carver mariner

[mille73]

Last fall I bought a 28ft. 1979 carver mariner with twin 305s. Really like the mariner style with the large bridge. The two annoying problems to date are a smell from the area near the holding tank. The previous owner said the holding tank leaked. He installed a new 25 gallon holding tank with a macerator pump pulling from the head it has sewage grade hose & appears to be vented correctly? The other non structural problem is dry rot above the windows under the bridge enclosure. Any suggestions for repair it's about a 3/4 wide by 1 1/2 deep area 9 ft. long that the aluminu trim pc. screws into. The area in question is above & over hangs the side windows. I can't shove a new pc. of wood in the slot because their are screws in the way.

 

[SpinnerBait_Nut]

Re: carver mariner

Boat restoration and building.<br />You can see replies here:<br /> http://forums.iboats.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=26;t=004810

 

[rbellows]

Re: carver mariner

I have excavated rotten wood from the same area of my '78 Carver Santa Cruz. You ar correct - sliding wood into that space would be almost impossible. My inclination is to fill the bulk of the cavity with expanding foam insulation and leave a 1" space at the bottom to finish off with fibreglass filler. If anyone has a better solution I would appreciate hearing it.

Ron

 

[mille73]

Re: carver mariner

I looked at using foam but was afraid of the mess plus I wanted the trim pc. securely installed mine had some canvas snaps near the windshield. If you use foam you won't have any solid material to screw the aluminum trim pc. to. I cut 3/4"X1 1/4"X4' strips of marine grade plywood after scraping as much of the dry rotted plywood out I filled the slot with the strips & used stainless screws through the fiberglass to hold the wood in place, space the screws evenly & no one will know they aren't origional equipment. Good Luck.

 

[aholgate]

Re: carver mariner

How about using some Body filler? I use that for wood repair all the time. It's hard and can be sanded and painted or stained! You could even install some anchors in the body filler before it sets to attach some wood trim if you wanted to go that route.

Also the smell thing.. I had a similar issue with my 88 Carver Voyager and I used many versions of Orange cleaner and also poured bio septic stuff into the holding tank. You may want to do that (fill the tank with smell-b-gone) and see if it goes away. If it does then it's a venting issue. If it doesn't its in the wood and will need some bleach to kill and smell.

Hope this helps.

 

[CaptainT]

Re: carver mariner

I have owned a Carver Mariner 1979 for about 10 years. The problem with wood rot above the windows was noticed because the trim was loose and I could not get the screws to hold.

About five years ago I hired the marina I stayed at to do the repair on the port side. I was quoted $900.00, the final bill was $1800.00. I did have a couple extra quick repairs added and finally agreed to pay about $1200.00.
Some of the cost was for moving the boat into the shop.

The marina started working the rotten wood out from the outside using a long wood chisel type tool. I had taken some of the trim off the inside as requested by the marina to estimate the job. The work removing the wood from outside is very tedious. The marina finally decided to remove more wood trim inside to expose the rotten 1X4" board just above the window. Removing the trim is fairly easy. Typically removing 1 to 1.25" brass screws is all that is needed. This is the best way to remove all the screws holding the board. This board when originally installed should have been coated with fiberglass resin but I don't believe mine was.

The wood rot must be removed or you will constantly have the smell permeate everythging on the boat. The smell even gets into my breakfast cereal and other food products. I still need to do the port side which will be more difficult due to the wood work around the head and shower. I wish I had done both sides at once.

The issue I have not fully solved is how the water penetrated that area. I suspect the board was not sealed for moisture. The screws that attach the fly bridge must be pulled to position the new wood. I believe it's important to caulk these screws liberally with permanent caulk when doing the final install.
I want to take the partition out below the helm and caulk the flybridge mounting joint from inside the fly bridge. To form the angle of the replacement wood you can cut two pieces of wood. Make sure the wood is coated with fiberglass resin.

Read about rotten wood spores. It's important to contain the rotted wood
as much as possible. I would strongly discourage using foam or some other quick remedy. I once discussed this problem with a mariner owner who drilled small holes through the metal trim into the cut edge of the fiberglass.

Im convinced there is still water soaking the wood along my starboard window, even though I caulked the flybridge attachment screws very well.