Water from Wood

[unbusted67]

I have some floor boards that seem to have gotten a little bit saturated with some water and I was wondering if there is any way to wick or suck that water out before it starts to rot the wood. There is varnish on top of the wood

[Ocean Girl]

I had to hose my boat out when I first bought her, afterwards I closed her up with a dehumidifier going and it dried her out beautifully. Also saturating it with denatured alcohol helps too.
Erika

[osirissail]

Once the water has worked it way into the fibers of the wood then that piece of wood is a goner. The fibers of wood start to separate and lose their natural adhesion to one another. In non-structural wood you can dry the area with heat or other methods and then saturate the wood with "Git-rot" which is basically very thinned down epoxy. It "soaks" into the separated wood fibers and glues them back together. Then you have to hide the color change with thick paint or something.
- - If it is a structural piece of wood then replace it. You can cut out the back section from good wood and then "tongue and groove" or use "biscuits" to join the new piece into place with some good epoxy. this works well with transverse wooden bulkheads where the outer end has been rotted away by chainplate or deck edge leaks.

[hellosailor]

Soaking with alcohol (which binds with water and then takes it out as it evaporates) is one good way. Something fancier like acetone to try displacing the water and evaporating might work--but would definitely take your finish off.

If you have any kind of vacuum bag or chamber, or can apply vacuum to them while also applying gentle heat, that will help pull the moisture out.

If nothing else, you can seal them in a bag with dessicant crystals, which will pull the water out and hold it. Some folks claim plain white rice will do a decent job of that too, if you leave it in a very warm sunny place to give the rice a little help.