Hi Henry, I used a product called divini-cell from Jamestown Dist. It may also be called Coremat. What I received was a 1/4 inch thick foam mat with a fiber backing to hold it together because it was crosscut on one inch centers. I bought about 16 square feet of it. I sounded the deck and found, fortunately a solid run of balsa down the centerline. Apparently the bow pulpit stantion plates leaked from the pulpit being yanked on over the years. I carefully drew the areas in magic marker on the underside of the deck and cut through the headliner and the balsa with an end cutting "Multi-tool". These power tools are excellent for this. They are quick, very controllable and cut a tiny saw curf so little material actually falls down on top of you. The fiberglass deck is a lot harder than balsa so you can tell immediately when you have sawn through the balsa. So cutting right up through the deck is highly unlikely. I then cleaned out the balsa. I had hoped to reuse the headliner but some of the balsa stuck to the pieces removed and required me to bend and tear the headliner getting out the pieces. I made sure I was back to solid balsa everywhere once I had opened up the liner. The resultant openings were squared off to make installation of the various layers easier to fit in place. None of the areas I replaced were larger than about 8x8 so it was possible to work the core material in after buttering it up as well as the underside of the deck so it would stay in place. I used slightly thickened epoxy to do this. I then also had cut the fiberglass patches to fill in the missing headliner. I lay there watching everything as the epoxy kicked so none of it fell down. None moved at all. Once the original fiberglass kicked I was able to sand the gelcoat off the rest of the headliner and fair in all the surfaces. This gave a rough, even surface to then cover completely with more fiberglass. I used 6 ounce for this which I cut into pieces approximately 8 inches square. I was then able to stick each one up there by first dabbing a couple of dollops of epoxy on the headliner surface. This allowed me to place the dry cloth in place. I thin sponge dabbed the cloth to total saturation before proceeding to the next. I overlapped all the sections and all the edges blended well. None of the pieces fell due to slightly thickened epoxy (maple syrup) suction. Lucky. Once hard, a quick sanding got rid of the edges of the cloth that had puffed up and protruded from the ceiling. I then primed and painted the ceiling. Drilled holes (yikes) for the pulpit and cleats and using best procedures bedded the hardware. I left the new bolts long to support the new thin plywood ceiling I installed next. That allowed a bit of air space below the foredeck to prevent condensation. I then added attachment points for bungee cords which I plan to use to store the screens I made for the fore hatch and the main companionway hatch. The aft edge of the new plywood ceiling which was held away from the deck a quarter inch posed a danger to my scalp should I have to go forward in rough conditions so I glued a section of 1/2 inch pipe insulation to it. Now it has a soft edge which can be painted. Good luck. Wear your respirator! <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail&utm_term=icon> Virus-free. www.avast.com <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail&utm_term=link> <#DDB4FAA8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2> On Thu, Apr 7, 2016 at 9:33 AM, Henry Rodriguez <heinzir@gmail.com> wrote:
Did you cut out the bottom panel in one piece or in sections? If sections, how big? Did you use thickened epoxy or the straight stuff? How thick was the Coremat? Did you have to piece it in or were you able to use one or more large panels? Sorry for all the questions, but I want to get as much information as I can before I dig in.
Henry
On Thursday, April 7, 2016, bownez@juno.com <bownez@juno.com> wrote:
Hi Tom,
I too have replaced the rotted, soaked balsa deck in my M17 from below. It was a nasty, difficult job. I used Core-mat instead of end grain balsa for the new material. The leaks are gone.
It would be an easy job if you could turn the boat upside down...
One big tip, wear your respirator.
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