20' Garvey

Just wanted to say what a great wealth of information this forum is, i finally had to join so i can get in on all of it.
I Just started tearing and grinding the glass off of my glass over cedar Garvey, surprisingly the cedar is in excellent shape. when i get below the waterline though, there is some type of black coating on the wood under about 3 layers of fiberglass. When you grind it, it makes a horrible stink, taking your breath away instantly. the boat was built in the 70's so who knows what kind of toxic substance it may be. i was thinking some kind of tar maybe but im sure fiberglass wouldn't stick to it very well. Any idea what this might be?

Thanks in advance

 

..rot??? Is the glass set in epoxy or poly? Is the smell chemical or more like manure?

 

Me thinks if it was rot it would scrape away easily. My .02

 

Definitely not rot. it was glassed in the mid to late 70's so i'm guessing it is set in polyester resin. its like a chemical smell, not petroleum like or manure like, reminds me of when you burn treated wood in a fire pit. just a foul chemical that overcomes you very quickly. I guess I'll just don my respirator and grind it off, was curious what it would be though.

 

Talked to the original owner today, he said that years ago he put more than a generous amount of Cuprinol in the bilge, I guess its possible it soaked through the planks and that is my mystery substance. Any advice on dealing with this? will glass adhere to wood treated with this or will i have to skin the boat with plywood and glass over that?

thanks

 

It seems it adhered to it for many years. There shouldn't be any problem now. Cuprinol is copper arsenate. It doesn't smell much but leaves a metallic taste if y.ou grind it without a respirator