[NOLAsailing]

I read this thread when I had a brief moment over the weekend and really wanted to type out a long response. Coincidentally, I'm concluding precisely this project on my boat (and I've done it on others).

Fortunately for me Halekai and Brak have said just about everything I wanted to.

On my first boat - a Pearson Triton like Glissando - I did it both ways. First, I tried the drill and fill method and, when that failed, I did a proper recore. So, I understand the reluctance to cut open the deck and start grinding away. Likewise, I understand why we encounter this question so often here. As daunting as recoring seems to those who haven't done it, it's an indication of sanity that you'll ask if there's an easier way.

The rub is that properly recoring is the easier way. By the time you drill all of those little holes and painstakingly inject resin, you could have the skin off, the core removed, and the area prepped for new core and laminate. If you drill and fill you'll end up with a ruined upper skin and a lot of small epoxy plugs. The deck will still be very weak.

If the deck is flexing, it means the balsa is soaked and completely deteriorated; it must come out.

I prefer to do it from the underside. On this most recent project, I repaired a large area in my foredeck and a smaller one on my sidedeck. I've spent three full days on the project and I've removed the old core, replaced it with new balsa, relaminated the bottom skin, and re-fiberglassed the seam. I have two more evenings of work to rebed the hardware and I'll be ready for sailing. I'll paint later (both sections, conveniently, are in lockers). This does not have to be a tremendously time consuming process.