What's inside a Europa roof?

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MarkPaul

Member
Joined
Feb 4, 2023
Messages
8
Vessel Name
Grand Plan
Vessel Make
Grand Banks 42 Europa
Wondering about the construction of the side and rear "overhangs" or "roofs" of a 1980 GB42 Europa. How are they constructed? Is there any timber inside?
I'm removing the teak laid decking above due to water ingress that seeps through screw holes and drips from the ceiling onto the decks below. Under the teak is gelcoated fiberglass and the outside "ceilings" are also fiberglass. There are no obvious soft spots but if I've got to cut open to access the void to replace timbers, now's the time.
 
The decks on my 98 GB42 are plywood with glass on top. When I pulled up the teak I discovered several spots that rang dead to a tap. drilling into those I always found some degree of rot. That was opened up and then filled with wood plugs and epoxy before glassing over. Good luck with the project.
 
On my Europa you can stick your head up in the wiper motor hatch and see down the roof above the headliner.

I have factory fiberglass decks, but I assume they are glassed plywood.
 
Thanks for the tips.
Even though there's teak laid on it, the "top deck" it appears to be differently constructed to the decks. It's not solid. Inside the saloon, in ascending order is headliner, timber beams, ply, fiberglass and teak decking. Outside, I'm guessing there's timber beams between an upper and a lower fiberglass skin, the upper one having teak glued and screwed over. It's those timber beams, if they exist, that concerns me. Is there rot?
The top deck seems solid but if it was to go "springy" in a year or two, I'd wished that I'd fixed it before resurfacing. If I cut out sections of the upper fiberglass in order to inspect and find that it's all fiberglass internally, then I've made the job bigger than necessary.
 
My boat is older and is a wooden. The ceiling of the side decks are plywood with no wooden beams. The wooden beams end at the side of the house except in the cockpit where they span the full beam.

Even though my boat is wooden, the top surface of flybridge is covered in fibreglass (and anti-skid) while the bottom surface in the is just painted plywood.

Even though your flybridge deck is not springy that is no guarantee there is no rot. As suggested by Rob in post #2 you should tap all around the deck with a light hammer and listen for soft, rotten plywood, if any.
 

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