Epoxy

[teacher63]

Any idea of the best and fastest way to cover holes that I am going to drill in my deck. I am drilling the hole trying to get some of the core out and then filling the hole and re drilling. What is the best way to get the pieces of core out. What epoxy should I use to seal the holes so I can drill them out. Should the original hole be a little bigger than the actual size that I need? I am kind of looking for something that will dry reasonably quickly.

Thanks,
You all come up with good advice to a novice.

 

[Steve Dion]

A bent nail works well. I don't know how well this will work if the core is still good.

 

[carboman]

I tried the bent nail but gave up pretty quick. If I do it again, I would go buys a set of cheap allen wrenches and cut some off the business end and see what happens. Should hold in a drill chuck better. I tried to dry mine out with acetone and time, and when I eventually cut it open it was still wet. Guess I'm saying it is important do what you are saying patiently and right, I attached some pics of what I ended up doing which was cutting the whole area under the mast where it sort of raises up with a circular saw. About 1.5' x 2.5' area. Was a pain peeling it up but I got it off. After that, I sanded the inside of the surface piece I wanted to save, threw some fiberglass resin on it and replaced it with a few screws and a two tubes of the west systems epoxy in a tube, $20/tube. Added the old coins in there to. Have to pay the gods if I die at sea. The PDF is from a book I bought.

 

[suds]

I'm guessing you are trying to remove soft spots. You might want to read JC's blog on how he addresses this issue.

http://dianaofburlington.blogspot.com/2012_05_01_archive.html

 

[catsailor]

Actually, he says nothing about wet core, just the need to decore, fill, and redrill, for mounting hardware.

A bent nail is the cheapest way and works well, if....
* You clip the end very short aft bending, perhaps 3/16-inch or even less. Longer and it will bounce and catch and come loose.
* Start slow and keep a firm hold on the drill. Do NOT go full speed until nearly finished.

As for curing time, all of them will take over night to be hard enough to drill without risking destroying the plug you just made. That is the drag of it. There are "5-minute" epoxies, but they still need over night to reach full strength and generally are a bit less durable. That said, heat helps. If you really want to get it done in one day, use a fast epoxy, let it cure for about 1 hour at 75F, then put a heater right on it and cure it at ~ 120F for a few hours. That should do it. Epoxy gets tricky, now that temps are dropping.