Hello fellow CAH-ian,

My name is Chuck, and I have had a CAH 40' er on Lake Union for a little over a year. I have read recently on a website where you are someone that dispenses valuable advice on fixing these great boats. May I ask you for some guidance on mine??? Here goes.

I am doing the usual fix up to keep things looking good... and was just getting into the issue of "punky" wood around a window frame... where water is coming in, and collecting in the middle bilge compartment. (Also, it is rotting out the plywood flooring about 6" out from the interior side wall... just below the starboard sliding door by the helm. It can't be healthy to be breathing that!) Seems that the chrome strip is separating between the two fiberglass layers (the line that runs above the doors/windows..), and allowing the water in. (Could it also be from around the hand rail bases up top?? Some are a bit loose, and I am told that removing them and then injecting epoxy under pressure can make them as good as new... almost... before drilling out and rebedding them.) Anyway, I'm cleaning up the chrome with acetone, as well as the fiberglass to reattach... But, the wood where the chrome strip connects the vertical house panels with the upper fiberglass decking apppears to have no "bite" left.

Further on the window issue... are the sides of the house "2x2s" with plywood sheeting??? What am I going to find if I remove the outer fiberglass sheeting... to see what I need to replace? Or do I need to? HELP! I think I need to have a conversation on this... Can you help me out, oh Sage of CAH's?

Sincerely,

Charles Davis

Answer 4:

From Carl Tenning:

Hi Charles,

That is what I found too. At first I thought it was the window leaking, but then I discovered it was that aluminum strip that covers the joint between the Upper Deck piece and the side panels. I think it is 3/4" plywood underneath the outer fiberglas layer. I also injected epoxy in the soft spots. Then I put that white RTV (3M I think) sealant under the aluminum strip and along the top edge. I monitor the top edge for cracks every spring and reseal as necessary. I have had no more of those "window" leaks since then.

One other leak I found was where the lower deck joins the hull. When I dug the bow too deeply into the water at high speed, the bow wave would wash up against that seam. One day I saw the water seeping into the bilge under such conditions. That was easy to seal with RTV.

I have forwarded this to Dean Singer, who may be able to add some.

Hello Charles ---

Moisture & rotted wood around windows/doors --- You have found the probable culprit: Leaks around the window/door frame or from the house side/top joint. The top trim strip covers a major joint 'tween the side of the house and the top deck. When that one leaks, bad things happen. Most of us have found it necessary to pull the aluminum (not chrome) trim strip every five or eight years and re-gook it. The original stuff CAH put in there shrunk, letting water in. I tighten the screws holding that strip every spring, and eventually take the strip off and do the aforementioned re-gooking. Lately, I have used Sikaflex or XXXX5200 (can't remember the brand name, but any supplier will know what "5200" is.) With that stuff, you won't have to ever do it again. In fact, you probably wouldn't be able to get the strip off again.

Let us know the name and age of your CAH. But whatever the age, all the "old" CAH's (as opposed to the 42' "Corsair", which had a one-piece house), will have needed that fix by now. I'd plan to pull the whole strip, all the way around, and redo it. The window frames, which are simply screwed onto the outside surface of the house, also will need the same treatment. (If they come off easy, the old sealant is probably not doing the job; if they don't want to come off, maybe you can get by just fairing the edge with some new sealant.

BUT, while the upper strip is off is the time to peek between the fiberglass shell and the interior paneling. The framing, as you surmised, is 2 X 2, with foam insulation between the "studs" (after about the 1974 models). The outside skin of the house is plywood bonded to the firerglass. If the water has seeped inside the fiberglass, the plywood can rot totally away. The "thump test" can tell you if that is the case. Just whack the sides of the house in various spots; if it gives a solid thump, the glass is probably still bonded to the plywood. If it sounds hollow, or the fiberglass "oilcans" (bows in and out under pressure), the plywood is at best unbonded, and at worst, gone; and you are faced wiith a rather major undertaking. I.e., pulling the fiberglass, replacing the plywood facing (and probably some 2 X 2 studs), and re-bonding the new plywood to the glass.

Unfortunately, that sounds to me like where you may be. If the screws holding the top molding strip won't take hold, the top horizontal 2 X 2 is probably gone. However, it may be possible to use longer and/or larger diameter screws to re-attach the strip. If you can get good purchase with longer/fatter screws, that will likely be safe enough. If only a few screws don't take hold (even longer ones), you can try drilling the strip for a new screw in a new spot, and just fill the old screw hole in the strip. If you know which screws don't hold, you can try this before even putting the strip back.

Rotted interior deck: I guess the only fix for that is to cut the plywood back to good wood, and lay a new piece. You may have to screw a cleat under the cut edge of the old deck, and then screw the new wood to that, so you don't get a springy spot.

Leaks from the upper rail stanchions:
I don't think that should be your water-intrusion problem, but it could depend on how loose they are, and how long they've been in the weather that way. My upper stanchions are sitting in little "feet" which are screwed into the top of the curb along the edge of the upper deck. But I guess even those could allow water beneath the fiberglass if the screws were pulled out or severely loosened. Certainly ought to fix 'em.

I've probably given you the worst-case scenerio on all the above. Think how good you'll feel if you don't have to do ALL that stuff.

More help:

• 1) Carl has our "Fixit Book" on his web site. It can give you some supplier data.
• 2) Ken Opitz, who is in the third year of a complete rebuild of a 40-footer: KOpitz@fidalgo.net.
• 3) Gordy Jensen was part of the company that built the original CAH's, and later headed the company that built the 42- foot Corsairs: LatitudeMar@earthlink.net.

Let us know about your boat and your plans for her. Cruising? Livaboard? Keep us informed of your progress and other questions. There's a lot of us out here who have "been there; done that".