Interior issues

[Capt. Sea Fever]

Recently bought a 1983 GB 49 Classic.
I’ve noticed a slowly spreading area of whiteness developing in the Aft. Saloon’s parquet teak flooring (pic).
I’ve checked for dampness..none. Leaks behind cabinets...none.

What is your opinion as to what th8s might be, and can I lightly sand it, restain and poly?

Thanks!
Capt.Sea Fever

 

[motion30]

It looks like water damage to me. You have to find the leak

 

[Larry M]

It looks like water damage to me. You have to find the leak

I agree. It looks like moisture maybe under the parquet is lifting the finish.

 

[FlyWright]

Treat the cause before addressing the damage.

 

[firstbase]

Looks like old damage to me, from a leak that has already been taken care of. Can't see but is it under the refrigerator or freezer? Have you had the boat long enough to know whether or not it is still leaking under any condition?

 

[DHeckrotte]

All previous answers are correct.

Is it still leaking? What was it that leaked? Do I see a little lift of finish on the vertical joint in the cabinet front?

I would add, fearfully, what's beyond the cabinets? Is there any chance that the water is coming from: deck/hull, seeping under the cabinet floor from an adjacent wet space, condensate, plumbing, shower base. Thinking that the water traveled under the cabinet but on top of the subfloor.

I hope that the floor was finished in place rather than prefinished. An easier repair.

 

[koliver]

" and can I lightly sand it, restain and poly?"

That must be removed, down to the bare wood. Best to use a scraper to get the old, cracked varnish all off, then sand with 120 grit, then 220 grit paper. Let it dry for a week or so, to be absolutely sure it has shed any residual moisture. Lightly sand the rest of the floor, 220 grit paper, then on the bare wood, thin the first coat, then recoat the whole floor without thinning, so one coat on the undamaged, 2 on the repair. If the grain at the repair still stands out, lightly sand and apply a third coat. The original finish is likely semi gloss polyurethane, so that would be a good choice. The original has no stain, so don't stain the repair. Any noticeable colour difference will disappear within the first year.

 

[Comodave]

A throw rug will fix that...

 

[Bob Cofer]

Definitely looks like a water leak and has migrated along the seams. If you have fixed or know the leak is fixed then refinishing is fairly easy. There is a lot of material in the parquet and it was finished in place. Sand to you needs and refinish with your favorite product. I would go with a satin finish.

 

[sunchaser]

Was an ice maker sitting there at one time? Or the line to one hiding somewhere? Or a box of water sitting there during a hard freeze? Yada yada --

 

[C lectric]

What is above the damaged area? SOmeone mentioned a fridge/freezer? If so that could be a leak source when defrosting, either manually or auto. If the drain tube was blocked water could overflow onto the floor and do that. Maybe more than once.
It might matter what is above.

 

[Capt Jack]

Recently bought a 1983 GB 49 Classic.
I’ve noticed a slowly spreading area of whiteness developing in the Aft. Saloon’s parquet teak flooring (pic).

The key to me is your statement "slowly spreading". I would be very suspicious that you still have moisture in the flooring - whether the leak is still happening or not remains to be found. You might try a cheap trial of scraping the delaminated finish off and cover the bare wood with paper towels. Weight them down and see if you get any moisture wicking out of the flooring. At least this would tell you if you have moisture. If the paper towel gets wet then you most likely have an active leak and must investigate further for a source before refinishing, or you will be doing the refinishing of the floor again down the road. Good Luck - water usually travels the path of least resistance so looking a good distance away may be necessary. Sometimes like a creek, it can be a winding path.

John

 

[Capt. Sea Fever]

Recently bought a 1983 GB 49 Classic.
I’ve noticed a slowly spreading area of whiteness developing in the Aft. Saloon’s parquet teak flooring (pic).

The key to me is your statement "slowly spreading". I would be very suspicious that you still have moisture in the flooring - whether the leak is still happening or not remains to be found. You might try a cheap trial of scraping the delaminated finish off and cover the bare wood with paper towels. Weight them down and see if you get any moisture wicking out of the flooring. At least this would tell you if you have moisture. If the paper towel gets wet then you most likely have an active leak and must investigate further for a source before refinishing, or you will be doing the refinishing of the floor again down the road. Good Luck - water usually travels the path of least resistance so looking a good distance away may be necessary. Sometimes like a creek, it can be a winding path.

John

Thanks for everyone’s comments!,

The floor is actually on the port side of the aft. cabin just near the drawers. I’ve removed them but did not see any sign of leakage.

There has never been an ice maker in that location.

I like the comment of scraping and then applying a paper towel under a weight. I’ll try that when I return to the boat next month.( Too cold now....! South Carolina)

I also like the throw rug comment.

....more later!
Ciao!

 

[bnoft]

We had a 42 GB with a freezer located port side in the aft end of the saloon, maybe where your damage is located. The freezer didn't leak but a poor gasket seal generated condensation along the bottom of the freezer door which would end up on the floor. A new gasket and tighter latch solved the issue before we had noticeable damage on the floor. While you indicate there is a cabinet in that space, could a freezer have been located there before?
Now if this is in the aft cabin, I would suspect the aft hatch, check the joints, on our '91 we had to rebuild that hatch opening as it had begun to seep rainwater into the cabin. Again we caught it fairly soon.

