Since we're on the topic of balsa core decay, I had a question about this - having just finished resealing all the deck fill ports (diesel, waste, 3 waters) on my boat.
All had some softness in the balsa, two had obvious water ingress (in the past) evident by black staining, minor rust on fasteners (bolts/screws), etc. Question is how do you judge the *degree* of coring decay? Mild = ? (still wood colored, but squishy/soft?) Moderate = ? (dark staining and squishy/soft?) Bad = same as above but covering more than a 1 to 2 inch section? Severe = ? Purchase survey 7 months ago found no wet core issues via sounding, but did cite leaking fill ports so the need to rebed was known. Oddly one fill port (diesel) had what appeared to be dark brownish foam coring instead of wood, on only one side of the port (outboard, towards the toe rail). Maybe a prior owner injected it? Given I think what I found would fall under "mild to moderate", and percussive sounding found no issues further from the fills, I think the core decay is limited to just the immediate vicinity of the ports (water entry was probably through the fastener holes), and since the wood didn't feel presently wet or saturated, it was either a past leak or it's a very slow leak. I rebedded with butyl tape. Martin do you happen to have any pictures of your core? I assume you had some that would be good examples of more severe core decay? -Patrick S/V Violet Hour 1984 LF 38, Seattle, WA > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Martin DeYoung <mdeyo...@deyoungmfg.com> > To: "cnc-list@cnc-list.com" <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> > Cc: > Date: Mon, 28 Sep 2015 20:30:21 +0000 > Subject: Re: Stus-List Balsa core thickness > > ... > > When you start your project, evaluate how wet and the overall condition of > the balsa before fully charting your course. > > If the balsa is damp (<30% moisture per the Baltek web site) and still > looks tan and smells like balsa with a polyester undertone it may be OK to > make small repairs around the deck penetrations. If you are able to go > this route, be aware it is difficult and slow to dry out large areas of > balsa using only the fastener holes. > > Let me know if you are interested in more balsa repair techniques / info > learned from making extensive repairs to Calypso's deck. > Martin > > Calypso > > 1971 C&C 43 > > Seattle >
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