Moisture In Decks

[Ducati]

Found a 1' area with elevated moisture below the deck. It's under the non-skid pattern which will be a pain to re-gelcoat . Water got in through the deck hardware and it has been suggested by my repair guy to re-bed and keep an eye on it. He said that it will over time dry out. Personally I'm not so sure of that and am thinking that we should spend the money and get it fixed properly.

I was also giving some consideration to drilling a series of holes (into the gelcoat) after the boat is put away for the winter (shrunk-wrapped). I'm hoping that this may dry out the area and then will re-gelcoat the holes in the spring.

Comments

 

[thinwater]

After sealing, can you do all of this from inside?

Maybe easier, for a small area, particularly the drying.

 

[woodster]

Re: After sealing, can you do all of this from inside?

you may want to drill the drying holes and then put a wet vac over the holes and try drying them out that way ...and when you are dry shoot some CPES back in the balsa...

regards

woody

 

[Steve Dion]

I would agree with your repair guy. Rebed the hardware (use Butyl) and see what happens.

The proper way to do this is to cut a section of deck out and replace the core. A good glass guy can patch this so you will never see it, but why mess with it if there are really no issues at this time.

You have probably had the moisture in there for a period of time and I assume that nothing has happened!

 

[alexco38]

Invest in one of this: http://www.electrophysics.on.ca/e_index.htm

Scan the boat every year. re-bed all hardware if you suspect leakage goes a long way.

A guy in our club spent $40K to fix a CS36 due to rotted deck. Not fun at all.

 

[oldersalt]

If the soft deck area is relatively accessible from inside the boat, you might try drilling those holes from inside, thus avoiding wrecking the non-skid. When dry, you can then inject thin epoxy (or something like Git-Rot) to harden up the core. Just drying it probably won't work; once the core has become wet, it won't regain its strength when dried, and has probably already delaminated from the fiberglass above and below it. Surgery of some sort WILL be required.... 'Aint boats fun?

 

[Chuckbear]

Before you go drilling and filling and doing more than just re-bedding, make sure you indeed have a problem. Other things beside moisture can give false readings with a moisture meter. Even near by metals on the other side of the deck register. A fastener in the headliner can register. IMO this does not warrant major surgery at this time. Keep checking to see if it gets larger, then work on it. Chuck

 

[JVB]

Cyano-acrylate glue, the thin as alcohol kind not the gel, will penetrate the pores of balsa wood by capillary action and strengthen it. You could experiment with the glue on a test panel and then decide if you want to use it on the balsa core AFTER it is dried out. It might need to be applied via a bunch of small (1/8 inch ?) holes drilled from inside the hull. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanoacrylate

 

[Stephen K]

When you remove the fittings, you should be able to see if the wood is just damp or really wet. It is just damp and your deck is solid, I would probably just rebed and monitor.

If your decks are really wet, I would take more action. The area has to get dried out, so I like the idea mentioned above to drill small holes from the inside. Next remove as much wet / bad core as possible. Then I would hook up a portable fan for a few days and aimed right at the holes to help dry that out really good. Next I would inject Git Rot (to kill the fungus and help stabilize the area). After that cures, I would follow up and inject thickened epoxy to fill the remaining voids.
This is not an expensive fix at all...just a bit of time for each step (it is easier than it sounds).

 

[Chuckbear]

I really would like to hear how anyone has injected Git-Rot or epoxy or anything else into a deck from the inside and got it to saturate the core. It would be an interesting learning process for me. Chuck

 

[Maine Sail]

I would agree with your repair guy. Rebed the hardware (use Butyl) and see what happens.

Ditto! Many folks often drastically over react to damp or moist core. It won't dry but it also may never delaminate or cause an issue of yous top the leak. If the spot soundings are decent with no dull "thuds" then seal it and move on..