 

[Trawlergal1990]

We had a similar spot under the salon fridge. 42 Classic. Kept trying to find the leak in or around the fridge. Discovered it was a hole in the bottom of the window channel. Water running down the inside of the wall and wicking into the parquet. Plugged the hole, problem solved.

Worth checking. In redoing all the felt tracks found a number of plugged drains and unused holes in the aluminum tracks.

 

[Donna]

I’m concerned you say it’s spreading. Put a moisture meter on it, then you will know for sure. If you don’t have one, it can be rented cheap.

 

[firstbase]

Maybe the spreading is just the finish continuing to go bad from the past leak? Moisture got under and it is just now lifting up?

 

[Westiculo]

There is no leak. I'm guessing the boat was in cool water at some point and the problem parquet is the stuff at the very edge which happens to be laid directly against the hull. Condensation forms in and around that teak because it's so cool directly against the hull. We live in Boston and have this problem right now. Can't fix it till the water warms up so the teak can dry out. We will try to refinish the wood, but first saturate it with epoxy to prevent any air and water from getting in there. The teak laminate on the plywood that buts up against it will be next to fail, ours is peeling off at the bottom.

 

[Westiculo]

Here's an update on mine. I took off the cabinet front and sanded down the parquet in that area. You can see water coming up through the seams now, I know that it's condensation because it only comes up through the seams where the parquet is laid directly on the hull. This only happens on warm days when there's moisture in the air; the harbor water is now at 35 degrees. It's only going to get worse until the water warms up again in May. I think I'm going to try to epoxy it to prevent air and moisture from getting in there - that's if I can get it to dry out. The exposed glass I will insulate with great stuff and put a layer of reflectix over.

If you're moving a boat from a warm to a cold climate, you definitely want to figure out your hull condensation before the water temperature drops!

 

[DHeckrotte]

Do I understand correctly that you have parquet flooring which is partly on a wood substructure and partly directly adhered to the fiberglass hull? Two of my previous boats had a similar detail; it seems that the livable area of boats commonly intersect with the hull. On one, the Teak sole was loose boards screwed down where possible and tapered to about 1/8" thick as it extended onto the hull.

The other was/is more to the point of yours: I bedded Teak strips onto the 'glass substructure and the hull using epoxy. I coated out the strips as they went in. The whole surface was sanded smooth and coated out. Thus the Teak was encapsulated in epoxy and water was no longer an issue.

However, I fear you have a different problem. I think that condensation would occur on the cold surface exposed to damp air. I don't think condensation would occur on a cold surface under the insulative wood and then come up as water through the seams. Is it possible that condensation is occurring on the adjacent hull fiberglass and running down and into the floor?

If not, continue looking for a leak.

 

[Westiculo]

That's exactly it, part is bedded to a wood subfloor, then part is bedded to the hull. It's definitely condensation, and I think you're right that some of it is dripping down the fiberglass. Also, I think on really warm wet days, the wood itself is cold enough to form condensation which drips down between the parquet pieces in areas that are no longer glued together. Sounds like saturating the whole thing with epoxy might do the trick, from what you're saying - and then insulating the fiberglass where the wood isn't. When I took the paneling off, all fiberglass below the waterline was damp.

 

[DHeckrotte]

You might also consider a more intrusive alteration. Short of moving south, that is.

Putting my (retired) architect's hat on, it would be better if the hull could weep water down to the bilge under the floor and the floor spaced up and away from the 'glass. An airspace, subfloor and finish floor is pretty decent insulation for comfort and dewpoint. 5/8" of parquet directly bonded to the floor is pretty poor, but not nearly so bad as exposing the 'glass would be.

I fear saturating the existing floor would not be successful. It would take long and heroic effort to get it dry and the epoxy would never get down and around the pieces to keep recurring water from ruining the whole job. Additionally, making the floor perfectly sealed against water would ensure that whatever was coming down the sides of the hull would simply dribble out onto the sealed surface, or simply go somewhere else undesirable.

 

[Westiculo]

I knew somebody was going to suggest moving south! if only...
I hope to eliminate the dribble from the sides of the hull with insulation, but we'll see what happens. It's risky because it could trap the moisture, or it could solve the problem. I think the only way to tell is to try it out.

 

[Westiculo]

There is a leak!!
I was totally wrong about the condensation, though my solution did help protect the floor.

The water is coming in from the rub rail.
It's probably coming in both the top/main rub rail and the shorter bottom rub rail.
I figured it out because the water is sometimes fresh and sometimes salty. The salty stuff comes in the screw holes on the bottom rub rail if you drive the boat in certain waves; the fresh comes only from certain rains in the top rub rail screw holes.

The rub rail is basically a hollow fiberglass rail molded into the side of the boat with a bronze protector screwed to it. Water comes in the screw holes (it could come in any of the holes through the entire length of the rub rail), and fills up the hollow rail. At a certain point it finds its way into the inside of the boat. There is no direct way for water to run into the bilge there because the parquet is attached to the hull of the boat. Hence: leakage into the cabin.

To solve: Simply rebed the bronze part of your rub rail. For the belt and suspenders approach, also drill a hole in the hollow part of the rub rail from the inside (take care not to drill through the side of your boat). Attach a hose to the hole and run it behind the cabinets down to the bilge in case the rub rail leaks in the future.

 

[Donna]

Glad you found it!