2008 37 cruiser issues

[Craggles]

Good morning all my first post here. I bought Serenity B37 cruiser 21 months ago after owning 16 previous boats, mostly trailer yachts and a Blazer 31 drop keel racer. I love the B37 cruiser and we now live aboard in North Queensland, Australia. I was wondering if my main issue has been identified by anyone else and if so what was done to remedy it.(I am in engineering so I have a few ideas on how to make it bullet proof.)
I have a few issues, but the main one is the delamination of the deck to the hull at the bow. It appears the sika flex has broken free before me and there is water ingress going to the bilge in sloppy seas. Not enough that the bilge pump kicks in, but a nuisance all the same. The most concerning part is that in a slight sea when retrieving the anchor the flex is amazing. it appears that there is no reinforcing between deck and hull forward of the anchor hatch and the flex is made possible as the toe rail is not continuous where the cast aluminium rope mooring guides are which in my opinion is a bit ordinary and the hull moulding stops before the bow of the boat and no screws through the deck and hull join.
I am looking at reinforcing under the deck forward to the bow, fibreglassing a reinforced ply panel under the bow and then adding a new piece of stainless under the existing one on the bow (40 x 12 flat stainless) fixing it to the anchor rollers and becoming the mounting point for an assemetrical spinnaker and securing it to the existing anchor rollers.

Interested to know if this is a common problem. Oh yeah, we always use a snubber.

Craggles

[Viking]

Hi Craggles,

While I do experience an occasional slight water ingress, which I suspect stems from either the joining of deck and hull or the stanchion bases, I am sure it is not at the bow in the anchorbox area.

Do I understand you correctly, that the 'flex' has to do with the anchor roller flexing when you retrieve the anchor? That problem is one I have had.
You can read about the remedy here: http://www.bavariayacht.info/forum/index.php/topic,433.0.html
I have not yet posted a photo of stainless steel support which is fixed to the bow, but you can imagine one coming down from the tip of the anchor roller at a 45 degree angle towards the bow. Same principle as what is now standard on the new cruiser series, e.g. on the B55.

When I dismantled the bowroller, I also found that the very tip (outermost 25-30 cm) of the deck was not appropriately fixed to the hull.  I added a few extra screws and padded the very uneven inside joint of deck/hull with reinforced epoxy, to provide a more even surface. Then a few layers of fibreglass mat were glassed in to bond deck and hull better.

Hope this helps :-)

[Craggles]

Hi Viking,
Thanks for the reply. Yes the flex stems from the very bow of the boat due to where the fair leads join the toe rail making for a point to flex from. I am 99.9% sure the water ingress is from there. I will try and post a photo which shows the flex cracks in the jelcoat and a brace photo (sent to me from a mate) from the bow to the anchor rollers which is what I expect you have done. It will also double as a point to fix an assemetrical spinnaker. As you have done I am considering putting a stainless top plate with sides down the hull the same size as the useless aluminium forming that stops either side of the standard bow brace for the forestay. I will also reinforce the underside of the bow to seal and strengthen with fibreglass and mat.
If I have to anchor in crappy conditions (which is possible) I want the chain to break, not the bow   but I would be more than happy with holding firm .


I will have to get on my laptop to try and post photos as the iPad is not that easy to copy a few photos in.

[Odysseus]

There is another place to look at, the nav light cable feeds through the stainless tubing down to and through the foot of the stanchion into the chain locker then the forward cabin.

The fix for this is to spray expanding foam into the hole where the cable enters the tube.

Also check the chain locker cable run.

Hope this helps
Odysseus

[Viking]

I have now posted a few photos of my stainless steel support for the bowroller
- see this link: http://www.bavariayacht.info/forum/index.php/topic,433.0.html

[Craggles]

Hi Viking, the photos you posted are like my mate sent me. I will probably do the same and incorporate a mounting point to for an asymmetrical spin. Also now have the 3 mm 319 stainless to plate the top of the deck after making up a template. I will also incorporate an extra bracket to where the bow rail is bolted to the original 40x10 mm stainless brace for the forestay. Once I figure out how to post photos I will add to the modification and improvements page.