I have a 95 Catalina. It has a delamination area near one of the aft chain plates. It's actually about two inches outboard of a chainplate. I can see some very fine hairline cracks that mark the delamination in about a half circle. It's been this way for about two years so things are not getting worse. A PO didn't take care of things but all the chainplates are sealed good now. The area is about the size of a 5 in circle. Do you think this is a good application for git rot? Will the git rot seal the deck back to the fiberglass? I don't want to be drilling a lot of holes and marking up an otherwise good looking non-skid deck but one, two or three 1/4 in holes may not be that noticable. Or can this be done from the underside? How would you get the git rot to stay in place. I understand this is a liquid. Any help is appreciated.
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I buy empty caulk tubes from Jamestown Distributors and mix my fillers from epoxy and cabosil. I drill a small (1/4) hole and pump the mix in and plug the hole with a stick until the epoxy gels then I pull the stick out and fill the hole with putty.
It will do nothing!!
It is designed for dry rot, and works very well for this, but boat decks rarely if ever suffer from dry rot. Check to be sure it is bone dry before attempting this repair.
The deck integrity, at the area of the chain plates, is very important, more important than cosmetics, so choose your repair method wisely..
Ross' method works great if you have dry deck delamination. Unfortunately at chain plates it's not likely to be dry delam..
It will do nothing if the deck is wet. Also Git Rot or any of the other penetrating epoxies DO NOT penetrate the way they would have you believe. They viscosity, due to cure, changes rapidly and thus slows and stops "penetration" into the surrounding wood. It took the water years to get to that point and the "penetrating epoxies" will kick off to a point of zero penetration in as little as a few hours time. I have seen dry deck drill and fill penetrating epoxy repairs, taken apart, and the penetration beyond the drill hole can be measured in mm not inches..
It is designed for dry rot, and works very well for this, but boat decks rarely if ever suffer from dry rot. Check to be sure it is bone dry before attempting this repair.
The deck integrity, at the area of the chain plates, is very important, more important than cosmetics, so choose your repair method wisely..
Ross' method works great if you have dry deck delamination. Unfortunately at chain plates it's not likely to be dry delam..
What is it about chain plates that leads owners to skip maintaining them? I have a few to tackle myself and will probably have some soggy core to boot. I too would hate to tear into the deck too much. The moisture meter readings at the survey indicated that things weren't too bad, perhaps a three inch circle around the chain plate, but how bad is that likely to be in reality? Can I expect to throw an allen in my chuck, go to town, vacuum everything out, block the hole at the bottom and then fill it up with some thickened epoxy? Any suggestions for keeping a hole in place so I can put the chain plate back in easily? Thanks in advance. Bob
- Jan 22, 2008
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The question to be asked is not of the area surrounding the chainplate, although that is significant in itself, but ... what is the chainplate mounted to, (what anchors it) and what condition is that material in.
The way the original 'crime scene' reads is that the area around the chainplate is potentially delaminating as evidenced by hairline cracks. That is not atypical as this is an area of high stress, therefore flexing, therefore developing leaks, therefore penetrating water, therefore freeze thaw cycles, hence delaimination! If the chainplate anchors through the deck to a bulkhead or hull, and neither of those anchor sites show evidence of water intrusion or delamination or rotting, then it may indeed simply be a cosmetic fix, ie an allen key and epoxy intrusion to the deck. Chainplates are rarely anchored to the deck only, except perhaps in very small boats. Even then there is usually a backing plate. Tell us the rest of the story of how it is anchored, and we may be able to give you further guidance. So far however, I suspect this is going to be a 'good news' story for you.
The way the original 'crime scene' reads is that the area around the chainplate is potentially delaminating as evidenced by hairline cracks. That is not atypical as this is an area of high stress, therefore flexing, therefore developing leaks, therefore penetrating water, therefore freeze thaw cycles, hence delaimination! If the chainplate anchors through the deck to a bulkhead or hull, and neither of those anchor sites show evidence of water intrusion or delamination or rotting, then it may indeed simply be a cosmetic fix, ie an allen key and epoxy intrusion to the deck. Chainplates are rarely anchored to the deck only, except perhaps in very small boats. Even then there is usually a backing plate. Tell us the rest of the story of how it is anchored, and we may be able to give you further guidance. So far however, I suspect this is going to be a 'good news' story for you.
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