What kind of Core material should i use?

[VashonMike]

Hello. The plywood core in my Tanzer 16 rotted out. I've removed it all and now need to recore the deck. Can anyone suggest a good coring material for a small job?
Thanks

[TeddyDiver]

Have you still a laminate on the deck (underside)? If that's the case it's propably quite "soft" and leaves only a couple of possibilities. Either vacuum bagging a new core, or hand laying it in smaller pieces.
Quote from the rules:
"d.Plywood hull and deck core material may be replaced with other materials, such as balsa or Airex foam, at the discretion of the owner."
Corecell is good too..
http://www.tanzer16.org/Specifications.aspx

[VashonMike]

We removed the top layer and all of the playwood, then ground down to bare fiberglass. I was figuring we could lay sheets of coring. The Corecell you mentioned looks like it would work OK.

[TeddyDiver]

Just remember to put some hardwood or smth in the fastening places... makes things a lot easier later..

[VashonMike]

I'm not clear what you mean about the hardwood pieces. Would i not just glue down the core, then glass over it?

Use marine ply, encapsulate it with epoxy resin and call it a day. It will last longer than the rest of the boat.
And you must not redesign anything, just go for the old sizes.

Regards
Richard

[TeddyDiver]

If you have any intend to fasten anything else but stickers put those places something solid instead of foam..

ps. Richard is right.. it's not so big piece of ply..

[PAR]

Plywood will cost 5 to 10 times less then the other coring choices you have.

[VashonMike]

Thanks for all the great input everyone. I think plywood wins.

Originally Posted by VashonMike

Thanks for all the great input everyone. I think plywood wins.

Encapsulate it .....

then, yes.