Well..... a wee update (I cant seem to upload pictures for some reason)
The deck is off, down to the fiberglass. There is some crazing, as large screws were driven in, with no pre-drilling (I think).
The glass was mostly fine, though, so I have over drilled the original holes (by about 50%) and filled with a blend of epoxy, micro-balloons and talc with a little silica). That went fine...
However. The saloon ply was badly rotted, and near enough the whole width of it to inside the cockpit about 1 inch up and down. The ply seems sound after that in both directions and the outer extremes. I removed as much as I can (down behind the chart table, and round the galley - without removing either. To get the wood out, I used this :
https://www.amazon.co.uk/AEG-OMNI-MTX-M ... +multitool
(available in Homebase for much cheaper)
I used an inch blade. I
There is some rot in the cross piece (2X2 inch - runs across the boat at the edge of the cockpit step)- its white-wood, and was panted, which just held the water. The rot ran along the grain and was in patches. I cut out the rot, and have left the rest to dry. It wast too bad (I think), and was easy to cut out with the tool above, and a chisel. I stripped the paint off the entire piece (careful not to melt the wires nailed to it. I was shocked to see a rough hole drilled in it before to carry the light from the compass - with no sealer - likely one of the causes of the rot in the first place.
I routed down a few strips of iroko to just under 1/4 inch, painted in epoxy and swathed in the goop above. Hammered these under the Teak edge (I had left it for reference on height and then taken another 2 X 1/2 inch high piece of iroko on the saloon bulkhead, gooped and screwed in tight. This is now flush with the existing bulkhead (well, I have done the starboard (chart table) side. A similar spacer had gone in below the teak base of the washboard groove.
Note that the bulkhead is still sound round the outer aft deck - this problem was with the cockpit glass part only.
The galley (port) gap is a wider -and needs more drying as does with the white-wood crosspiece. This will, however be treated the same way - when the wood is a bit drier.
I forgot to mention that I painted the ply edges of the bulkhead with a very wet epoxy- multiple coats- which seem to have been absorbed by the end piece.
I have taken photos of each bit - I will post later.
The cross piece has the rot ripped out and then some- none of it spans the wood - it follows the grain instead. I intend to pack the hole with small pieces of iroko and the same goop above - and likely sister it with a few pieces of glassed in iroko, laminated together
While I had the rot on my mind - (there isn't THAT much, but a wee bit is too much!), I went round the rest of the ply on the boat with a soft hammer and started tapping.
I have found another small spot - in a fairly awkward place. I haven't started this bit yet - but may as well do it now. Iris has a small winch on the coach roof. This sits on a (cracked) piece of mahogany, and bolted through to the inside. Well, AGAIN!, no sealer appears to have been used on the through bolts. You guessed it. Soft. the Mahogany was flat faced - and the coach has a lovely curved. A 'slap of sika' held it down - and, of course, retained the water too (I recon). The rot appears to be localized to about 4X6 inches. I consulted Alastair Duffern, my local boat builder, and he suggests the following: remove the winch, and the cracked mahogany. Rout out the rot + a few percent. Alistair is giving me a few pieces of light ply. A (4MM) piece of ply inside the boat - I will span between the two roof beams and significantly larger than the hole. Screwed and epoxied in place. If the ply doesn't bend enough, steam.
The edges of the hole will be routed at 45% . 2 more light ply pieces epoxied and screwed into the deck + new ply - till about level with the deck and matching the curve (hopefully!). My final piece this time though is a nice piece of teak I have - strips approximately 1 inch - larger than the hole. No finish - but as I have already bought the caulking to replace the teak on the cockpit deck when thats ready, I think I should be ok.
Lots of text, when a few pictures would have done it easier!
Tally Ho
John