Deck Core replacement

[zz4gta]

I like the idea of stainless staples, thank you. Can you typically find them at home depot and the like?

[idontwantanaccount]

I wouldn't think home depot would carry that kind of thing, but I have never checked. My favorite place to order that kind of thing is Jamestown Distributors.

[NOLAsailing]

McMaster Carr (click for link) carries them. They also carry everything else. Just type "stainless steel staple" into the search box.

[SimonV]

Call me stupid if I have missed something. How bad is this rotted/wet core? Could you possibly use the West System and saturated the area with epoxy pumped in under pressure. At my marina in Queensland there is a CT 41 that has had this procedure done and and it turned out very good and solid.

[motovationcycles]

Originally Posted by SimonV

Call me stupid if I have missed something. How bad is this rotted/wet core? Could you possibly use the West System and saturated the area with epoxy pumped in under pressure. At my marina in Queensland there is a CT 41 that has had this procedure done and and it turned out very good and solid.

I have done many repairs of this type. Pumping epoxy in is not the best repair. It is a good stop gap measure until a complete and proper repair can be made. There are several issues that need to be dealt with such as: Killing all of the rot spores present (if balsa or plywood)to prevent the rot from spreading, complete drying before injection, not causing more delamination by using too much pressure in an attempt to completely fill any voids., increased weight, and decreased strength.

[NOLAsailing]

Simon - unless you're dealing with a very small area (less than 1 sq ft) then "drilling and filling" is completely inadequate. I tried it when I was intimidated by the prospect of cutting open the decks and doing a proper recore.

What I found is that a recore, in addition to being the right way of repairing it, is also far easier.

I would not use the drill and fill for a stop-gap; it makes the eventual recore much more difficult as you have to get all of that cured epoxy out of there. That's no fun and causes unnecessary damage to the remaining skin.

[pcyc2]

Don't and try and reinvent the wheel. Coring is fixed from the outside. Cut out bad core, and leave inner laminate in place and rebuild on that laminate. Or hire a professional to do the job properly.

[Maine Sail]

While you can drill & fill DRY deck delamination, as can happen in foam cores or in hot environments, you can not effectively fix wet core with this method. Wet core is wet core no matter how much epoxy you inject in. Epoxy only penetrates dry rot. If the core is moist the epoxy will not displace the water and take its place. In 25 years of tearing into boats I've yet to see a cored deck or cored lamination that exhibited dry rot. It's always either wet or dry but I've never seen dry rot..

Penetrating epoxies, or thinned West System, is meant for dry not wet core fixes. Even then it does not work very well and does not penetrate as one may think it would..

[chucklesR]

Heck Trevor just cut the top off, take it home and make a new one with the fittings you need where you need them, then tab and glass it back on and non-skid the whole thing.
Custom boat with a solid deck to walk on, lighter than the original.

[sailingdog]

LOL... while this sounds simpler, you'd have to make the fiberglass far heavier than the cored deck would be to get the same strength and stiffness.

Originally Posted by chucklesR

Heck Trevor just cut the top off, take it home and make a new one with the fittings you need where you need them, then tab and glass it back on and non-skid the whole thing.
Custom boat with a solid deck to walk on, lighter than the original.