BoatBanter.com - Wood Mast repair

Joe wrote:

I have an antique sailboat I aquired last summer, and have been working on
it on and off since then. Everything was there, and I hope to sail it this
summer. The big problem is the mast was attacked by carpenter bees. I am
hoping to be able to repair it. My plan is to find the ends of the bee
holes, drill a small hole at either end, then squirt in epoxy until it comes
out the holes I drilled. Does this sound like a plan?

What I need to find out is what would be the best filler, and would it
actually work? I expect it can't hurt, as the alternative is finding a 27'
piece of sitka spruce laying around.... Any help or suggestions are greatly
appreciated!! Thanx!!

2¢

I don't think staight epoxy would have the performance you need. I would
suggest you look into glass fillers and bonding agents. Only bonding
agent I can think of off hand was Carboset but it worked in my
application: Glass filled epoxy sandwiched between aluminum sheets.

BTW: I own a portable sawmill. I mention this because there are a lot
nuts like me around so you could probably find one local to you. One of
the first things I did with it was make a ~30' redwood flagpole for one
of my friends.

If you could come up with the curingwood has a tendancy to crack on
drying so techniques like using PEG to replace the water are used and a
big enough tree, making a new mast wouldn't be out of question.