soft area starboard fore deck

[Jason Whyte]

Soft Foredeck

Does anyone know if there is wood or foam in between the glass in the fore deck construction over the v berth ? foam ? balsam? I also have a small soft fore deck area on the starboard side of my O'day 25. Was planning on drilling a series of holes and injecting git rot if it's a balsam core but I'm not sure.

 

[dmax]

O'day did not use foam - most likely it is end-grain balsa, though in some areas they used plywood. Drilling holes and injecting git rot will not fix the problem and just make a mess of your deck.You need to get the moisture out of there before doing anything as git rot or epoxy will not disperse/replace/mix with the water.

 

[Project_Mayhem]

I'll try to check my foredeck this week. I have a fitting for the anchor rode that can be removed and I'm in the process of rebedding so it needs to be removed anyways

 

[MikeHoncho]

Www.injectadeck.com. This will be my go too if I need a go too.

 

[cb32863]

It's balsa core. I had to remove rotted core under the mast step on the 25 I had. Cut the skin off with an angle grinder, dig out the rot, replace the core, epoxy the skin back on, sand until smooth, and paint with topside paint. Don't try a quick fix as you will be doing it again. Injecting will be a fail by the way. Do it right.

 

[MikeHoncho]

It's balsa core. I had to remove rotted core under the mast step on the 25 I had. Cut the skin off with an angle grinder, dig out the rot, replace the core, epoxy the skin back on, sand until smooth, and paint with topside paint. Don't try a quick fix as you will be doing it again. Injecting will be a fail by the way. Do it right.

If your referring to my post, could you provide details?

 

[cb32863]

If your referring to my post, could you provide details?

Injecting is not going to displace moisture. Others have tested injections and they fail easily. The only way to do it right is to cut the skin off and replace the core. I have owned an O'Day 25, replaced bulkheads and core, I know from personal experience.

 

[MikeHoncho]

Injecting is not going to displace moisture. Others have tested injections and they fail easily. The only way to do it right is to cut the skin off and replace the core. I have owned an O'Day 25, replaced bulkheads and core, I know from personal experience.

Your not familiar with the product. It isn’t penetrating epoxy. It is structural foam that the reaction/expansion of the foam displaces the water while also utilizing the moisture during the curing process. They actually recommend strategically placing drain holes to allow the pressurized water to escape. Now I agree that it doesn’t rise to the level of completely replacing the core like you recommend but I believe it is defiantly applicable in a lot of situations.

 

[Jason Whyte]

Thanks to everyone for the replies and good advise ! Definitely will drill a few drain holes underneath in the V berth ceiling first to let some moisture escape and run a dehumidifier in the cabin. Jeeze that injectadeck ain't cheap but that's boats for ya. Definitely won't be doing the git rot now.

 

[dmax]

I think it's wise to attack from underneath if you can to avoid having to refinish the deck. I had some rot around my deck fills that I was able to remove with various tools through the 1 1/2" holes in the deck. You could think about drilling some 1" holes underneath which would allow you to remove a 5 - 6" diameter circle of core. I found a long thin phillips screw driver bent at a 30 degree angle near the handle gave me a lot of reach. You could then patch the 1" holes pretty easily. You may be able to fill the void you created with thickened epoxy from the hole(s) in the deck above. Use your imagnation and try to avoid cutting/drilling the deck.

Another approach is using vacuum pressure to remove the moisture - you can pull from the hole in the deck where the moisture originally entered so no need to drill new holes. I have done this to lower the moisture level around my chain plates (wood was still solid) - went from 20% down to 10%. It takes some time and you need warmish weather but it definitely works. Check out this thread:

Wet core repair without major surgery.

I have recently been following a couple of threads where wet deck core is being repaired by cutting off interior or exterior skin and full replacement of the core. Two years ago I thought that I was in for the same on my 1988 Catalina 30. I found a crack in the deck that was weeping brown...

forums.sailboatowners.com

Regarding the injectadeck expanding foam: I think this can work but I would try to get as much of the moisture and rotten core out first.

 

[MikeHoncho]

I think it's wise to attack from underneath if you can to avoid having to refinish the deck. I had some rot around my deck fills that I was able to remove with various tools through the 1 1/2" holes in the deck. You could think about drilling some 1" holes underneath which would allow you to remove a 5 - 6" diameter circle of core. I found a long thin phillips screw driver bent at a 30 degree angle near the handle gave me a lot of reach. You could then patch the 1" holes pretty easily. You may be able to fill the void you created with thickened epoxy from the hole(s) in the deck above. Use your imagnation and try to avoid cutting/drilling the deck.

Another approach is using vacuum pressure to remove the moisture - you can pull from the hole in the deck where the moisture originally entered so no need to drill new holes. I have done this to lower the moisture level around my chain plates (wood was still solid) - went from 20% down to 10%. It takes some time and you need warmish weather but it definitely works. Check out this thread:

Wet core repair without major surgery.

I have recently been following a couple of threads where wet deck core is being repaired by cutting off interior or exterior skin and full replacement of the core. Two years ago I thought that I was in for the same on my 1988 Catalina 30. I found a crack in the deck that was weeping brown...

forums.sailboatowners.com

Regarding the injectadeck expanding foam: I think this can work but I would try to get as much of the moisture and rotten core out first.

I’ve heard others say this and try to understand how working fiberglass and epoxy overhead. Add in access challenges from bulkheads and cabin design, the mess inside compared to outside and the ease of finishing with gripawl compared to what to do with the gellcoat on the inside? It seems like a no brainer to take it on from the outside.

 

[dmax]

I agree I wouldn't want to try to replace the core from underneath which would be pretty messy I imagine. However, for small areas where you could "inject" epoxy from above through existing holes, I'd much rather not scar up the deck. I guess it depends on the condition of your deck - mine is in excellent shape and there's no way I could do a patch that would match it which means refinishing the whole deck, a huge job. If you just drill some holes in the underside, you can put some finish plugs in them or a cover plate that would look ok. It all kind of depends on where the problem is and how big it is as to how you attack.

 

[DrJudyB]

I've done similar repairs from underneath. It's not that messy or hard to do. And the dock still looks like the original. It's actually less work, looks better when done, and lasts longer.

You can thicken the epoxy so it doesn't drip. Once all the materials have been pre fitted, it's a 10minute job to put everything in place and put it under compression, with two people. One person mixes the resins and wets out the materials out on the bench, while the other person lays them up inside the boat. One person could do it solo, using slow cure hardener.

For the patch, we used

• Divynacel foam (but you could use endgrain balsa core) slathered with West system epoxy with cabosil thickener.
• 1708 mat/glass (which is compatible with epoxy resin) . The three-layer patch was wetted out in one step and placed on the roof in one piece.

To compress and hold it while it kicked we used the following underneath the glass (from top to bottom). The technique we used was similar to vacuum bagging, but much simpler. We use foam and pressure to compress the repair instead of a vacuum bag.

• release ply (to let excess resin squeeze through without sticking)
• an old polyester matress pad as breather fabric, to soak up the excess resin which squeezed out under pressure.
• plastic drop cloth as a barrier
• old corrugated foam rubber, to conform to the curve.
• a skin of wood that was flexible
• a scrap of pllywood
• 2 x 4s and wedges to push everything up against the roof, under pressure, until it cured.

If you click on the last picture, you'll see a beautifully smooth patch, with a textured finish, that isn't overly resin rich.

 

[emergpa1]

The rebuild Oday 26

forums.sailboatowners.com

 

[Noodat Lady]

You have to cut out the rot. Period. No miracle cures for this.

 

[Jason Whyte]

Thanks @Noodat Lady