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

I repaired 20 sqft of spongy decks in an Ericson 37 myself in about six days at
a cost of a few hundred.
The result was excellent...no further problems and absolutely invisable. Here's
how:
1. Removed the headliner under the soft decks
2. Routed out the lower glass layer (the rot was visable thru the glass)
2. Cleaned out the rot
3. Made templates of the cut out areas
4. Cut out 3/8" phenolic (resin impregnated canvas) in the shapes of the
templates.
5. Cemented the phenolic into the cutout areas with epoxy putty
6. Filled in the periphery of the phenolic with epoxy putty.
7. Reinstalled the headliner. Done!
Good luck with it.
Ted

Thanks for your thoughts, Rufus. Much appreciated.