About Painting My Soggy Deck Black

[dtrue]

The above members are correct. Fix it. Hudson has a good point, pace yourself, as I am getting older too. Just do the first softy and re-core. Re-coring is a pain but simple with a leap into now technology of forgiveness. Using epoxy resins WM 105 and 205hrd and fillers like WstMar 404 sealing all areas between core. Giving the yr. of production of fiberglass it was in it's infancy. Lots of mistakes were made in production boats and featured designs early. Polyester resins were dominate then. So core, fill,and tear out your 1.5# csm and some 1708 By if deep enough and cut them out first. then all you to do is roll em in. See its not so bad. Good Luck,

[SV Bacchus]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

To me, also an old fart with limited future years, worrying about eyewash is counter productive in a big way.

Jim

Given your age and physical condition, I'm not that far behind you, I agree wholeheartedly with Jim.

I used to worry about looks, now I just worry about seaworthy. I used to care but now I don't give a rat's butt about what others think when they look at my work.

In fact, a rat boat may be preferable given the amount of land based 'pirates' prowling the good ole' USA marinas at night. I hope they pass me by and target the shiny and new.

[SURV69]

For all my concern... using my plunge saw and removing the wet balsa is SO MUCH EASIER than considering the drill & fill.

Especially in areas that are not very structural, such as the foredeck.

That endcut balsa was sponge-wet.

Now ... I don't have a lot of excess money, so I'm considering a different end-cut wood ... maybe Ash?

[Rorzech]

Originally Posted by SURV69

1967 Bristol 29.

Nice boat, but I wonder if less than most skilled actually built Hull H15980(Hull 48).

Anyway, it's got a wet foredeck & side decks ahead of the cabin.

I hate non-color decks(Mauve, Beige ... etc), would rather have white or something more interesting.

To this end I am removing almost all of the existing paint and where there is a hollow sound, I'm taking it to fiberglass(plastic).

I'm thinking of waiting for a few nice sunny days to drill holes, then to frive some huge bamboo kabob scewers sideways to refusal, then pull them out to leave openings. I hope to intersect directions at each hole to help breathing/airing out.

Then prime everything and repaint the decking.

Anyone have any ideas about this as to if it is likely to work?

I've got a spongy deck too and I was wondering if I should leave it alone and enjoy the extra softness it provides. It's such a tiny flex and might miss it if I wasn't looking for it. If it's no big deal and not going to cave in , should I bother? I'm not a perfectionist ,and Im old and retired. Repairing a softness in the deck seems to me what real anal people do to keep their boat in perfect shape. But what does it really matter in the big picture? Someone wrote that " No boat ever sank from a spongy deck" .
For that matter , has anyone ever fastened a 3/8" thick strip of that green teflon? Wouldn't that stiffen things out in a hurry without adding much weight. Maybe 1/4" would be plenty. Once its laminated to the existing deck , it would increase in strength considerably, wouldn't it. Plus it would be an easy fix and you can get different colours to suit your fancy. I'd like to hear some thoughts about this topic.

[boatpoker]

Originally Posted by SURV69

1967 Bristol 29.

Nice boat, but I wonder if less than most skilled actually built Hull H15980(Hull 48).

Anyway, it's got a wet foredeck & side decks ahead of the cabin.

I hate non-color decks(Mauve, Beige ... etc), would rather have white or something more interesting.

To this end I am removing almost all of the existing paint and where there is a hollow sound, I'm taking it to fiberglass(plastic).

I'm thinking of waiting for a few nice sunny days to drill holes, then to frive some huge bamboo kabob scewers sideways to refusal, then pull them out to leave openings. I hope to intersect directions at each hole to help breathing/airing out.

My twist on this, is that I want to paint the deck with some black spray paint to help the deck heat up. I hope this might help the moisture to steam out.

After a few days of this, I'm hoping to fill with resin and then insert smaller diameter bamboo kabob scewers ... hoping to get a sort of lattice-work of scewers, which I hope, will help firm up the decks.

