The tape is being removed to show the hardened putty. The putty goes in over 1 inch, allowing the mounting screws for the hatch to now go into the epoxy rather than the balsa core. The heat lamps are still being used on the little side deck where the pulpit and cleats have allowed water in. I had to drill additional holes from underneath to let the moisture out and monitor the drying process.

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.

The tape is being removed to show the hardened putty. The putty goes in over 1 inch, allowing the mounting screws for the hatch to now go into the epoxy rather than the balsa core. The heat lamps are still being used on the little side deck where the pulpit and cleats have allowed water in. I had to drill additional holes from underneath to let the moisture out and monitor the drying process.

To get epoxy putty into the thin core area around the hatch, I used a home made grout bag. I bought cake decorating tips (and the silicon frosting spreader shown in the prior picture) and loaded the baggy up with epoxy putty. If you get the putty too stiff, it will blow out the bag. Too thin and it will not stay in the slot. After filling an area, I used tape to keep the putty in place.

I used heat lamps under the raised part of the front deck. They were moved about every 15 minutes. The idea was to "pump" air in and out of the balsa core by cycling between warm (hot) and cold. This was also done for two months. My electricity bill was 4 times higher for these two months than it was for the same period last year. The material costs for the repair work was about $200. The increased heating bill was twice that. That is my yellow silicon "frosting" spatula in the upper right. Highly recommended because hardened epoxy can be removed by simply flexing it.

The area was covered with a thin layer of epoxy and wood dust, the balsa set in place and covered with masonite pieces and weighted down to cure. Not shown is that I jacked this side of the boat up off of the trailer bunk (which runs right under the repair area). I didn't want the weight of the boat to possibly deform the hull while I did the repair.

M

The tape is being removed to show the hardened putty. The putty goes in over 1 inch, allowing the mounting screws for the hatch to now go into the epoxy rather than the balsa core. The heat lamps are still being used on the little side deck where the pulpit and cleats have allowed water in. I had to drill additional holes from underneath to let the moisture out and monitor the drying process.

Marco Flamingo
Nov 30, 2015

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