It is worth it.

[POINTER94]

I have an intregal swim platform on my boat. Replacing some hardware I found some punky wood. I continued drilling and working around it until I had made about a 1" hole. The bad wood continued. The platform is 7' wide (boat has 8' beam) by about 20" deep. Inspection of the hole showed the construction to be 3/16" fiberglass (covered in gelcoat with a non-skid texture) with 3/8" wood core, with another 3/16 of fiberglass under the wood making a sandwich. If this entire platform was water logged I would only be carrying an additional 3-4 gallons of water and about 29lbs additional weight. I am assuming that there would be a barrier of fiberglass between the platform and the transom. But you never know.

Do I tear it out or do I let it be? It doesn't feel soft at all. I know better.

Opinions, ideas, suggestions???

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: It is worth it.

marine tex that hole and leave it be. until you have to go into the transom, the 3/8 core had no strength to begin with. just something to form the glass around.

 

[POINTER94]

Re: It is worth it.

Thanks a ton TD. This is new territory for me. Got me a bit scared. BTW, I have the marinetex drying as we speak. That was my first, intermediate, and last solution off the top.

Pointer.

 

[Bondo]

Re: It is worth it.

My Thought was to Add another Hole or 2,........

Just to Drain it........

It's Already Rotten,..... Right,..??......

 

[POINTER94]

Re: It is worth it.

Good thought Bondo.

I pulled out what looked like soggy pieces of a brown paper bag. There was no "standing water". But clearly water had penetrated the water tight nature of the deck. Under all of what I described above, the bottom is wrapped in another "outer skin" of fiberglass on the bottom.

I think I could probably manage to "dry it out" with the holes. but I believe the water intruded threw only one poorly sealed screw on the top of the platform. Therefore, I think the wood below is only partially compromised. Just how far I don't know. I have to wonder how long it would take to dry it out to the point where it would actually do any good vs. preventing further contamination due to the water existing in the breach. But once again it isn't standing water.

I guess I will let the marinetex dry, drill in a pilot hole and replace the fitting, while applying a large dose of 5200 for a forever seal.

I would love nothing more than to get that water out, but the cure sounds worse than the disease right now.

Thanks for your thoughts, they are always valuable and insightful.