Deck core under bow cleats

[riveredge]

Does anyone know if deck core under the bow cleats is some wood other than balsa?
When my '79 CD 28 was surveyed as part of my buying process in fall 2015, the surveyer suspected water intrusion in the foredeck. There was a spot of impact that looked like an anchor or something else had cracked the deck and a couple of cracks ran laterally from the point of impact to the bow cleats. His suspicions proved wrong. I was
ecstatic when I strategically drilled into the point of impact and found the balsa core bone dry and no delamination.
Still, I decided to rebed the bow cleats while I was involved up there, giving me the opportunity to check the core there without drilling more holes. Happily the core was dry in all eight holes.
Usually when I bed deck harware I follow Don Casey's advice to dig out core with a bent nail on a drill and fill the resulting void with epoxy to protect the core from any possibility of bedding leaks. But when I tried bent nail side "drilling" into the core of the bow cleat holes of my boat I experienced a lot more resistance than I'm used to. The nail gouged the core but didn't easily chew it up as I'm used to.
So it made me wonder if the core there is denser wood that I should leave as is. Any thoughts?

[Frenchy]

The core under the cleat is most likely plywood. You can use a dremel bit such as #654, with a 1/4" head and 1/8"
shank, to undercut the wood. MaineSail, in his site at PBase.com, has excellent tutorials on all kinds of boat repair
projects, including rebedding hardware. He doesn't think too much of the bent nail idea- I've tried it and I agree.
Good luck, Jean

[Ron M.]

Plywood core beneath bow cleats on my boat. It was saturated from water intrusion. Replaced with 1/2" FRP.

[riveredge]

Thanks. Couldn't find MaineSail. I think you meant mainecruising, which has tutorials from Compass Marine.

[Sea Hunt Video]

Riveredge:

This is the website Frenchy was referencing:

http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/boat_projects

Maine Sail has several outstanding tutorials on various boat repair/maintenance topics. The tutorials all have great photos as well. It is an outstanding website.

Maine Sail sometimes posts on this board as well.

[hilbert]

The core is plywood under the deck cleats on my 76 CD28 and a bent nail is no match for it.
I dug it out with a Dremel 115, 5/16" high speed cutter as recommend by Maine Sail.
The cutter is like a hot knife through butter on balsa, but will dull quickly on plywood.
It usually sends out smoke signals when it is in distress.



Jonathan

[riveredge]

Thanks to you all I am more knowledgeable and a man with a plan! I'm going to dremel out some core, drip in some epoxy and make the rebed better than the original, which as I said, was pretty darn good and held up well. I noticed the counter sinking in the holes Cape Dory put in in 1979 and wondered about it. So I felt really good about my boat reading Maine Sail's preaching on the subject and saying good builder's, like Morris, always take the little extra time to counter sink deck hardware mounting holes.

[riveredge]

Dremel 115 did the trick. I used it on a cordless drill to avoid running a 150' extension cord at my boatyard. It was probably a little slower that way but no smoke.