After everything cures, I'll resand everything and remove the black point.

Then prime everything and repaint the decking.

Anyone have any ideas about this as to if it is likely to work?

Given that you think your time may be on the short side. Forget about fixing it, it's not worth the effort (or especially the time) ....... go sailing

[Hudson Force]

In many cases the soft spots on deck are simply a cosmetic issue and not a structural concern.

[Suijin]

Surv, given the additional details I would adjust my approach based on what you want/need out of the boat going forward. If your primary goal is to get going and not be concerned so much with aesthetics, I would take the quick and dirty approach:

1) drill some exploratory holes with 1/4" bit. Where the core comes out brown/black, it's bad, where it comes out fine, it's good. This will quickly allow you to determine the extent of damage and know where to cut.

2) Cut through the skin. You want to cut through the skin where the core is brown/deteriorating, because you're going to pry it off. If you cut outside bad area, on the theory that it will expose all of the bad core and make repair easier, you'll have a lot of difficulty getting the skin off without breaking/cracking it.

A skillsaw set to just greater than the depth of the skin is great where you can maneuver it. Where you can't, a multi-tool with round metal cutting bit works really well.

3) Clean it out really good, grinding a bit if necessary. Choose your core material. I would choose Divinycell for the simple reason that it's really easy to work with. A 4'x8' 3/4" piece is $200, which is way more than you need. I suspect any local boatyard will sell you a smaller chunk or even let you root through their box of scraps.

4) Pattern out your new core to fit and cut the pieces. It does not have to be pretty, and lots of smaller pieces are fine. Perforate your new core with a grid of holes, using a 1/4" bit or even a screw driver, every 2". This is important; it helps air to escape when you bed the new core so you don't have voids, and it creates structural pillars of epoxy that bond the two skins together.

5) Wet out with neat epoxy the cavity and the bottom sides of the new core. Divinycell is closed cell but still should be wet out.

6) Mix up more epoxy, thickening it to a catsup consistency, and pour it liberally into the repair area. Push down your core pieces firmly so that it is well bedded and epoxy is forced up through the holes. Cover with plastic, weight with bricks, let kick overnight.

7) Grind off any high spots of epoxy that will interfere with the skin going back down in proper position. Wipe down epoxy with water and detergent (to get amine blush off) with a 3M pad. Scuff exposed epoxy with 80 grit or lower, clean with acetone.

8) Perforate your old top skin just like you did the core. Wet out all mating surfaces with neat epoxy. Mix up another batch of epoxy, more than you need. Fill voids, then pour it liberally over the whole area and put the skin down. Scrape off the obvious squeeze out, cover with plastic and weights.

9) When the epoxy has started to kick, 4-5 hours in, remove plastic and clean up what you can of excess epoxy with acetone, staying way from the seams and holes. Recover and let cure 24 hours. Sand/grind the seams and holes flush.

You can paint the epoxy, or you can put gelcoat down on it. If the latter, make sure you clean blush off it, sand it with 80 grit, and let two weeks pass before you put the gelcoat down. Contrary to popular opinion, gelcoat sticks to epoxy just fine if done properly.

This may sound more involved than it actually is. It's not rocket science, and it's not hard. With all the materials in hand, and depending on the size of the repair, this is two half days of work, not counting time to let the applications of epoxy cure. It's going to be faster/better than haphazardly drilling holes and injecting epoxy all over the place.

And it goes without saying, make sure you fix whatever was responsible for the core getting wet in the first place, lol.

You can probably get this done for $100 in materials or less if you're canny.

And the guy who said that the core serves no structural purpose, he's wrong.

