deck core saturation problem

Hi, the whole core of the deck of the sailboat i'm rebuilding is rotten.
I'm going to replace it all with balsa and at the beginning I was planning on taking away the outer skin, put the new core and then re laminate a new outer skin with polyester.
But I found that the outer skin is 1/4 thick and that is a lot of new laminate.
So now I was thinking on taking the outer skin off in panels, put the new core, and then reglue the panels of old skin with epoxi with cabosil, beveling the edges and connecting the panels with strips of DBM.
Which of the two solutions would be stronger?

Thanks

 

The problem may be that the molded surface, the surface you are talking of cutting off may not be pefectly in tune with the bottom surface. In other words, if you lay the new balsa down there may be areas where the top skin doesn't seat well and it will be a little touchy trying to get it to without lots of cabosil and resin creating weight and expense. I have always removed an entire piece and worked from the backside for this repair but I understand you may not be able, or want to. It will be strong either way. Somebody else will come along and offer another perspective. Good luck

 

Some people have had success removing only the inner layer of glass, leaving the outside unscathed. it's not easy though. I've done it from the outside with success. The difference is the outer non-skid surface. You have to create that surface if you plan on doing the work from above.
Cutting sections out is fine but upon reinstalling, it's a good idea to feather the edges of the top sections and glass the joints together with progressively wider pieces of cloth until up to the deck height.
Then, depending on boat size, a layer or two of continuous cloth can be laminated over the whole deck after careful fairing. Do not lay down the cloth until the fairing is completed. This will create a consistent hardness at the finished surface.

 

back up a little ! how big is the boat ? what is it a power boat or a sali boat ?
Is it possible to remove the deck from the hull ( depends on the boat size etc ) .

 

42 feet sailboat, no possibility to remove the deck from the boat

 

Cut down the center of the water ways, if you intend to preserve the molded texture. Remove the weather side of the deck in these sections. Naturally, you'll need to grind the edges (water ways) so you can lay in more material, bond and fair them back in when the core is replaced. This is the only way to do a substantial potion of deck and preserve the stock look.