Repair Help with casting deck..see pics

[NGABaldEagle]

Casting deck has a weak section.
When you see the entire casting deck in the pic you can see the hole where the pedestal base was installed.

The weak area is outlines with a black sharpie.
Its real solid and may be solid inside some of the lines as it isnt exact.
However, AT THE LINES IT IS SOLID AS i WEIGHT 265 AND IT DIDNT BUDGE.

I have limited access underneath but I do have some as there is a hatch to access the underside.

My question is what would be the best approach to repair this where I end up with a flat casting deck surface again?

I have thought about adding a 1/2 sheet of marine plywood to cover the whole deck and just starting over.

I just dont know what my options are.

What would a professional do to repair this?

Thanks for your help.

See pics

 

[Chris1956]

Re: Repair Help with casting deck..see pics

The repair depends on the structure of the deck. Can you install some blocking from the hull to the underside of the casting platform? Alternatively, can you tie a reinforcing piece of plywood to the original support of the casting deck?

 

[NGABaldEagle]

Re: Repair Help with casting deck..see pics

Thanks Chris1956.

I went out and climbed in the boat and lit a cigar.
I thought about it for near 15 minutes.
I dug a piece of rotten wood out and it dawned on me that its basically a piece of wood sandwiched by fiberglass.

I had the idea to pull out my 18v cordless trim saw and cut the top layer of fiberglass off of the wood. I adjusted the saw to cut 1/8 of an inch and made a small 2" by 12" piece out so I could assess the situation.

I ended up cutting the black outlined piece out and see that all I have to do is dig out beyond the rotten wood and refill with good wood and then smooth it all back out with fiberglass resin.
That should make it structurally sound again without affecting the storage underneath.

Fiberglass resin will harden it all out and then I can sand it smooth right?
Is there a better product I could use to make all this rigid again?
I want to fill in any cracks and grooves so this deck is strong enough to hold by large keester.

What would be the best product to accomplish this goal?

Should I use marine plywood?

What about the sections that have wood that looks like a 2x4?
Could I just use good dried out treated 2x4?

 

[NGABaldEagle]

Re: Repair Help with casting deck..see pics

This is the only weak spot on the entire boat.
This boat is 20 years old this year.
Has original motor, trailer, tires, rims, upholstery, carpet, and gauges.

The only thing that isnt orginal is the fuel gauge sending unit, steering cable, and the soon to be repaired front deck.

Not bad for a 20 year old boat.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Repair Help with casting deck..see pics

give us a picture of the cut out, now. also for the rest of the worlds sake start looking for new tires. there so dry rotted you can see the air in them. it's obviously a well cared for boat, probably stored inside.

 

[NGABaldEagle]

Re: Repair Help with casting deck..see pics

You asked for it, You got it.
I cut out a place larger so I could get an idea if the wood was really clean beyond my assumption.
As you can see its really basically a trough on both sides of the center section which make the wood around 2 inches thick and in the center section where the hole is is about 1/2 inch.
I plan to use everything I can to get the wood out that is bad.
I will dig out what I think will be enough and go with it.
The fiber glass on the bottom is thin and so is the top section.
The rigidity comes from the wood.
The fiberglass doesnt hurt at all in making it strong.


Please make suggestions if you know of products I should use to seal this all back up. I really need to know for sure about that.

I certainly hope this helps people get an idea how they can repair if their construction is like my deck.
It just seemed overwhelming at first on how to repair.

Most everyone thinks of support from underneath or just adding more plywood on top.
Fact is the wood is waterlogged and because it hasnt been exposed to air it cant dry.
Nobody wants to buy gas to haul rotten, waterlogged wood around the lake.

Doesnt look like its too much work to repair this.
What I dont know is how easy fiberglass resin sands or if thats the best product to use.

 

[NGABaldEagle]

Re: Repair Help with casting deck..see pics

I forgot to tell you that the thick sections of wood do run the length of the deck fore to aft.
They are about 3.5 inches wide.
The rest is 1/2 plywood sandwiched by fiberglass.