Inject a deck for soft spot repairs

[edward]

Iam surprised that these 40 y/o don’t have more problems. Speaks to the excellent original construction.

[madhatter1]

Iam surprised that these 40 y/o don’t have more problems. Speaks to the excellent original construction.

When I did restoration on my 34 (gutted it) in 96 after the headliner was down and we worked with wiring and screws it was apparent the balsa core on the forward deck was wet. Don't remember the exact procedure (involved drilling holes underneath, heat, and ventilation over weeks) it was dried and sealed back up. The restoration cured the topside leaks that were the problem. Today the foredeck is rock solid.

[bigbill]

two part foam will stick to anything dry....i drilled 2 inch holes everywhere it was soft or wet. i made a tool to dig out the balsa until i found good wood. poured 2 part foam in the holes (its a crapshoot guessing how much). let it expand and dry, cut the mushroom top off with a hacksaw blade, used a router to cut down the thickness of the deck, used a layer of glass then put the piece i drilled out back in place, let that dry, ground the top off enough to layer 2 more layers of glass, sanded and faired and painted. been over 10 years and not a single problem.

[Timeless72]

I did this on an old Wellcraft. It worked to an extent but I struggled with gravity and gradual slope of the deck. One attempt found its way through a small hole and absorbed into the cabin headliner. Surprisingly, it was just stiff as board when dry. Did no damage or change the color at all.

[ageless]

Robert, did you ever give this a try? I removed my windlass and have a 16" circumferential area that is "hollow"

[Pascal]

I used it a couple of months ago to fix a large soft spot on my foredeck. It worked pretty well, not as good as recoring but pretty close. I figured I didn’t have anything to loose, if it didn’t work I d have to rip the deck anyway….

Not cheap though, it s pretty much expansion foam with a fancy mixing nozzle

[nmcafee]

I just bought some, will document my experience with it. Am happy to do a call or facetime with anyone who wants to see the process/results.

[sgharford]

Anyone ever check with a moisture meter the before and after trying this foam method? I imagine it still reads wet after the foam, depending on how much wet core is removed.

[bostonhatteras]

On the sidedecks at the cockpit and the house cockpit wings/flying bridge supports we used Hilti fire foam. Good luck getting it off any surface it comes in contact with. The cockpit side decks were rodded out with fiberglass electricians snake, blown out with compressed air and then on the hilti spray gun we added vinyl tube. The vinyl tube was able to be snaked into the deepest recesses of the side decks and as we sprayed the foam just pull the vinyl tube out a little. I got pictures of foam coming out of every orifice! Pushed the lower skin down a little but who cares on the side deck. The cabin flying bridge supports I made several braces to keep the foam from expanding the two skins apart. the wings had the foam cut back 1.5" inside the skins and then that area filled with thickened epoxy as the cap. It all worked perfectly. I cut back the foam around the rod holders and filled that area with thickened epoxy so the bolts could actually clamp tight.