Deck fiberglass and fairing FINALLY finished!

Short post today just to mark the completion of repairing, filling and fairing the deck.  The repair of the core rot under the mast step was pretty straight forward.  Cut off the top skin, dig out the balsa core and replace it with layers of fiberglass.  I also repaired a few 2-3 inch spots in the core where canvas snaps were screwed in and leaked.

After this experience I feel confident to take on more work like this in future boats.

Next up is to install the clutches, deck organizers, cam cleats and companionway hatch slides.  Install them temporarily and take them back off.  Paint the deck with either white awl grip or kiwi grip.  

The winter work is nearing completion!

Used an angle grinder with a cutting disk to cut the top skin around the area.  The skin was easy to lift in part of the area but was otherwise very well stuck on.

The end-grain balsa core indeed had rotted in place.  “End-grain” means the balsa is laid down so that the grains run vertically.  That way if water gets into the core it will run with the grains and not go far.  That worked here.  The rot didn’t go far.  The balsa around the rotted area was still in good shape.  I think the balsa must absorb resin during lamination because it is fairly hard.

I see the rot mostly came from where the blocks around the mast were mounted.  It also came from the rear two bolts of the hinging mast step.

A close up picture of the edge of the area I cut out.  The vertical grains of the balsa core are visible.  The top skin layer (dark) is around 2-3mm thick.  A very thin layer of gel coat tops it all off.

After around 8 layers of fiberglass I capped it all off with the top skin that I cut off to start this all off.  Applied layers of fiberglass around the edge to tie it in.  Started to fair the area with thickened epoxy (the brown spots).  After many more fairing sessions it is smooth and ready for paint.

The deck before installing the new hardware.  Glossy white paint is awlgrip.  The other paint is Kiwi Grip.

Hardware install complete, near launch date for the 2023 season.  Added the 2 previous photos much later after this post was first made.  The new deck hardware (organizers, clutches, mast base with blocks) really worked well.  I later replaced the wood hatch slides with starboard when one side developed a lengthwise crack that defied a solid repair.