Floor Delamination - small area

[FLexpat]

I have no idea what injectable solution is best - my sponge-core is way too big for that.

That area is directly above the stringers on my 76 (also an I/O). If you pull the fuel tank hatch you can see where the stringers are forward of the engine well. If you look from the engine well you can almost see where the motorbox hinges go into the deck - you may be able to get at a little of it from the engine well.
I don't know if this will help you or not but here is how that part of the Tsunami/Sceptre is built -
Original deck schedule for early ‘70s 23’ Sceptre; top to bottom (from Feb ’73 Boating, Boat Test #207)
1 layer 3/4 oz mat
2 layers of 1 ½ oz mat
1 layer 22 oz roving
1 layer of 1 ½ oz mat
3/8” end grain balsa
1 layer of 1 ½ oz mat
1 layer of 22 oz roving
Underneath that is about 3/4" of 'Potter putty' then you get to the stringer shell which is about 1/4" thick roving. The stringers span from the inner to the outer steps; directly over the middle panel there but they have a rigging channel in them about 3" deep that might be under the outboard part of your soft area.

Good Luck - Post pics when you get into it.

[abl1111]

Bush - thx for the heads up on Git Rot. My Dad used it here and there on his boats - but he always took the short cuts in repairs ( so I always thought it a shoddy approach ).

After this season, I will dry her out as best I can and give it a shot… Can the Git Rot be used in conjunction with injecting West System epoxy - or will it fill up the voids and harden on its own ?


Flex - That is awesome info. I have wanted something like that - and I was trying to see through old pix on the site this same area with the floor removed - to see the structure. It's odd that theses soft spots are in the identical areas on opposite sides of the i/o cover.

My boat was originally a twin I/O that I converted to a single V8 so the structure might be slightly different. I am going to pull my fuel tank hatch off to R/R my fuel sending unit within the next few days so I'll take a peak around...

[Bushwacker]

Originally Posted by abl1111

. . .After this season, I will dry her out as best I can and give it a shot… Can the Git Rot be used in conjunction with injecting West System epoxy - or will it fill up the voids and harden on its own ? . . .

I'd drill the small holes and try to dry out the core first, then inject the thickened epoxy to support the hinges, and then use the Git Rot, which is like any epoxy - it will fill voids and harden on it's own. FYI, I compared viscosity on various epoxies some time ago, and MAS epoxy was a fair amount thinner than West Systems, but I think Git Rot is even thinner - it's about like water! I think the thinner stuff is better if you want to waterproof some wood. I used MAS epoxy to seal the 1/4" layers of plywood I used to reinforce my front deck when I installed the anchor bracket and it seemed to soak in pretty well.

The only downside to using the Git Rot I can see is that if you ever decided to redo the whole deck later, it might be much harder with Git Rot in some of it, whereas now you might just be able to cut through the top skin and lift it off IF the whole core is wet. Unless the whole deck is soft however, I think using the Git Rot makes a lot of sense. Here's my experience with it:

Shortly after I got my boat in 1975, I learned that the 4" diameter plastic cup at the waterline that was the under-seat livewell inlet/outlet fitting was a potential transom killer, so I inspected it. It was leaking and there was a small area of rot around it. I dried it out with alcohol and a heat lamp, dug out the rot, soaked the wood with Git Rot, filled in the rotted area with Marine Tex, and replaced the fitting with PVC end cap, all sealed with epoxy. When Don Herman filled in the transom and installed his bracket about 30 years later, he said it was the driest transom he had ever seen in a 1972 vintage boat, so that fix obviously worked!