Looking at at Albin 40 found this

[BLACKBIRD2]

We are looking at a 40,,overall good condition, is something that should be a deal breaker,its a 1985

[Panhdjoe]

This appears to be in the forward cabin at the anchor locker, If thats the case it probably would not bother me much. Before we bought our 1983 36 I looked at about 3 36s and one 43 and they all had some water intrusion damage somewhere. It may be from wet anchor rode over the years. My question would be is it an active leak or not, if its dry I would not worry about it. i doubt you will find any of the older trawlers that don't have something like that.

[DesertAlbin736]

"You've got a little dry rot here Boss. At least it's above the waterline. Well, most of it anyway."

Captain Ron to owner Martin Harvey aboard the Formosa 51 sailing yacht "Wanderer".

An attempt at injecting a little levity there, in case you haven't seen that classic Kurt Russell movie. But that said I agree with Panhdjoe, at first glance that particular spot looks more cosmetic than structural. I assume if you're seriously looking to buy a 40 footer and this particular one is on your short list, then you'd make your offer contingent on a professional survey, which could determine whether it's a serious leak/deck rot or other structural issue or not. At minimum I'd check around & get a rough idea of cost to repair that panel (matching marine grade teak veneer wood being expensive & all) and factor that into your offer relative to overall market value of comps and the condition of the rest of the boat.

[Nepidae]

We purchased an '86 43 sundeck with similar forward locker issue displayed.

I found the problem was that someone left the anchor locker chain hawse cover open/off, it would seem for years. I put the top back on and haven't had any other issues.

We bought ours in 2010 and still have yet to fix this. We've done a lot more to her though. I'm cogitating on the best way to do it without replacing the whole bulkhead.

I would say that if that is the worst of it, and all else is great, and you like the boat, go for it. We feel we couldn't have purchased a better boat for us.

Any other questions, don't hesitate to contact me off list.

Good luck.

[catalina_mike]

As long as it's not structual. I wonder if you can remove the shelves or births and skin the wall.