First off let me attest that my fiberglass skills are far better than my typing abilities... with that being said...
I removed both decks on my 5.2, forward and aft of the front beam. It is well worth the effort. I ended up installing several bulkheads and performing multiple repairs on delaminated stringers, adding about 6 lbs per hull. It was very similar to the job I did on a P19 which has a common failure of buckling on the forward hulls of older boats. Often this is seen as a 3 to 4 foot long horizontal crease on the forward sides of the P19 hulls.
I'll try to edit this post often, adding information as it comes to me... <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />
N5.2 removal of the forward decks are pretty straight forward, using a very thin chisel or thick scraper and a hammer. Tap the chisel into the seem between the decks and the hull lip all around the perimeter of the deck. Don't be afraid to show the boat "who's the man!" It's better than suffering the consequences of an internal buckling failure which will rip the boat apart, literally. It may take several times around to lift the decks off. My decks splintered a bit, but were repairable with cloth and resin. Before doing the internal work, I separated the hulls from the beams so that I could lay them on their sides on saw horses. I believe I added 2 additional bulk heads to each of the forward hulls. I fabricated them out of foam and epoxy with cloth. I generated cardboard cut outs first to get the shapes of the bulkheads. Once the bulkhead layups were cured, I used 2 inch wide strips of nondirectional cloth with epoxy to secure in place. I also repaired alot of delaminations and cracks in the stringers. I really couldnt do much work to the bridle attachment tangs because of the narrow width of hulls that far forward.
