Lady Stardust (Baba 30' Sailing Cutter)

Bulkhead Repairs Jan/Feb 2004

Upon finding a spot of rot in the port lower locker, just in front of the galley, I decided to look behind the panel at the rear end of the bookcase.

Not good news at all, I found that the plywood bulkhead had turned to black sludge, at best it had the consistency of soggy cardboard.  Given that this is a load bearing bulkhead I decided repairs had to be done. i removed all of the bulkhead until I had reached solid timber. I then treated the remaining wood with an anti-fungal liquid, then fitted a new plug made of treated 3/4" Marine ply. The story of locating decent quality marine ply in the North of England will have to be told elsewhere. I glassed in the plug to the deck and hull and along its inboard edge to the remaining solid bulkhead.

I do not recommend this repair to anyone, the only way to grind the edge of the deck and hull surfaces was to get my head inside the bookcase and galley lockers and blast away. It was impossible to avoid dust everywhere.

I have now completed the work, mid Feb but haven't worked out how to plug the teak holes to blend in. This can wait!

The original Galley before work began	The galley stripped down a bit	Stripped down a lot :-(	The rotten wood removed
The lower part of the bulkhead	The upper part looking astern	Fuel and Water overflow pipes had to be removed	The new Plug