Dealing with a Soggy Cockpit Sole - The Story of My Repair

[sabray]

Nice job the newer balsa is a much better product. I did mine when I bought the boat the wheel pedestal was flapping around. Cut out the underside and it all dripped out rotten plywood. It was one of those jobs that my product gives me pride. I used ply saturated in Redon and forced a camber into that wasn't in the original design. I used clegycekk where the pedestal and associated penetrations are. Puts big backer plate onto of that. Put teak decking on the working side snd ditched the cockpit grate. Nowim sailing really I'm sailong

[ozskipper]

Wow.. great job. I had to do a silimar job and simply dropped a new layer on top. But no matter how much I tried to do it neatly, it still looked like a repair. Your job keeps the boat looking stock and original. Nice work.

[Cheechako]

Congrats! That was bad... brings back memories of the V berth core I had to do... yuck....I'm going to be sick... by for now :>0

[allanpeda]

Originally Posted by minaret

Why replace balsa that rotted with more balsa? ...

I was just going to ask that very question. Wood expands when wet, which in a fiberglass laminate, is not good. AFAIK, builders use wood because it's cheaper.

Not saying I'm right here, just going with my reasoning.

[Beersmith]

Originally Posted by Celestialsailor

I have done a few decks with re-coring. Just a question but wouldn't it be easier to cut the upper skin up and use gravity in your favor?

Yes it would have been. Please read the post and I describe my reasoning for going underneath and the lessons I learned from it.

Originally Posted by WillJacocks

What was the source of the leak? The pedestal base?

Yep, it was the pedestal base.

Originally Posted by minaret

Why replace balsa that rotted with more balsa? Next time you might consider using ridgid urethane foam. If you didn't solve the source of the leak while re-coring, something it's hard to be sure of, you'll be back at it in a few years. If you use foam it's done forever.

The original core was not balsa, and I never said it was rotten. It was just soaked, and it was delaminated. Balsa has a long history of being a good core, plywood not so much. Even if you use foam, it isn't done forever. Delamination can still happen (as did here) if a leak forms. And yes....I know the source of the leak and how to fix it. Why in the world would you assume I just ignored the cause of the leak of this after such a large repair?

[CharlieCobra]

Nice photo spread. We're in the process of a housetop re-coring job on an H-54. I agree on the "Let gravity do the work" line of thought as that's exactly what I'm doing. Just sealing her up and fairing now.

[Saltyhog]

Nice repair. I recently had to repair a similar situation on my Bayfield 32. The core (balsa end grain) was rotten under the pedestal from some PO putting holes where they didn't belong and not sealing the core. Mine was smaller and I attacked it from the bottom as well. I cut a 2' x 2' section of the bottom skin from below. (original coring was only 2' wide-- it's a narrow cockpit floor) I then cut out the old core as well. This was about half wet / rotted and half still ok. I used a multimaster knockoff (Rockwell sonicrafter) for both tasks and it was a great tool for this. I then epoxied a 1/2" thick sheet of solid G10 (epoxy laminated fiberglass) in place of the removed core/bottom skin. I taped the edges with 4" and 8" bi-axial tape and epoxy. The repair is *VERY* strong. I think that area of the floor gets a lot of stress as the pedestal is a long lever that is used as a grab rail almost constantly. Lots of torque applied to that section of the floor and I think a solid floor there is warranted (IMHO, but I'm *NOT* boat builder, so what do I know.) Just seems to be a lot of failed cockpit floors in the world. I'm also adding a smaller 3/4" layer of G10 between the pedestal and the floor. This will put the base of the pedestal at the same height as the teak cockpit grate in the rest of the cockpit and keep the base of the pedestal off of the almost always wet floor. Also rebuilding and painting the pedestal, but that's another story...

[Beersmith]

Originally Posted by Saltyhog

Nice repair. I recently had to repair a similar situation on my Bayfield 32. The core (balsa end grain) was rotten under the pedestal from some PO putting holes where they didn't belong and not sealing the core. Mine was smaller and I attacked it from the bottom as well. I cut a 2' x 2' section of the bottom skin from below. (original coring was only 2' wide-- it's a narrow cockpit floor) I then cut out the old core as well. This was about half wet / rotted and half still ok. I used a multimaster knockoff (Rockwell sonicrafter) for both tasks and it was a great tool for this. I then epoxied a 1/2" thick sheet of solid G10 (epoxy laminated fiberglass) in place of the removed core/bottom skin. I taped the edges with 4" and 8" bi-axial tape and epoxy. The repair is *VERY* strong. I think that area of the floor gets a lot of stress as the pedestal is a long lever that is used as a grab rail almost constantly. Lots of torque applied to that section of the floor and I think a solid floor there is warranted (IMHO, but I'm *NOT* boat builder, so what do I know.) Just seems to be a lot of failed cockpit floors in the world. I'm also adding a smaller 3/4" layer of G10 between the pedestal and the floor. This will put the base of the pedestal at the same height as the teak cockpit grate in the rest of the cockpit and keep the base of the pedestal off of the almost always wet floor. Also rebuilding and painting the pedestal, but that's another story...

good stuff. It was the exact reason you stated....using the pedestal as a grab rail, that made me realize that I had a problem with the core. I wiggled the pedestal around and saw how soft it was underneath. Definitely a weak spot on the boat, and I've considered doing away with it and going with a tiller instead of wheel.