posted 03-28-2014 03:29 AM ET (US)     

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7423/13440060005_1ef9b428e6_b.jpg
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2841/13455587934_f56356f2d5_b.jpg
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2896/13455212475_93246d9aa4_b.jpg
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2913/13455209225_9cc60b9c88_b.jpg

Aft Edge
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2849/13455200775_8d00f9256d_b.jpg

posted 03-28-2014 03:14 PM ET (US)         

After the hard fiberglass layer the plug brought up soggy looking material. It seemed wet to me.

I sent the same pictures I post above to a local fiberglass repair shop and was quoted $550 to redo the whole deck. In their opinion based on the pictures, the whole deck needs to be redone.

I am seriously leaning on having an experienced person handle the rebuilding of the core and glassing, whatever the process may be.

posted 03-28-2014 09:12 PM ET (US)            

Worst case scenario.... Most of the wood is wet? Remove all the wood and replace. A number of forum members have done this job, and have had it done. If you search the site, a number of earlier threads on this topic will pop up.

One advantage of doing this type of repair yourself, is it gets you involved with some glass work, in an area that ultimately, will not be seen.

posted 03-29-2014 12:21 PM ET (US)         

I will drill some more cutouts today and see what I find. The inspection holes I cut yesterday dried out very quickly, I noticed in a couple of hours the material that I took out and inside the hole were bone dry.

Replacing the wood, where would I get it?
Not sure why the indentation, see blue arrows in the picture, is there a reason and would I have to match the contours of with the new wood?

Are these decks built with one solid piece of wood?
Or pieces that are one piece running along the width or laterally?

posted 03-30-2014 04:46 PM ET (US)            

I'm going out a bit on a limb here, and guess that the raw materials (glass, resin, sandpaper, saw blades, protective gear, mixing containers, plastic, etc), might run about 1/2 of the quoted price.

posted 04-01-2014 03:27 PM ET (US)            

Here is most of the text I sent you by email. I figured others might want to comment on the manner in which I repaired the decks on my 22 Outrage Cuddy a few years ago. I know Jeff R. has a good write up that details the repairs, I learned from him and was glad he posted it.

Here is the link to my post that only linked to images online of my work:

http://continuouswave.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/019768.html

My repair layup schedule was:
original deck skin (inverted)
that was covered with a thickened mix of west epoxy
1/4 inch meranti plywood pre-coated with a neat batch of west epoxy
1708 glass (a combo of mat and biaxial cloth) in neat epoxy
1/2 inch meranti ply pre-coated with neat epoxy
6 oz (I think) fiberglass cloth in neat epoxy

As for your situation...

There is definite rot going on at the edges. Is it enough to worry about? Maybe not but since you have the deck off you might as well deal with it. If you just deal with the edges, how are you going to tie the repair into the existing laminate? You would need to remove a band all around the perimeter to get rid of the rotted wood, then scarf back the good stuff at at least an 8-1 ratio (12-1 would be better), add your filler and core material around the perimeter and work it into the existing laminate. The work to tie together new and old might be more work (but less material) than stripping the whole skin and re-coring the whole thing.

If you do the whole thing the hardest part is stripping off the old laminate. Once you cut it all up in a checkerboard pattern with a circular saw it is pretty easy to use a big floor chisel to rip off the garbage wood that BW uses as a core. Use a belt sander or whatever you have to clean up the underside of the skin. Tape off any openings that need to be filled (screw holes, whatever openings you don't need anymore, whatever) and fill them with epoxy and thickener of your choice (chopped glass, colloidal silica, whatever, just read up a little on the west epoxy literature). Cut new GOOD marine plywood or whatever core you choose to size, and glue it on, cover with more glass, clean it all up, fill the lip with thickened epoxy, clean it up again, drill out your holes, coat holes with neat epoxy if you penetrate wood, then put it all back together.

If I were to do this over I might just use a single sheet of 3/4 ply; 1/4 plus 1/2 was the original BW schedule, don't know why. Or better yet I would spend even more money and use coosa board to save a ton of weight and never have to worry about rot. My 22 with whaler drive and cuddy sat so high in the water without the floor decks and console that the rear drain wells didn't have any water in them without the plugs, but the decks alone were so damn heavy with the new wood and glass it just really annoyed me to watch the waterline change when I put things back.

My cost was pretty high to do this repair (it was actually two decks on the 22 cuddy). I am guessing as it was a few years ago:

plywood (2 sheets each 1/2 and 1/4) about $275 (lots of leftover though)
glass (cloth and 1708) about $100 (maybe more but again leftovers)
epoxy (probably used three or four gallons, and hardener of various speeds, and fillers) gotta figure close to $100 / gallon but I got most of mine at wholesale from a friend

It was a good learning experience, but difficult to do in the summer heat, evening dew, effing thunderstorms, (you might note I was working outdoors with no cover). I wish I had glassed in some metal plates for backing the leaning post and t-top (if I ever put it back on the boat).

I also took the time to do some much needed repairs to my console.

I still need to do another section of deck (over my rear live well) that looks like your deck but just have not had the time and it just doesn't annoy me all that much no matter if it is rotted since I cant make it flex by jumping on it.

In short, I am glad I replaced the garbage exterior ply that BW used to fabricate the deck. Although a bit heavy I know my repair is far stronger than the original, and being high quality marine plywood it should not rot even if moisture does manage to get past all the epoxy I lathered over everything.

Good luck, take pics if you do the work yourself and let us know how it works out!

posted 04-02-2014 07:52 PM ET (US)            

So, at least $250 to save what... 25 - 35lbs?

posted 04-03-2014 04:47 PM ET (US)         

This is how the top looks after cleanup, red arrows indicate where the coating has come off.

https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2847/13610682435_a369754da0_b.jpg

posted 04-03-2014 09:46 PM ET (US)            

Those small spots you reference are difficult to see in the image. No matter, just clean them up and touch them up with some primer and top coat. If you do pull the tank you will probably find a few more spots that need touching up.

posted 04-04-2014 12:56 AM ET (US)         

I had two fiberglass professionals look at the deck in the past couple of weeks since I had it out, and I was communicating with Boston Whaler also. Everyone who saw the deck said it was in good shape besides some blemishes on the corner and sides.

So, I decided to let one of the person who gave me a fair estimate to open up only the affected areas, core it and glass it in. He drove to my house to see the deck sitting in the garage, we loaded it on to his pickup truck, shook hands and he drove off with it. He said that he should be done by Sunday and will bring it back. We will see how it goes. This deal was done on a hand shake, no paper work. :-)

I feel relaxed today because this gorilla of a task is off my back and I can concentrate on replacing the fuel, hydraulic hoses and the throttle cables.

So, later in the evening I set off cleaning the console, which is also sitting in the garage, took the windshield off, the glove box and the metal bar, hand rail of sorts, off. I want to use the polishing compound all around the console to make it shine.

It is getting warmer and I want the boat ready soon. :-)

posted 04-05-2014 10:34 AM ET (US)            

That product looks very similar to Starboard.