My experiance of "fixing"
wet core is limited (current
boat no have - part of the reason why I bought her
).....but have done similar (albeit on a far smaller scale!) as OceanGirl did........except with a lot less drying out
.
We were tackling wet core that originated from around the
Anchor winch, including the chain hole (I always forget what that is actually called
) - easy to tell that the core was wet - the
deck under the
winch had compressed
.
What we did was seriously overdrill the existing fixing holes (well above finger size) scraped out the wet core as far as we could (an Allen key worked well) - and then not worried too much about what we couldn't reach (on an "Out of sight out of mind basis"
).
Then blanked off the underside and filled the gaps between the
deck with thickened epoxy (thick enough so didn't run) - stuffed in using a finger (one of the reasons for overdrilling the holes above finger size!)...then we filled the bolt holes using the same technique ("technique" sounds a bit more than it was
).
Did the job over a few days - because of the lazy workforce.
We flattened off / filled the underside of the bolt holes and sanded down (up?!) the deck underside - and then drilled new bolt holes through (made a cardboard pattern from the winch)......coated the deck underside with thickened epoxy and bolted on a thick piece of
plywood.....to be honest the surface prep was not exactly perfect
(access was a pig
) but figured that as the new backing pad was bolted on that this did not really matter - Epoxy really only a filler, not the primary bond.
When the epoxy was dry the bolts were removed (and the
plywood backing plate stayed put
)......we then added a plinth on deck to sit under the
anchor winch (we used a solid hardwood, of some sort) - this also sat on a
bed of epoxy.....and had the plus of hiding the oversized and now epoxy filled bolt holes.....the boat was a strange colour, so no chance of selves ever matching the existing
gelcoat. The bolts were covered with mastic before getting inserted for the final time.
Although I won't claim the above is a textbook fix - am pretty sure that the entire foredeck will come off long before that winch ever does
.
The above a bit of a long winded way of suggesting that I would start with doing something similar on all your deck fixings. I would also check your moisture readings by removing a decent panel of deck
from the underside so that you can get hands on with the core itself and by removing it for close
inspection....easy enough to put a chunk of new core back and then glass up the underside (on the underside no need to be neat
).
If your
inspection panel is in the worst place (according to the meter) and the core is dry then you have your answer......I would also take photos so can show to a prospective buyer in future years if their
Surveyor says same thing.
Personally, if the deck was not flexing or soft (i.e. the only way to tell is the meter) then once the deck fitting holes have been rebedded via epoxy filled bolt holes and water did not pour out of the inspection panel I would call it a day....and then
monitor the situation closely on an ongoing basis with a view to actively considering whether or not to effect additional works
.
...........and for all (?!) those shaking
head and tutting - remember that I am not alone
....your PO may have been a blood brother of mine
. But as I said, I bought the
current boat because it had no core
.