 

[woodster]

you may want to inject some denatured alchol in it to help the drying out process......

regards

woody

 

[JRacer]

Replacing balsa core and rebedding hardware

Rebedding: Suggest that you remove the suspect piece of hardware. Take a piece of coat hanger a few inches long, bend an L in the end of it with the leg of the L about 1/2 inch long. Then put that in your drill chuck and stick it in the bolt hole and turn on the drill. The object is to use the leg of the L to remove core material from the deck surrounding the bolt hole. Once the core material is removed and the material surrounding it is dry, put some waxed paper and tape it in place on the inside of the deck. Mix some epoxy and fill the bolt hole and cored out area with epoxy from the top. Once that is cured, redrill the correct bolt hole. You will then be drilling through pure epoxy that is impregnable to water in the future so if the bedding material fails, the seepage won't spread again to the deck's core.

Fixing the bad core: My glass guy does this: From the inside of the boat, he will start drilling a series of small holes in lines in all four directions outward from the "center" of the suspected wet area. Do this until your test hole hits dry core material (in this case balsa core). That will define the size of the area that is a problem. Unless it is very small and can be dealt with as described above, the solution has been to cut out the inner "deck" in a single piece (so when finished it can be replaced). The bad (wet) balsa is removed and fans put on the area until it is thoroughly dry. Then a piece of replacement balsa core is cut to the shape and size needed and epoxied into the void. Once that is complete, the piece of inner "deck" glass material that was cut out can be epoxied back in place and the gaps where it was cut out can be patched (filled) with glass and painted accordingly. Balsa core of the appropriate thicknesses can be found by doing a google search. Then if a piece of hardware needs to be put on the deck, the procedure outlined above is followed so that the bolt hole is isolated from the core material.

 

[Flyboy69]

Re: Replacing balsa core and rebedding hardware

Jracer, I have a similar problem on my 23. It's right below the mast step. This would be the appropriate repair procedure here too? I posted something about a tension bar in this case too....can't find it now...
Would the bar help or even be necessary after this repair?
Sorry to hijack your thread Ducati

 

[zeehag]

i injected cpe into my deck on my ericson to strengthen the coring which was wet due to a mast step issue. it worked. was messy but functional. needed to make many small holes and use a fairly smallish epoxy measuring syringe with the curved long end. used about a quart of epoxy in the process.

 

[RON20406]

Ducati,

A wet core will never dry once it is sealed. . . especially a 1' area. I would suggest removing the offending deck fitting and inspect the inside of the holes with a dental pick. You can remove some of the material and see if it is wet. If it is, your next step is to use a dremel with a toothed barrel and remove some more of the core material and see if it is still wet. If it is, you have two choices: 1.) pretend there isn't a problem and reseal the wet/mushy mess or 2.) fix it properly. The proper fix is to drill 1/4" holes about 1" apart until you finally reach dry core material. Then, allow it to dry completely before treating with CPES and subsequently thickened epoxy. If you drill from below you cannot do this so, unfortunately, you must drill from the top. After completing your repair, you will probably have to redo the nonskid pattern in that area to match the old. It will be good as new when finsihed and you won't have to go the prom with a rented tuxedo and yesterday's underwear. Good luck and good sailing, Ron

 

[JRacer]

Jracer, I have a similar problem on my 23. It's right below the mast step. This would be the appropriate repair procedure here too? I posted something about a tension bar in this case too....can't find it now...
Would the bar help or even be necessary after this repair?
Sorry to hijack your thread Ducati

Assume you are talking about a deck stepped mast.

I think it depends on what the original core material was at the step. It might be marine plywood vs balsa core. But it seems to me that the same procedure will apply.

 

[zeehag]

some deck stepped masts have the mast sit in a dish like fitting. that fitting is often alumi8num, as it is on ericsons. this fitting corrodes and swells. if this is your problem, it will continue to get worse no matter what ye do -- is a good idea to unstep mast and replace dish. isnt really very expensive fix--i was quoted $1925usd in san diego. good luck.

 

[mark_swart]

Jracer has the right answer for rebedding. I did the exact same procedure on a bow pulpit on an older boat and it was a solid fix. Just make sure you have every possible avenue of escape for the epoxy taped up so it doesn't run out in your boat. I just used duck tape and it worked fine.