Soaked Core

SGTLaser

SGTLaser

New Member
While doing some minor repair work on the bow (glassing cracks.) I found out that the core of my boat is waterlogged. I knew that the deck had soft spots in it for a while, but didn't know it was this bad. any suggestions for drying out the boat?
 
take it out to the middle of Texas in the fall and leave it for a few months.. :D

Search the threads here. Number of ways to do it

Weigh it now so you know where you are starting from and how much dieting it needs to do.
 
SGTLaser said:
While doing some minor repair work on the bow (glassing cracks.) I found out that the core of my boat is waterlogged. I knew that the deck had soft spots in it for a while, but didn't know it was this bad. any suggestions for drying out the boat?
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if your boat already has a inspection port or two, open them up in a dry environment.
add some fans or blowing a shop-vac inside for extra airflow. i've heard of it taking 2 weeks to dry thoroughly. i think that's based on geography and how humid your home area is.
if no ports, you may have to add some to insure it gets really dry. after that you will have to determine source of water? from cracks, holes, bad hardware, etc.
repair areas of water intrusion. after that it may be ok. hopefully, the soft spots have not
compromised the integrity of your bow. has a hole in your mast-step allowed water to
pool up front?
 
I have 3 ports already in the boat. I opened up all ports and have a fan blowing on the cut out areas. I also hung 2 shop lights in the hull to try to expidte the process. living in northen FL, the humidity is working against me every step. Any other guidence would be helpful
 
When you say core, I assume you mean the foredeck. If this is the case then take a hammer and gently tap the deck to determine the extent of the delamination. I would then invest $4/5 bucks in a fiberglass repair book put out by West System. It is definitely worth it, and there is a section on core repairs. Please be advised that it will not be pretty when you are done.

If you have an inspection port forward as well as aft, stick your vacuum hose in it and guide it as far forward as possible. Then open the after one. When you turn on the vac, it will draw outside air all the way through the boat. It is even more effective if you put a rag around the hose.

Lastly, if the delamination is around an inspection port, then it may be that the core was not sealed when it was installed. This should be an easier to fix.

Good luck.
 
My experience with my boat was that the layup on the lower side of the deck was porous - probably because it was only a single layer of chopped strand mat.

It'll take a long time to dry out - but if you could build a plastic tent around it with a dehumidifier inside you might be able to speed it up.

Russell
 
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