balsa core

[R.K.]

The foredeck on my O'Day 22 (1972) has extensive soft areas. How practicle is it to seperate the deck from the interior overhead at the deck seams or does the "saw out the affected area" still seem best. Also, how about replacing the balsa with foam core to permanetly stop rot?

 

[Bruce Niederer]

work from the inside

Working overhead is a bit more difficult but certainly do-able. Cut through the inside laminate skin and remove the piece, dig out the bad core, bond in new core and re-bond the inside skin back in place. Grind a shallow trough around the seam, laminate in a 3 or 4 in. wide tape, then fill, fair and paint to finish.You can use foam instead of balsa I suppose but why? Balsa is waht was original and it's a quite good core.