O'Day sood locations

[Windtherapy]

Can somebody tell me exactly where wood is on an O'Day? How far does the balsa go on the deck top and where does it end and start on the stringers/forward deck? I removed my portholes the other day to re-bed them and saw no wood in between the fiberglass sections and was sort of surprised.

Thread title should state "Wood locations".

 

[woodster]

just prob around in there till you find solid wood and not rot and then fill the gap with thickened epoxy and then let cure then reinstall the ports back in place ...you may want to read mainsails article on rebeding with butyl

 

[Pat]

The deck is plywood cored and the hull is all fiberglass.....I assume the coach roof and cabin trunk is cored .......hopefully someone else can confirm this for sure. I'm not surprised the area around the hatches/portholes is solid fiberglass . ...Patrick

 

[Ward H]

In some areas you can tell there is plywood within the fiberglass by looking at the undersides and seeing where the thickness bumps out. Under the sliding hatch, under the winches and cleats, inside of the transom for motor mount and rudder hardware are some areas I have seen it.
I was told there is plywood under the pushpit and pulpit mounts, side decks and under the mast tabernacle. Other areas of the decks have the thicker balsa core.
Somebody else posted about changing or re-sealing the ports and found the gap between the inside/outside fiberglass. It sounded like it was a mess to fill in. May not be need to be filled it it wasn't originally.

 

[Harlan]

I believe the gap at the portlites is a gap between 2 separate fiberglass pieces - the deck and the headliner. It is not cored because they are separate pieces. Problem is that if your portlites use thru bolts then you are compressing the gap between the 2 fiberglass pieces to get a seal and you can't do that properly. And if you get a leak it will leak between the fiberglass pieces and you won't realize you have a problem. If you seal the gap with thickened epoxy (not a big job once the portlites are out) that solves both issues. Thicken the epoxy with calcium silicate (it doesn't sag and flow) and work it back an inch or two around the gap.