[thruska]

Originally Posted by Baba Buoy

You have the right idea. The core is not a significant structural part of the deck, its just a spacer to separate the fiberglass . No boat sank from a soggy deck. Use any means to dry out deck, replace core (with whatever) and seal up leaks should be OK. "Doing things right" is nonsense regarding this chore. Don't worry about "reinforcing deck with skewers". Once you have a solid core (by whatever means) the deck will be solid enough. I have used a 2 inch door knob corer to find really wet spots from inside cabin, dig it out and replace with pieces of balsa. Epoxy the original cored fiberglass disks back in and inject epoxy into space from above. Its a lot of work by whatever means you chose.
Hell, just injecting epoxy from above into the dried out parts of the rotten core should do. As the rot grows, just add more epoxy. You may add a few pounds of weight to the deck but so what, we're only cruisers.

Injecting rot with epoxy is ridiculous, imo. A few more minutes work digging it out is the wiser route. But hey whatever trips your trigger i guess.

[Hudson Force]

Originally Posted by Suijin

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1) drill some exploratory holes with 1/4" bit. Where the core comes out brown/black, it's bad, where it comes out fine, it's good. This will quickly allow you to determine the extent of damage and know where to cut.

2) Cut through the skin. You want to cut through the skin where the core is brown/deteriorating, because you're going to pry it off. If you cut outside bad area, on the theory that it will expose all of the bad core and make repair easier, you'll have a lot of difficulty getting the skin off without breaking/cracking it.
................................
And the guy who said that the core serves no structural purpose, he's wrong.

I like Suijin's procedure as listed here, but I vary this a bit in these first two steps. I've found that I can tap the deck with something like the handle of a screw driver and pencil mark the outline of the soft or rotten area that does not conduct the sound as well. I cut out the deck plate an inch or two inside this pencil mark, knowing that I can scour out the rotten core for a distance beyond the cut. Wetting and shoving pieces of new coring in the void beyond the cut edge is fairly simple and this procedure insures a very easy lifting of the deck plate away from the bad area.

I don't think I'm the guy that said the core serves no structural purpose, but I am the guy that said, "In many cases the soft spots are simply a cosmetic issue and not a structural concern." Judgments need to be made for each specific case.

[SV Bacchus]

Originally Posted by Rorzech

Repairing a softness in the deck seems to me what real anal people do to keep their boat in perfect shape. But what does it really matter in the big picture?

Maybe anal, maybe not. I think most do it to keep it from spreading. In the case of the OP, given his possible short sailing window (a couple of years instead of a lot of years) I think he should just leave it alone.

Then again, maybe he is looking at resale value. Spongy decks will probably decrease the value much greater than the few dollars and sweat equity he would have in a repair. I would think even a not so pretty repair, at least the deck would be solid.

[SURV69]

Top has been removed in two places ... and, I've painted the surrounding areas black to let any residual moisture to steam out ... no rain in the forecast for four days ... coring material ...???? I have ideas and I think balsa would be the worst of all the choices ... BTW ... no one has this stuff mentioned(not even West Marine ... can't even order it), and I want it finished before the rains come, So I'm thinking of endutting an alternative wood ... maybe pine?

[Bleemus]

Marine plywood cut into small enough squares will suffice.

[Bleemus]

https://www.jamestowndistributors.co...ore+-+ProBalsa

[thruska]

[QUOTE=SURV69;2392337]Top has been removed in two places ... and, I've painted the surrounding areas black to let any residual moisture to steam out ... no rain in the forecast for four days ... coring material ...???? I have ideas and I think balsa would be the worst of all the choices ... BTW ... no one has this stuff mentioned(not even West Marine ... can't even order it), and I want it finished before the rains come, So I'm thinking of endutting an alternative wood ... maybe pine?[/QUOTE

I suggest douglas fir or cypress before pine.
What size do you require ?
Dont you know somebody who is a wood butcher ?
Cedar ? Mahogany? Nobody with scrap pieces ?

[captlloyd]

1/4 inch sub-flooring built up to the proper thickness would work. Saturated with lots of resin. Hey, you said you were not going to live forever. And neither an I.