I have a 1964 wood ply with a gel coat cover sailboat. The bulkhead was holding some dreaded fresh water from rains that I must have not noticed for a while. Needless to say a some rot and soft spots on the marine plywood and rib near the back of the keelson. Does anybody have any experience or tips on the best approach? I don''t really want to pull her and tear through the bottom. 50% of folks say I need to go in through the bottom and the other half suggests just getting it all perfectly dry, take up the really bad stuff, use penetrating anti-rot epoxy and lay down some new wood pieces and heavily cover the area with epoxy. Any wood experts out there? Thoughts?

See your Gear & Maitenance thread.

I have found some really good discussions regarding wood boats on the Chris Craft Antique Boat Club message board. Most enlightening are some of the replies by a Steve Smith whose company is on the web and there are about five urls attached to the replies, including an e-mail address. The product he endorses (and invented) is called CPES. I haven''t yet done any research but the product sounds like a panacea for all wood products exposed to the elements.Here are the addresses I have found:
[email protected]
www.woodrestoration.com
www.fiveyearclear.com
smithandcompany.org
smithandcompany.org/glulam.html
Good luck, I have no real experience with woodworking on boats although I have one with some problem spots and I am resisting all temptations toward the hammer and saw!

Epoxy saturation is a stopgap method. The rot spores are there and the strength of the wood has lessened. put some on until you have the time and money to do the job correctly.
Sv