26 S Needs Foredeck core replacement. Has anyone undertaken this?

[BernieC]

Good Morning All. I am a new owner of a used MacGregor 26S (1990). While we did a basic inspection of the boat when purchased we are now the happy owners of a boat that needs some Big work. The fun of sailboat ownership. I am not going to blame the PO but they had retrofitted an anchor locker in the bow deck area and the job was, well, not so great. What we thought may have been a simply hatch replacement has turned out to be totally soaked and de-laminated plywood to glass. I have started the process but would love to hear from anyone who has done similar work. Please and thanks.

 

[willsnow]

Oh yeah. That was my project last winter. I watched a lot of youtube (boatworks today is a great channel) and figured it out along the way. I don't mind saying: I can't believe how well it turned out. I've probably got more pictures somewhere if that may help. Or ask me any questions and I'll do my best to answer.

https://forums.sailboatowners.com/index.php?media/albums/mac-projects.2914/

 

[BernieC]

Great looking glass work! I have just started now on the repairs to our fore deck. We removed from the inside all of the plywood and found a lot of voids and dry spots in the glass matt. not well done at the factory by the looks of it. We are re-coring with end cut balsa and I was thinking of solid glass work at the hardware mounting points.

 

[willsnow]

Yeah, I found a lot more voids from the factory than I wanted... but now my foredeck is the only area of the boat where the fiberglass doesn't creak when you step on it. (ugh...)
Switch to solid around the hardware if you want, it's certainly the strongest way to do it. I just over-drill the hole, fill with thickened epoxy and re-drill to correct fastener diameter. That gives the fastener a column of epoxy to take all the compression loads and prevents future water intrusion into the core. Seems to work fine.
Good luck