• Welcome to this website/forum for people interested in the Morgan 38 Sailboat. Many of our members are 'owners' of Morgan 38s, but you don't need to be an owner to Register/Join.

Deck to Bulkhead bonding

bschnur

Barry Schnur
I'm prepping my boat for a long-term blue water voyage and I've
been wrestling with the question of whether or not to bond the
decks and bulkheads together (I assume everyone knows that
most of the M382 bulkheads are not bonded to the decks). I have
always thought that 100% bonding is a good thing, yet I've read
in a couple of messages where owners have mentioned that their
surveyors specifically warned them to NOT bond the decks to the
bulkheads -- that somehow this would be a bad thing. To clarify
this important issue I called Ted Brewer and spoke at length with
him about this matter. Mr. Brewer started out by saying that he
never could understand why Morgan Yacht didn't bond the decks and
bulkheads together in the first place. Ted was unequivocal in
saying that tabbing the bulkheads to the decks will only make the
boat stronger and that he highly recommends it for offshore
sailing. I asked him if I could use his name and pass this
information along on this board -- and he quickly agreed.
I'm think it's good insurance to take Ted's advice, so next week
I'm planning to start the job of ensuring that all bulkheads are
securely bonded to the underside of the deck. Incidently, Ted
said that it's not necessary to cut out any healthy deck sandwich
plywood as part of the work -- bonding to the existing underside
of the deck is just fine.
I will be taking my boat back to the same boatyard in Mexico that
did my rudder mods and have them do the work, as well as some
other interior improvements I have planned. I hope to take
pictures of the work in progress and report back later this year.

Regards and fair winds to all.
Jim
 
This sounds like a messy job, I look forward to hearing the details of how your yard did it. I have seen one Morgan with big bolts through the deck to hold onto the forward head bulkhead--more holes in the deck, though. Wouldn't want to do it for each bulkhead.
 
The method suggested by Ted Brewer, and what I'm planning on doing, is to bond the underside of the deck to the bulkheads with epoxy resin and alternating layers of fiberglass mat and woven roving. The plan is to do both sides of a bulkhead where accessible, then cover any visible layers of fiberglass on bulkheads with teak trim. I don't have a firm bid from my yard yet, but will report on that, and how it went, later on.

 
Back
Top