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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

General Sailing Forum

Wet deck core

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HudsonM1
1st Mate

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USA
41 Posts

Initially Posted - 04/30/2006 : 21:54:14

Hello folks.
I pulled off my grab rails to refinish them and found that the forward most hole in the deck (port side, where the bolt in the rail passes through the deck) is surrounded by wet core. I drilled the hole larger and used a hex wrench chucked in a drill to dig out as much of the wet wood as possible. The problem is that I think the core is still damp beyond the reach of the hex wrench or any other implement I can cram in the hole. Should I cut out the salon ceiling in the area to get out all the wet wood, or can I go ahead and fill the hole with epoxy? What happens if pour epoxy in the hole to seal everything off and there's still some dampness in the core?

Any thoughts?

Hudson
'81 SK/SR #2531

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Champipple
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
6855 Posts

Response Posted - 04/30/2006 : 22:32:41

Did this once on another boat. You are most likely going to have to redo this. Your best bet here is to leave the ceiling in tact and drill from the top. start in a small area, drill a hole but do not penetrate the cabin ceiling. if its wet move farther out and continue this process. Use a 1/2 or better bit.

You might find out you are working with an area pretty darn large. If you wind up expanding bigger than say 6x12 inches, then cut the top gel coat off.

IF it isn't that big, use your allen wrench trick and start clearing it out. Fill the holes with fiberglass cloth pieceds and then mix up west system.

For the bigger hole, remove as much core as possible. I would suggest replacing it with a balsa core because you will be able to keep the contour with the precut balsa. They have sheets of it on a piece of fiberglass with mini cuts so you can contour it when it is layed down. If you go with balsa, get one sheet of carbon fiber too.

Then layer west system, fiberglass matte, rove and mesh along with the core finishing with the mesh glass. (throwing a carbon fiber cloth in for one layer. Also mix in some Colloidal silica to the epoxy. Build it up over time. When your done, sand it down and either paint or gel coat.

A lot of guys will tell you git rot will work, however it sounds like you have the possibility of a large area, Git Rot isn't really made for the large scale repair.

Incidently, when my boat was surveyed 2 years ago the guy told me boats in our age range all have some sort of degradation around stanchions, its just a matter of how bad it is.

dw

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Rich G
Navigator

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226 Posts

Response Posted - 04/30/2006 : 22:42:02

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Duane Wolff
 Incidently, when my boat was surveyed 2 years ago the guy told me boats in our age range all have some sort of degradation around stanchions, its just a matter of how bad it is.

dw

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

My surveyor told me the same thing last year and suggested I re-bed ALL deck fittings. I haven't gotten to that yet, but it's priority one either this fall or next spring.

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Frank Hopper
Past Commodore

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Pitcairn Island
6776 Posts

Response Posted - 05/01/2006 : 09:40:44

Those of us who live where it gets over 100 degrees for long periods of time usually do not have these problems.

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Leon Sisson
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1893 Posts

Response Posted - 05/01/2006 : 09:47:49

Hudson,

When you say wet or damp core, are you saying the plywood is rotted into mush, or waterlogged, but otherwise retains the characteristics of plywood? Rotted core will most likely need to be replaced. Plywood which is damp, but not rotted might be OK if it can be dried out, and the original source of the rain water then sealed. Obviously there's a huge difference in the amount of work involved.

And let Rich G's comment be a reminder to all of you who aren't real sure how well sealed your deck fittings are. It's a whole lot easier to prevent core damage than it is to repair it!

Once again, let me put on a plug

for the drill oversize, fill with epoxy, redrill to original technique of keeping water out of the deck core permanently. Now I advocate drilling oversize because it's quick and easy. I have no disagreement with those who suggest leaving the holes in the fiberglass skin the original size, and using a hex key, bent nail, etc. to dig out a cylinder of core around the hole before filling and redrilling.

-- Leon Sisson

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HudsonM1
1st Mate

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USA
41 Posts

Response Posted - 05/01/2006 : 12:26:52

Leon,
Some of the wood right around the hole was clearly black and rotten. As I dug more out, the stuff was normal wood color but still damp. From above, the deck seems rock solid all around the hole. It's not spongey at all.

Hudson

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The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.