Deck soft spots

[kowaleski6]

My 23' CC I/O has 2 soft spots on the deck. They each measure about 1 foot long, and are located on the starboard side of the center console. I was considering removing the deck plate, drilling into the core, and injecting epoxy, rather than removing the core. Any idea if this would be successful? The deck itself is intact an free of stress cracks.

[FELLOW-SHIP]

Dr K
My guess is maybe?? 2 one foot square soft spots could really be one really really big area that just hasn’t shown it’s full damage yet. If you are going to do the quick fix method of epoxy and pray you could just drill several holes into the top of all the soft spots going down just ¼” remove the top layer of glass and inject epoxy into the holes. The West Systems booklets have that method explained in detail for you. Or you could cut the top of the deck off again in those arrears going down ¼” remove the glass remove the decayed balsa wood replace the lamination with wood or composite material epoxy in and epoxy your piece of glass back over the top. Or the best method which is “WHEN IN DOUBT RIP IT OUT” and come to the ultimate conclusion which is even by plugging up these soft spots water in coming in some how and will still come in until you Fix it correctly by re doing the entire deck. My guess is the screws that are holding the CC to the deck are letting water into the lamination of the deck and will still do so until fixed correctly. Plus if that is true your CC with a T-Top could be in such a weekend condition that just and ONE BIG WAVE could have the CC and T-Ttop become air born out at sea. Which in not all that good when you have your wife and kids aboard.

FellowShip

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My motto: Just for the Grins

[salvagefirst]

You can inject all the epoxy you want into the floor, but all that rotten,wet,balsa turnt to mush will still be in there.Like Fellowship said when in doubt cut it out. Spend a few days on it and fix it. You wont be happy with it untill you do. Les

[Capt Chuck]

Something else to consider:

It seems having a soft spot of the side of the console is not UNCOMMON on the 23's. Over the years, that area is stepped on when boarding, walking etc over and over. The bottom of the deck was bonded to the top of the stringer in the same area. As with my deck, there also was a soft area on the starboard side. I was in doubt and cut it out. Inspection revealed the balsa core was not wet and the deck was in good shape. The deck had only pulled loose from the bonding putty on top of the stringer.

Bottom line is, I would drill some test holes into the core first and check for dampness before I cut out a significant piece of the deck. Make sure do not drill thru the bottom of the deck