Floor Delamination - small area

[abl1111]

My 1975 23' Tsunami has (2) small areas just off of each side of the the i/o engine cover hinges and forward 8" or so that is delaminated. Each area is roughly 12"x12". It's obvious that the i/o hinge screws let water in - how much and what damage to the wood floor is unknown.

It's not worth doing an entire floor for.

Whats the best method to inject epoxy into the area and be sure that the entire delaminated area gets epoxy to it ?

Lastly, assuming I want to dry this area out 1st - what dpi you recommend ( short of pulling skin off ) ? Has anyone used the vacuum / evaporation idea ?

This might be a project I do in the winter, under wraps to assure that it gets done correctly.

[abl1111]

?

[FLexpat]

On mine I'm doing the whole deck. Entourage did a partial on a 23 a while back by cutting it open on top - it looked good in the photos when he was done. Pulling a vacuum to get the water out might work but you need to get about 29" of vacuum to boil the water at room temps - not sure you could get that on the deck but moving dry air through would probably dry it some.

[bumpdraft]

I had a few bad spots on my 23 deck. Last year I put it inside storage for 3 or 4 weeks and I made several holes about 1 inch in diameter. I fashioned a piece of clothes hanger by putting a short 90 degree angle on one end. I then worked with the wire and a vacuum,removing rotted wood, letting it sit for a day or two, doing it again and again. I also pulled the boat out in the hot sun for a while on several occasions.
When I got it as dry as I could, I lowered the front of the trailer to make the deck level. I poured stop rot in the holes, let it soak in, then poured again, using a wire to get air bubbles out. Let it cure and do it again. After getting close to the top and letting it cure, I topped it off with resin, sanded smooth. I wasn't sure about the different materials, but its been about a year now and its looking good and the deck feels pretty solid.

[pelican]

Originally Posted by abl1111

My 1975 23' Tsunami has (2) small areas just off of each side of the the i/o engine cover hinges and forward 8" or so that is delaminated. Each area is roughly 12"x12". It's obvious that the i/o hinge screws let water in - how much and what damage to the wood floor is unknown.

It's not worth doing an entire floor for.

Whats the best method to inject epoxy into the area and be sure that the entire delaminated area gets epoxy to it ?

Lastly, assuming I want to dry this area out 1st - what dpi you recommend ( short of pulling skin off ) ? Has anyone used the vacuum / evaporation idea ?

This might be a project I do in the winter, under wraps to assure that it gets done correctly.

delamination - I believe what you're saying is - "dry rot"

delamination is when the glass becomes detached from the core

if the area is soft - there's no core there...

attempting to use a pour in / squeeze in product will prove less than ideal



cutting the areas where the problem is,this will prove better - provided the rest of the cockpit deck/sole is in good shape....

[jorgeinmiami]

I had the same symptoms with my boat and decided to cut out the affected areas and try to do those areas only. But when I cut into it I found that the more I looked the worse it got. Came a point that 90% was wet and soggy wood. I did fix a small area and patched it back up just so I could get one more summer out of it, but knew that it was only temporary. Decided to do the whole floor used nida core. And I estimated that the old wet wood weighed at least 200 lbs. The hatch over the floor was at least 100 apart from the floor. Now it goes 30lbs . I imagine that the boat with all the weight off of it will run a lot better.

[Islandtrader]

I am sure you did this...but take the butt end of a screwdriver handle and tap around the soft area and work your way outward til you hear a solid knock...instead of thud. You might be surprised how far out your soft spot is.

[Bushwacker]

Denatured alcohol works pretty well at drying out the wood, since it will combine with the water and then evaporate.

How extensive the rot is may depend on the core. If it's plywood, the water will migrate with the grain in all directions pretty quick, so if you open it up, you may find a lot of rot. If it's end grain balsa core, water migrates much slower across the grain, so the rot may be limited to a smaller area. If it's the original deck, it may be balsa core, although my boat has plywood in the area of the seats, so they may have used plywood to handle the higher loads of the engine box hinges. Island Trader's suggestion will give you an idea of how extensive the rot is.

If the area is not real large, it's probably worth drilling a series of small (~3/16") holes in the rotted area and injecting some alcohol to try to dry it out. Once it's dry, you can inject Git-Rot in the holes to saturate the core and stiffen it. However in the area of the hinge screw holes, I'd want to drill them out (top skin only; try to avoid going through bottom layer of glass!) with maybe a 1/2-5/8" drill the then use a bent nail in a drill to remove whatever core is left over an area of a couple inches in diameter. You can then buy empty caulking gun tubes, put some thickened epoxy in 'em, and use a caulk gun to inject the mixture into the area you hallowed out. I would then drill and tap the cured epoxy for machine screws to mount the hinges; they'll hold better than tapping screws, especially if you put some blue locktite or 5200 on them!

[abl1111]

Thx guys. I did the screwdriver test and have located what I believe to be delamination in the area mentioned. I'm sure it extends further than that to varying degrees until it's solid wood. Anybody who has worked with core knows - water intrusion does a lot of damage over time.

The soft spots have been there since I bought the boat, but this year it seems to have grown.

I'm not sure if the wood is good, mush or somewhere in between - or if the glass delam'd away from the wood. Either way, it's not structural - it just feels bad under my foot.

I'd like to try to remedy this with an easier way first - by injecting epoxy in. I want to properly dry it and then assure that the injected epoxy spreads through the entire delam'd area. If this does not remedy the issue, then obviously I have bigger fish to fry. However, the rest of the floor is solid with no softness or dull sound with the screwdriver...

When I do this, I assume I must have the boat floor level so the epoxy flows level. I could use the West System directions by drilling holes, using a hanger or allen key, clean out wet wood, dry and inject epoxy in.

As for Git Rot - I have heard of it and correct me if I'm wrong ( I'm wrong a lot ), epoxy is a better way… ?

[Bushwacker]

Git Rot IS epoxy, only thinner than the West Systems stuff, so once you dry out the core it will soak up into it better. It really isn't necessary to remove the rotted core, except in the area of the hinges where you need to have screws, which should be filled with thickened epoxy.

As much as I dislike Griviskas for his superficial coverage of stuff and shameless promotion of whoever gives him free stuff, ShipShape TV did have an outfit on a couple weeks ago called Dryboat that you might be interested in. They had a big Clorox bottle shaped boat that used lots of cheap foam instead of fiberglass in the hull construction that was full of water. They drilled a bunch of drain holes along the chine and then used a vacuum system to suck the water out of it. I'm sure it's big bucks but maybe worth a look if only to convince yourself how much $ you're saving with the DIY approach!