Would you do what I'm doing?

[DonofPaw]

Hey guys I sucked it up and started using my drill and an allen wrench to get the soaked balsa out Well it is wet around the deck cleat as expected and predicted by many of you. Some test drill holes to check the amount of saturation came back suprisingly good seems like most of the wet balsa is right around the holes that are in the deck due to the big bow cleat. Here is my plan I fill those newly hollowed out holes with west system epoxy I got some of the Silica filling as well. Try a bit of that dry rot wood restorer stuff in the wet drill holes and then fill them with epoxy.Put a big mother of a backing plate on.Agree disagree ideas and opinions?Don

 

[patrick]

Make your own penetrating epoxy

mix regular West system epoxy with some denatured alcohol until it is very runny. Much cheaper than the penetrating epoxy that they sell. You can thin it way out to penetrate a little better, too. You can also get a solvent called Gluvit (I think) that will do the same thing. Acetone may also work but I have not tried it. You can always do some experimenting. Most solvents will not interfere with epoxy like they will with polyester resin.You might also do something like using acetone to remove the water from the saturated balsa. You need to fill up the area where the water is and then drain or suck out all of the acetone you can get out. The water will mix with the acetone and it will come out as a mixture. Do this several times and most of the water will be removed and you can let the acetone that is left evaporate. Heat it gently and that may help it evaporate. I have never done this exact thing myself but I have done some similar things like this. You will need to determine if it will work in your case but it does in some.

 

[DonofPaw]

Git-Rot

That is the produce I bought.... any good?

 

[patrick]

I believe that Git Rot is just thinned epoxy

My opinion is make your own. It is a lot less expensive and you can mix it to the viscosity you desire. I do not think that there is any kind of biocide preservative.With West System epoxy, you have other options such as slow or fast hardening mix. Any epoxy will work though. For small jobs, I often use the 5 minute stuff. Adding a solvent will increase the set up time though. I use a scrap of wood and paint it with the left over mix. If I want to know if it has set up, I drill a hole in the scrap to see.

 

[Cap'n Ron]

That's right

Deese gyese are right on the git-rot, just thinnned epoxy.Your main problem, is getting it dried out. Use heater, hair dryer, anything that can get some heat on it to dry the area so you won't be paying another visit. Then acetone.Then your epoxy, microballoon mix, AFTER the penetrating epoxy.Good hunting.

 

[Pat]

instead of using an allen wrench...

use bent nails. That way you have a better edge to do your cutting/scraping. You also can make any size you want. Start with a small bend and work your way up. It's cheap. I used a vice to bend my nails.