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soft, spongy cored decks - repair method and costs?
could also motor...
It's probably not a good idea to go anywhere out of range of cost effective (for you) towing in any boat you haven't shaken down for at least 30-40 hours. It takes some time to find out what really works and what's just about to fail - there are so many ways a PO could have let things go to hell. Eg., check out the _bottom_ of your fuel tanks to see what's going to get stirred up and plug up your fuel system when the sea gets up a little. deck repair... There are numerous stories on sites on the net. For large areas, basicly you cut off either the top or the bottom skin, clean out all the existing (bad) core, re-install a core of your choice, then re-install the skin you pulled off. Working from the bottom usually is blocked by expensive decorating; the top requires that you spend a lot of time on the finish or install non-skid to hide all the seams. All deck fittings should have hard core (plywood) under them. To avoid the same problem in the future, fittings should be installed with water proof bolt holes: Eg. for a 1/4 fastener, you drill a 1/2" hole (after the deck is fixed), close the bottom of the hole with a piece of good tape, fill the hole solidly with epoxy "peanut butter" made with high compression filler (as opposed to light weight filler), drill the 1/4" fastener hole in the (center of) epoxy after it's dry. To water proof holes in an existing cored deck, take a big nail, grind a flat on the last 3/8", bend the flat at right angles to the shank, chuck the long part in a drill, stick the short bend with the flat and it's sharp edges throught the hole into the core, and ream out a space around the hole, paying particular attention to cleaning off the inside of the skins around the hole; vacuum clean. Fill as above. That's the methods. The costs I can't help you with. If I were a yard boss, I wouldn't even think of bidding such a job. Time & material all the way. Rufus |