I got a Klein moisture meter from Amazon and decided to give it a go. Plenty of areas I thought might have high readings did not. Most of the deck seems to be in the 1%-6% range. The one area with a high reading is not near any penetrations, I cannot figure it out. Forward of the mast and aft of the forward hatch there is an area about 1 or 2 square feet that reads high enough to peg the meter at 40%! The wet area does not extend to either the mast or the hatch, it does not seem to come from either one. The deck does not feel obviously mushy either, it just looks crazed in that spot. The only real way to feel anything different is in the cabin, the liner seems detached if you press up on it. This is basically in the passageway forward around the hanging locker.
Now the question is what next? Do I cut the deck off from above or repair from below? My feeling is working from above will be 100 times easier until the very last step of making the deck look not cup apart at the end. I still have no idea how water could get there except possibly the vents that are over the head and hanging locker. The original dorades put in before we got the boat were very poorly done, I had to do a lot of sealing and filling with epoxy when I put the solar vents in. It would require water to run uphill and aft though???? Joe Coquina
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