Nah, just one side of it. Can be done in small sections if
easier that way.


Dave wrote:
The one time I tackled such a problem, it was the deck of an Islander with a
plywood core. The deck was made up of 3/4" plywood sandwiched between deck
and overhead. I wouldn't have wanted to replace less than half of the entire
area at once, because the plywood was the major source of support of the
deck. Smaller pieces would have weakened it.

Also, if there is any water in the ply, it will wick along
the grain into other (eventually all) areas. You made the
right call.

But plywood isn't really a "core" in the structural sense of
the term, it's more like the main part... a better term
would be fiberglass coated plywood... which can be great
stuff, it's just heavy.

If the fiberglass skins were strong enough to take the deck
loading without buckling, then you could replace the plywood
in small sections & not worry about it. The bond between
F-glass skins would be the important thing, not the
continuity or rigidity of the plywood.

I recently worked over some bad spots on the tugboat's deck,
and replaced balsa core with filled resin slurry, then put
the original deck surface back on, then fiberglassed over
it. I don't know what sort of load the deck was designed
for, probably doesn't need as much strength as a sailboat
deck. But it seems plenty strong, at least as solid as the
rest of it.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King