Deck repair

I have a Fiberglass Trawler. I've remove the teak on my side decks and bow because it was unsalvageable. I've drilled out hundreds of screw holes making them larger so the mahogany core can dry out. I only drilled through the top skin and the mahogany core, not the bottom skin. I was going to fill all the holes with epoxy then put a none skid material down. I was wondering if there is something other than epoxy to use that does not need to be mixed and is cheaper then epoxy and would work just as well to fill all the holes.

 

There are basicly 5 options:

-new wood
-paint with anit skid powder added
-anti skid on a roll (treadmark)
-special LPU anti skid paint (2K PU resin, with diluent and special rubber compound added)
-use epoxy or gelcoat to re-apply an anti skid pattern using Gibco Flexmold.

 

Ron,

Core is never, ever supposed to be damp. If it is, The only fix is first to find how it is getting wet, cut out and repair any rotten core, then repair the deck where the rotten core is. If the core was just damp, not rotten then it should only have been damp right at the edges of the hole where the core was damp, water doesn't typically intrude into a wooden core much beyond the access point, or once the core rots much past the rotten sections.

I have never heard of a yard attempting to drill weep holes in a deck to try and dry out core, nor have I ever seen a situation where I would have considered doing so. Wood doesn't transmit water like this, and foam is pretty much impossible to dry once it is saturated (a period of years is required to make a dent in absorbed water content in foam).

But there is no alternative to epoxy in these types of repairs, unless you are very experienced and know exacally what you are doing, and even then the prefered material is epoxy since the difficulties of dealing with other options just isn't worth the minimal price savings.

 

We know how it got wet Stumble, the teak deck fasteners have been letting in water, likely for years, before it was pulled.

I do agree in that the core's moisture content needs to be checked, which unfortunately means taking up the out skin, maybe just in places. A bunch of 3/16" holes isn't going to let the moisture out, particularly considering that gravity is pulling it to the other side of the sandwich.

Since your deck is now all full of holes, I recommend you connect the dots, so to speak and pull the outer skin, under cover (tent, tarp, etc.) with some fans blowing across the core. Check moisture content every week until you're 12% or less. Once there, rebond the skin, repair the cutout seams, fill the holes and prep the deck for waterways and textured finishing.

 

Given that you are fighting the specter of a re-core job, the cost of a quart of epoxy filler is not the object at this stage of the game.

I like to see the whole deck pan lain over with glass after all the holes have been carefully filled.

I spray over with high build then 545 after the sand out and spray the nonskid.
I go to filled and fair on the whole job so the work looks decent and the slicks can lie just about anywhere they are needed.

The core can be damp and still be bonded to skins, wet and de-bonded, or complete rot. You need to find out which before you go any further..

 

To achieve a cheaper one-part coating, use, after patching holes, an acrylic enamel at $30/gal.. One was labeled "high fill" and offered a lifetime warrenty.

 

A few years back I was asked to take on a job much like yours, but before I committed myself I did a little research on the problem. Most of the examples I found were Tiawanese trawlers with teak decks screwed onto a cored subsurface. In some cases the core had become so saturated that protruding screws below deck were weeping into the interior spaces. I looked at a lot of repair options and opinions, and I'm going to echo Par on this one.

Probably the only viable long term repair that I would be willing to put my name on involved removing the outer skin, removing and repairing any damaged core sections, and then reglassing the surface. Now granted your situation might be different, but I just don't see how puttying up the screw holes and painting over the area is going to help.

MM

 

you need to use a solvent free (no solvents fumes trapped in confined spaces) epoxy that has a low viscosity and will bond to wet or damp surfaces.

I deal with this issue almost weekly. Lots of folks do the inject epoxy approach (even professionals in the marine market - albeit the right approach it to remove and replace).

Contact me via pm for particulars.

paul oman - progressive epoxy polymers, inc.