I have a 1976 Catalina 22 with a soft deck around the mast step. I began repairs of it this weekend by cutting out the outer skin (as per This Old Boat and other references). The skin came off easily enough (see attached photo). Most core was either saturated and rotted or dry rotted interspersed with good wood. There were also places where an attempt at a drill and fill last season had only worked partially. I decided to take out all the original balsa core and replace with new core.
The problem I am having is that when I chiseled out the old core material a good chunk of the lamination layer beneath the core came up with it exposing the headliner. For some reason, the lower lamination had become so brittle it just broke off when I chiseled out the old core. In the end, the lower half of the repair area, toward the bow, was just exposed headliner when all the core material came out. The upper half remains a solid layer of laminate below the removed core and above the headliner.
Now I need to build a new layer of laminate on top of the exposed headliner area to set the new core onto. My question is would a few layers of fiberglass cloth with epoxy resin topped by a good layer of thickened epoxy to same level as the remaining lower laminate provide adequate structural integrity once the new core is set and the upper layer laminated back in place? I will bevel it at all points of connection to the remaining original laminate.
Does this approach seem sound? Any other things I should do or consider? Thanks in advance for your advice.
The problem I am having is that when I chiseled out the old core material a good chunk of the lamination layer beneath the core came up with it exposing the headliner. For some reason, the lower lamination had become so brittle it just broke off when I chiseled out the old core. In the end, the lower half of the repair area, toward the bow, was just exposed headliner when all the core material came out. The upper half remains a solid layer of laminate below the removed core and above the headliner.
Now I need to build a new layer of laminate on top of the exposed headliner area to set the new core onto. My question is would a few layers of fiberglass cloth with epoxy resin topped by a good layer of thickened epoxy to same level as the remaining lower laminate provide adequate structural integrity once the new core is set and the upper layer laminated back in place? I will bevel it at all points of connection to the remaining original laminate.
Does this approach seem sound? Any other things I should do or consider? Thanks in advance for your advice.
