My latest project is a glass hull/wooden deck Tornado. I found some soft spots around the ports and was wondering what the best way to deal with these is? I have experience with epoxy injection, but zero experience with all wood decks. It appears that water got into the end grain of the wood at the port
openings.

Pete

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Pete Knapp
Schodack landing,NY
Goodall Viper,AHPC Viper,Nacra I20
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Do you have any pictures ? I'm certified in marine coatings and will help if I can.

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Doug Klem
Pensacola , Fl.
Blade F16
Prindle 18-2 w/spin
Prindle 18-2 x 3
Prindle 19 MX
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I will take some pics tomorrow and post them. Not sure how much they will show with the decks being painted white.

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Pete Knapp
Schodack landing,NY
Goodall Viper,AHPC Viper,Nacra I20
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Just knowing that their painted helps. I would remove the port cover and turn the boat upside down. Sand the inside of the hull as far as you can reach . It's better to go about 6" out of the delaminated area. Delam usually starts on the inside. Use 36 grit and nothing finer than 80 grit. Blow all the dust out and then wipe with acetone. Use west system epoxy or similar and half oz. matt . NOT CLOTH !
Allow to set up and see if it added any stiffness to the outside. If not , flip boat back over and grind out the bad area until you are into the good wood / epoxy. Build the surface up a little higher than before then sand down to existing deck. Finished with 220 grit , prime with Awlgrip 545 epoxy primer. Sand again with 220 grit and paint.

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Doug Klem
Pensacola , Fl.
Blade F16
Prindle 18-2 w/spin
Prindle 18-2 x 3
Prindle 19 MX
--

I posted several pictures in the technical section. but as expected they don't show much detail.
I like Pirates idea in that it does not require cutting the section out. First order of business will be
to dry the wood out. Any suggestions on the best way to do that will be appreciated.

Pete

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Pete Knapp
Schodack landing,NY
Goodall Viper,AHPC Viper,Nacra I20
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A sailing buddy suggested to me, draping the hulls loosely in black plastic sheeting and letting the sun do the work.
This was suggested for drying out H14 hulls.

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'82 Super Cat 15
Hull #315
Virginia
Previously owned: '70 H14, '79 H16, '68 Sailmaster 26, '85 H14T
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Will probably use the black plastic after I get the soaked wood somewhat dried out so it does not freeze rather than dry. I am looking for ideas not including a light bulb and fan in the hull. Don't really want light bulbs burning 24/7 in my garage. Was thinking of building a small version of a beer can solar heater but I fear it may be too hot on very sunny days.

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Pete Knapp
Schodack landing,NY
Goodall Viper,AHPC Viper,Nacra I20
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I knew a mono hull sailor who kept a light bulb burning in the cabin to keep the interior dry. It was just a porcelain base on a metal duplex box screwed to square of plywood. He put a #10 tin can with some holes in it over the bulb,
seemed to work well. If you don't like that how about the heat tape for keeping pipes thawed. I've got a milk house heater I use for cold weather curing jobs. It has a tilt switch for safety.

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'82 Super Cat 15
Hull #315
Virginia
Previously owned: '70 H14, '79 H16, '68 Sailmaster 26, '85 H14T
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We repair a lot of transoms made of plywood ,pirate39 is on track with the use of acetone as it does accelerate the drying process of saturated wood .

PIRATE39

Just knowing that their painted helps. I would remove the port cover and turn the boat upside down. Sand the inside of the hull as far as you can reach . It's better to go about 6" out of the delaminated area. Delam usually starts on the inside. Use 36 grit and nothing finer than 80 grit. Blow all the dust out and then wipe with acetone. Use west system epoxy or similar and half oz. matt . NOT CLOTH !
Allow to set up and see if it added any stiffness to the outside. If not , flip boat back over and grind out the bad area until you are into the good wood / epoxy. Build the surface up a little higher than before then sand down to existing deck. Finished with 220 grit , prime with Awlgrip 545 epoxy primer. Sand again with 220 grit and paint.

Please elaborate on the use of acetone to dry the wood. I believe that Pirate was talking about using acetone to prepare the sanded surface for epoxy. I have access to bulk acetone so am very interested
in how to dry the wood with it.

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Pete Knapp
Schodack landing,NY
Goodall Viper,AHPC Viper,Nacra I20
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Actually , acetone will evaporate water. I use it when I grind out blisters on boat bottoms. It wont completely dry it but it will help.

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Doug Klem
Pensacola , Fl.
Blade F16
Prindle 18-2 w/spin
Prindle 18-2 x 3
Prindle 19 MX
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