Spongy cockpit sole

[Austin McHugh]

My new-to-me 1974 Vega has spongy feel to in a front and back of the
cockpit sole/engine access cover. My guess is that some of the foam
core has broken down with use over time and some water has perhaps
invaded as well. I am concerned that with continued use, the upper
layer of fiberglass will continue to fail making repair more
difficult. What solution have folks found to work with this
situation? The teak grate looks like an expensive cover up. Do I cut
off the back side, grind out any foam core, then replace with plywood
and epoxy sandwiching it all back together again? Or, how about
fitting a piece of painted plywood? Just a couple of my thoughts. In
search of sound advice.

 

[albinvega1493]

My cockpit sole felt spongy too, but it turns out, the bracing on the
underside of the sole had cracked loose from the laminate. It was a
simple repair using epoxy and additional bracing made from fiberglass
panels I had laying around.

Larry
albinvega1493@...

 

[trevy_kins]

Austin, I had a similar problem on another boat and simply ground off
the old cored material and affixed a piece of plywood (that had been
pre-coated with several coats of epoxy resin) to the underside with more
epoxy. I suppose if you want to avoid extra weight, you could use
end-grain balsa as a core with a few layers of cloth over top etc.
Cheers, Trevor (V2915 - Mystic Rose)

________________________________

From: AlbinVega@yahoogroups.com [mailto:AlbinVega@yahoogroups.com] On
Behalf Of Larry Bissell
Sent: May 23, 2007 1:45 AM
To: AlbinVega@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [AlbinVega] Re: Spongy cockpit sole
My cockpit sole felt spongy too, but it turns out, the bracing on the
underside of the sole had cracked loose from the laminate. It was a
simple repair using epoxy and additional bracing made from fiberglass
panels I had laying around.

Larry
albinvega1493@... mailto:albinvega1493%40yahoo.com

 

[pjacobs55]

When I had this problem I glued and heavily screwed some oak pieces (maybe 2" by 2") on the underside to reinforce. I used fat stainless screws driven from the upper side, the top, with finishing washers. Did the job without too much trouble. I coated the oak pieces with West.Nicholas Walsh
Nicholas H. Walsh P.A.
111 Commercial Street
Portland Maine 04101
Tel. 207/772-2191
fax 207/774-3940

This email was sent from the law firm of Nicholas H. Walsh P.A. It may contain information that is privileged and confidential. If you suspect that you were not intended to receive this email, please delete it and notify us as soon as possible. Thank you.