<div>I own the M-382 #161 ('79). Last weekend I was grinding away
paint around the waterline at the yard, when I heard a distinctly
hollow reverberation. I ground through the outer laminate
thinking I would find uncured resin. I ended up gringing through
the outer laminate to the foam coring and discovered that the
coring had separated from the outer laminate over a region about
24" long (fore-aft) and 10" high. The air gap between the
laminate and the core was about 0.25". This was located
approximately where the head is. I sounded the rest of the
waterline and found a similar delamination on the starboard side
about the same distance fore-aft.I don't know what caused this. One theory is that the primary
bulkheads, being tabbed to the inner laminate, worked the
sandwich apart. But I noticed that the outer surface of the foam
core was not torn up as would be expected if it was sheared off
of the outer laminate. One would expect to see some remnant of
the foam on the inside surface of the outer laminate. But it was
clean, suggesting this was a manufacturing defect.In any case, I filled the voids up with epoxy. I drilled a fill
and a vent hole near the top of the delaminated region, and
pumped resin in to the level of the holes. I used a plastic soda
bottle, inverted, with a tube to carry the resin coming out of
the cap, and another tube attached to the side of the bottle for
orally pressurizing the inside and forcing the resin out. By the
end of the repair I looked like Dizzy Gillespie. But the area
sounds solid now.
</div>
paint around the waterline at the yard, when I heard a distinctly
hollow reverberation. I ground through the outer laminate
thinking I would find uncured resin. I ended up gringing through
the outer laminate to the foam coring and discovered that the
coring had separated from the outer laminate over a region about
24" long (fore-aft) and 10" high. The air gap between the
laminate and the core was about 0.25". This was located
approximately where the head is. I sounded the rest of the
waterline and found a similar delamination on the starboard side
about the same distance fore-aft.I don't know what caused this. One theory is that the primary
bulkheads, being tabbed to the inner laminate, worked the
sandwich apart. But I noticed that the outer surface of the foam
core was not torn up as would be expected if it was sheared off
of the outer laminate. One would expect to see some remnant of
the foam on the inside surface of the outer laminate. But it was
clean, suggesting this was a manufacturing defect.In any case, I filled the voids up with epoxy. I drilled a fill
and a vent hole near the top of the delaminated region, and
pumped resin in to the level of the holes. I used a plastic soda
bottle, inverted, with a tube to carry the resin coming out of
the cap, and another tube attached to the side of the bottle for
orally pressurizing the inside and forcing the resin out. By the
end of the repair I looked like Dizzy Gillespie. But the area
sounds solid now.
</div>