Separate Deck/Trunk, How?

Jamie000

New Member
Free 1990 Laser, whole deck is a soggy, wavy mess, hull solid (but lots of "stuff" moving around in there). Lots of water in the deck foam (boat is very overweight), seam is loose 80% of the way round. I'm going to have to remove the deck (instead of injecting resin EVERYWHERE), remove all the foam from the underside, replace, reconnect everything. Have read the threads on this forum (very helpful), but can't figure out how to best part the deck/daggerboard trunk without making too many cuts. Any advice/experience? Very much appreciate any help, thank you.
 
Ok, first off it's a 1982 (it was free so I took the donor's word for it). Figured it out. Make sure deck/hull seam is 100% free, remove cockpit drain including brass fitting, remove daggerboard rubber stop, ratchet block/strap screws, tilt boat carefully onto its side, wiggle it. Good thing I took the approach of a complete separation - water in flotation containers, completely soaked foam and plywood under deck and cockpit, worn out mast step, etc.. Going to 1- carefully remove the under-skin (Dremel to cut around the cockpit/trunk/step/etc.), 2-strip all the waterlogged foam and plywood out, replace with new plywood and Dow Blue rigid foam applied with Great Stuff and under plywood/weights), 3- Replace the plywood stringer under cockpit, 4- new blue between cockpit and hull, 5- glass around centerboard trunk base at hull joint, 6- re-assemble with epoxy+thickener for top of centerboard trunk, and great stuff around all the edges, 7- inspection port in deck to glass-in mast step, 8- fiberglass strip around the whole hull/deck joint. Thoughts? I'm sure there will be Great Stuff deniers out there, but it seems to me the best way to get a complete adhesion of foam-to-deck and hull/deck joint that won't crack and will fill all gaps.
 

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So far so good; that's a major job!
I hope you get her back on the water in (much) better shape than when you found her.
 
Any thoughts on the wisdom of using expanded PVC instead of plywood to black the deck fittings, rudder, etc? It strikes be a nutty that the screws for these fittings go all the way through the under-skin, allowing for water ingress from inside the hull even when the screws get bedded in silicone or other sealer. Expanded PVC holds screws well, and of course neither absorbs water or decays from contact with it.
 
Ok, well, took some time but the project is largely done. I have some thoughts on places where I could have done better (take precise measurements of the old cockpit support plywood before removing, don't use any polyester, all epoxy, sand the EPS before glueing, use spray foam instead of gorilla glue), but I have a light and stiff boat, watertight. I still have to re-coat the blades, but here she is.
 

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