Once the port side seat box was removed, I could tell that there was a substantial problem. You can see a white line of caulk that kept water (and dirt) up against the pop rivets. I'm not sure what the little strip of caulking was intended to do.

I was still digging out failed balsa six inches away from the leak. This is a good photo of the waxy look of wet balsa.

I drilled out the mounting holes where the failed pop rivets had been and started drilling radiating holes to determine the extent of the damage.

Once the port side seat box was removed, I could tell that there was a substantial problem. You can see a white line of caulk that kept water (and dirt) up against the pop rivets. I'm not sure what the little strip of caulking was intended to do.

The front hatch was reinstalled "PNW style" (i.e., backwards). I'm not concerned about getting cool air inside on the two days a year that it is hot in Seattle. I'm more concerned about keeping drizzle out 320 days of the year. Plus, I can use a squirt bottle to clean salt spray off the wind shield. All of the forward deck hardware is now reinstalled. In the background on the shelving above the bow pulpit are the EPS floatation pieces that are behind the cockpit covers in the 16 Cruiser. Most will be reinstalled.

Here is the other edge (new balsa to the right). The dividing line has two layers of 6 oz. cloth, with the second layer having strands removed, then the first layer of cloth, with strands removed from its edge. All was faired by the release cloth. No sanding and the repair will be easily covered with deck texture. The light dot in the center is a test hole that was filled with epoxy putty when I determined that the water damage didn't go out that far.

Here is a close up of the edge. I removed some of the warp (or weft) from the edges to make the layers lie down and fair in better. The horizontal light line under the fiberglass is lightly colored epoxy putty at the edge of the repair. The difference in colors made it easy to see where to place the fabric layers.

Here is the new core with two layers of glass cloth and Peel Ply release fabric over the whole repair. Peel Ply allowed me to fair out the resin. The surrounding exploratory holes and the bored out old pop rivet holes have all been filled with epoxy putty. The mess is cleaned up.

M

Once the port side seat box was removed, I could tell that there was a substantial problem. You can see a white line of caulk that kept water (and dirt) up against the pop rivets. I'm not sure what the little strip of caulking was intended to do.

Marco Flamingo
Dec 9, 2015

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