The rudder was really bad. When we drilled a hole in it, tons of water poured out as if we had punctured a water tank. All of the dead areas were damp. No black goo or anything like that. Just damp. The owner fixed everything but I didn't buy the boat (for a combination of reasons).

Yeah, guess I was smart to reject the boat, but I really wanted it and still wonder.

 

[mckenzie.keith]

Yeah, guess I was smart to reject the boat, but I really wanted it and still wonder.

I was satisfied that the core situation and rudder situation were rectified on the J/130. But there was a long, long list of little things that needed to be done. And it just felt overwhelming when I saw it all written out in the surveyor's report.