Wet Deck

[RobertSchuldenfrei]

Hi Forum Members,

This is not something which must be done at once.  I discovered another spot of wet deck and have taken some temporary means to stop the problem.  We had not realized that water has been getting into the boat from underneath one of the port stanchions.  It was a place that the previous owner had made a rather poor repair.  We need to get some idea of how to make the "real" repair.

(Left image) The area marked in yellow registered as wet with my moisture meter.

(Right top image) We removed the stanchion and re-bedded it with butyl tape.  Note we still have "spider" cracks.

(Right bottom image) Here is the block of wood that the previous owner used to "anchor" the stanchion.  From the first image you can tell that the water soaked wood extends forward and aft of the block.  There is still enough integrity to the block to hold the stanchion.  What we want to know is how to fix the problem for good.  Can this be done from inside the cabin?

Thanks,

Bob

[KWKloeber]

Hi Forum Members,

This is not something which must be done at once.  I discovered another spot of wet deck and have taken some temporary means to stop the problem.  We had not realized that water has been getting into the boat from underneath one of the port stanchions.  It was a place that the previous owner had made a rather poor repair.  We need to get some idea of how to make the "real" repair.

(Left image) The area marked in yellow registered as wet with my moisture meter.

(Right top image) We removed the stanchion and re-bedded it with butyl tape.  Note we still have "spider" cracks.

(Right bottom image) Here is the block of wood that the previous owner used to "anchor" the stanchion.  From the first image you can tell that the water soaked wood extends forward and aft of the block.  There is still enough integrity to the block to hold the stanchion.  What we want to know is how to fix the problem for good.  Can this be done from inside the cabin?

Thanks,

Bob

I am doing a similar repair on a rotted core due to PO not doing a simple repair to rebed a line clutch -- he instead filled the cavity with sillycone and now am stuck with repairing the core for someone. 

Yes, it can be done from below - the wet/rotted core has to be completely removed (multi-tool works nicely) and rebuilt back up (down) with core material (balsa, marine ply, pvc core or whatever -- in this case I am using marine ply) and glass/epoxy.  Finish off with a backing plate -- Garhauer has them to fit the trapezoid base stanchions.

Ken

[Ron Hill]

Guys : Just make sure that you tell Garhauer that you want a backing plate for a "vented" stanchion.

A thought

[britinusa]

Forgive asking a probably obvious question (but I can be dumb sometimes) (ok, often)
But is the lower right pic showing the area from inside the cabin or is it from above the deck with the deck cut away?

Paul

[RobertSchuldenfrei]

Forgive asking a probably obvious question (but I can be dumb sometimes) (ok, often)
But is the lower right pic showing the area from inside the cabin or is it from above the deck with the deck cut away?

Paul

Hi Paul,

Yes, that image was taken from inside the cabin right above the nav station.  The plan seems to be to let the area dry out completely.  Then make sure that all of the wood in poor condition is removed.  That will be a hard task as I do not want to remove any more fiberglass.  I will take marine grade plywood to fill the void.  This will be done in three pieces.  The first one goes forward of the void.  The second one goes aft of it.  The third one goes into the void.  The holes will be cut into the third wood block using the backing plate as a guide.  Then the whole area will be "glassed-in."  Finally, the backing plate will be secured.  I still would welcome any further comments.

Cheers,

Bob

[britinusa]

That's a really awkward area to get into, removing the Nav Table may help.

ITWMB, after cleaning out the dead wood, I would apply a sheet of poly film on the underside of the deck, and make a foam mold that would span the whole area but still possible to insert and remove.

Then use the mold to make a reverse mold (foam again) and build up a plate of epoxy and resin and fiber to fill the reverse mold.

Then trim the plate to fit in the void, and then mix up Epoxy and filler to put on the underside of the deck and on top of the plate.

Bolt the plate in place thru the deck and let it cure, it would bond to the deck extending beyond the base of the stanchion.

That would ensure that the plate transferred deck strain over a larger area.

Just my thoughts. I'm learning to work with Epoxy and it's not so bad.

Paul

[KWKloeber]

Hi Paul,

The plan seems to be to let the area dry out completely.  Then make sure that all of the wood in poor condition is removed.  That will be a hard task as I do not want to remove any more fiberglass.  I will take marine grade plywood to fill the void.  This will be done in three pieces. 

Bob,

I removed all the rotted core -- reaching in with a narrow blade on a multi tool.  But I decided it was best to also cut the inside fglass skin back so I could get a full piece of core under the entire repair area. That was what the big boys recommended, versus piecing in with a couple small marine plywood pieces.  I plan to grind the edges back so that after I epoxy in the core (held in place with blocking/pressure from below until cured) I can lay in successive layers of glass tape/resin/microfibers until built back up (down) to the original level/thickness and then some -- in my case there's a liner covering the repair, so I can over do the thickness somewhat.  I will have a special size backing plate made to cover the entire patch area and then some.

Also I wasn't sure that I was getting all the rotted core out unless I removed the lower skin.

Ken

[RobertSchuldenfrei]

Bob,

I removed all the rotted core -- reaching in with a narrow blade on a multi tool.  But I decided it was best to also cut the inside fglass skin back so I could get a full piece of core under the entire repair area. That was what the big boys recommended, versus piecing in with a couple small marine plywood pieces.  I plan to grind the edges back so that after I epoxy in the core (held in place with blocking/pressure from below until cured) I can lay in successive layers of glass tape/resin/microfibers until built back up (down) to the original level/thickness and then some -- in my case there's a liner covering the repair, so I can over do the thickness somewhat.  I will have a special size backing plate made to cover the entire patch area and then some.

Also I wasn't sure that I was getting all the rotted core out unless I removed the lower skin.

Ken

All of these suggestions are great.  I am going to wait until I really understand what others have done before I start into this job.  One tool I am going to get is a borescope so I can see into the void.  Bob

[britinusa]

Bob, my new Boroscope is in the mail (from China) due.

I'll let you know when it arrives, it works in conjunction with my cellphone.

Paul

[Marshall Tonner]

When I had my wet deck repaired we did away the vented staunchion by cutting off the vent tube  and rerouted the vent out the side of the hull  below the rub rail.
Marsh

[RobertSchuldenfrei]

The problem of water infiltration at the stanchion has been solved.  The stanchion was re-bedded with butyl tape. Had a couple of heavy rain storms and the area under the stanchion is dry.  I am going to have to rebuild the void, but I am fine for now.

Sadly, this is not my only water infiltration issue.  I have water coming into the head through the jib track.  There is a new thread called "Wet Deck 2" dealing with this issue.

Thanks for all the help,

Bob