Deck Delamination

[Jon Edwards]

A survey of my boat has revealed delamination in the forward deck area.It goes on to suggest the areas be drilled,dried,and injected with epoxy.I'm a little nervous about drilling holes in my deck.Does anyone have any experience with this process?



FAIRWIND25@A0L.COM.

[Tom Coons]

A survey of my boat has revealed delamination in the forward deck area.It goes on to suggest the areas be drilled,dried,and injected with epoxy.I'm a little nervous about drilling holes in my deck.Does anyone have any experience with this process?

Jon, the fact that you say it was recommended that you "dry" the spots out sounds like you have moisture in the deck as well as delamination. When I bought my boat years ago the survey turned up wet spots in the deck. The surveryor recommended -- and I in fact did grind out the fiberglass in the top part of the deck. You know balsa core decks are a sandwich with fiberglass on the top and the bottom. We removed all the balsa core that had moisture, filled that space with epoxy putty and then re-glassed the top of the deck. The underside of the fiberglass sandwich is never punctured so you don't create leaks or anything. Sort of like taking the top crust off of a cherry pie and fixing the bad cherries and then putting the top crust back without ever disturbing the bottom crust.

You don't want to leave wet spots in your deck because if the balsa starts to rot it can spread through the whole deck like termites in a house and weaken your structure. I don't know about drilling holes rather than grinding the fiberglass up, because you have to dry the core out before re-doing. If all you have to do is drill holes you are lucky and must only have small patches of moisture. Be careful not to drill through the bottom glass of the deck and be sure to get all of the wet spot. Congratulations on getting a good surveyor. Only the best surveyors run a moisture meter over the decks and cabin top. It sounds like he knows what he's doing, and I wouldn't hesitate to do whatever he says needs doing. If you do it right, you'll strengthen the deck by putting epoxy in it so don't worry about damaging or weakening it. I've never been sorry I did mine and lately have been thinking about getting a meter and going over it again to make sure I don't have any new spots. Good luck!



TacCambria@thegrid.net

[sam]

Tom's comments are good but delamination does not of itself mean you have moisture. Gudgeon brothers, who make the West system epoxy, have a manual describing the procedure that you have been advised to do. I believe you can download it from the web. That might give you more confidence to try it.

[sam]

Tom's comments are good but delamination does not of itself mean you have moisture. Gudgeon brothers, who make the West system epoxy, have a manual describing the procedure that you have been advised to do. I believe you can download it from the web. That might give you more confidence to try it.

[jim stull]

A survey of my boat has revealed delamination in the forward deck area.It goes on to suggest the areas be drilled,dried,and injected with epoxy.I'm a little nervous about drilling holes in my deck.Does anyone have any experience with this process?

Jon
One comment on the repair process. Look for the source of water getting into the core and repair first. If there is a serious delamination problem due to moisture, it would be most helpful if the surveyor would identify the source or sources of the problem.
In any case, be conservative. Drill very small holes to see what the problem amounts to. (A forstner type bit works well for removing only the top layer.) If the core is wet and or rotted the drilling will show this. If it is deliminated you should also be able to check for this problem with a bent stiff wire.
When I purchased my boat it had been sitting in the open, in a Chicago boat yard, for several years with a very seriously damaged cockpit sole. Someone, sometime had dropped a very heavy object, I suspect an outboard motor, which had completly ruptured the upper layer of fiberglass. Then years of freezing and thawing had literaly warped the sole away from the core. The the upper layer of glass was peeled away to cause over an inch gap.
When I started the repair I "knew" that much of the core was destroyed but to be conservative I only cut away a patch about 8"x10".
Good news and bad news. The rot of the balsa core quite limited. Less than 2 inches past where the upper shell was lifted away. However, due to the excess area that I had cut, repair was a pain because the bond between the balsa and the upper and lower shell in much of this area was still perfect.
Based on this repair and some work on the lazzerette lids I found that the end grain balsa limits the spred of water very effectivly.
Who ever said you should, "build you second boat first" could add that, you should do your second major repair job first.
Good luck.



jtstull@icubed.com

[Don Sargeant]

A local fiberglass expert told me that you can tell the extent of the damage to the core simply by tapping with a hammer. The wet core will sound very different from the dry. I've heard that the end core of the balsa inhibits the spread of the rot, but I've also heard the opposite.

A survey of my boat has revealed delamination in the forward deck area.It goes on to suggest the areas be drilled,dried,and injected with epoxy.I'm a little nervous about drilling holes in my deck.Does anyone have any experience with this process?

don@cliggott.com

[Rick Parish]

There are two good books that expalin how to fix delamination in decks. The first is "This Old Boat" by D. Casey. The second is "Fiberglass Boat Repair & Maintenance" by West System guys Gougeon Bros. I used the instructions in these two books as my guide when I repaired an area of delamination about 4 sq. ft. of the aft deck of my Typhoon. It is an act of faith to drill holes in your deck at a rate of about 36 holes per sq. foot. Gougeon recommends one hole every inch. I drilled one every two inches and got away with it. Be sure to use the hole size and syringe recommended in the Gougeon booklet. Fill from the low side of the deck and work up. Take your time, filling the 4 sq. ft. area took me 3 days. Too much epoxy in an area at one time causes a lot of heat generation in the curing process. When an area is nearly full of epoxy you will find the last bit of fill wants to ooze out of the holes, especially the lower ones. I wiped off this and left the holes slightly concave. Then I came back with epoxy mixed with a filler and used it as a putty to fill in the remaineder of the holes. Make sure you remove any wet core in the deck. Any wet core that can not be removed must be thoroughly dried out. Depending on where you live, this could take several weeks. A heat lamp could speed this up. Good luck.

A survey of my boat has revealed delamination in the forward deck area.It goes on to suggest the areas be drilled,dried,and injected with epoxy.I'm a little nervous about drilling holes in my deck.Does anyone have any experience with this process?

[Jerry]

A survey of my boat has revealed delamination in the forward deck area.It goes on to suggest the areas be drilled,dried,and injected with epoxy.I'm a little nervous about drilling holes in my deck.Does anyone have any experience with this process?

If you haven't already found it, the November/December issue of "Good Old Boat" has an extensive article on deck delamination. It's worth reading.