Hello All Fellow Whitby Owners,
I bought Possum Magic In April of last year and the survey indicated wet core on the coach roof.
I was getting water leaks inside the cabin dripping into either the drawers or along the cabin roof
sides. I have now found the cause of the water leaks and the wet coach roof core. The two
Dorade boxes on the coach roof were improperly designed and installed on my hull 148. I have
now removed about 2ftx4ft from both port and starboard sides including both dorade boxes and
have found substantial flaws in the original design and installation resulting in core destruction due
to water intrusion. It is very clear looking at the stains on the lower skin that the water came in
thru the bottom of the dorade box which is a false bottom poorly bonded laminate and migrated
down the slope of the cabin roof to the sides and into the cabin. Using a Fein Multimaster and
Rockwell sonicrafter (by the way a very interesting comparison) and both wonderful tools, I have
corrected the problem. I plan on installing two nicro solar vents in place of the two dorade vents.
I would be more than happy to share with anyone interested the picture of the deconstruction
of the cabin roof. PLEASE take a look at your dorade boxes, the leeward side of mine had the
drain holes 1/4 inch above the deck surface so that water always stagnated inside the box. This
simple issue was probably the main root to water ingress over 30 years.
It is also very interesting to see that even wet core has good adhesion to the top and bottom
skins of the deck. Only saturated core was completely devoid of structural integrity. Using a
good moisture meter and drilling test holes I was able to locate the worst of the water intrusion
and I have now mapped my decks for moisture to use as a tracking system for future evaluations.
If you want more info or pics you can contact me at:
aschoenb@netzero.net
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