Hi Ariel/Commander folks. I purchased A 24 last fall and have started giving her some TLC. I have removed the damaged core from the inside. The areas around the stanchions were quite wet and mushy.
Below is what came out, and below that is the largest area removed (around 1 1 1/2 feet by 1 foot on port side).
My (latest) plan is to;
1. Coat the dry and undamaged exposed balsa core with unthickened epoxy
2. Install new 3/8" divinycell with thickened epoxy and struts to hold it up while it cures.
3. Create a new inner skin with 4 layers of 6oz resin soaked cloth of increasing overlap to the soon to be sanded cabin ceiling.
4. Grind, sand, fair as needed then paint.
After all that the deck hardware would be re bedded using the overdrilling and epoxy fill method as per the Arial manual.
Words of wisdom most welcome. This is my first post so I can't guarantee it but I will try to add some more photos below. Alex
The stanchions above the cabin liner were not leaking too badly and the core was wet but not apparently rotten (one bit of luck!) so I plan to use the drill, dry (note light on shelf) and fill method.
A hearty welcome and "bonzai" to the owner of Tim's last boat!! Seems like you have things well in hand. Very nice last picture - Halifax looks really beautiful.
PS. Great first post - recore from below WITH pics...
Replacing deck core is a major restore and daunting in itself,
Do a recore from the inside is even more daunting.
Dauntest.
I can imagine it's an in-yer-face operation.
Any tips on procedure will be appreciated.
One thing I noticed: getting the tunafish out is easy enough but getting the inside laminate surface scrapped and prepped seems difficult - how did you proceed?
Also, I notice when opening up the deck under the mast, that where the balsa is in good shape but you still need to clean it out it was very very tenacious, very hard to remove. What did you do? Upsidedown?
OK, cutting, fitting, slathering is maybe easy enough BUT what technique did you use to press the core into place while setting? Did the core first and then did the fabric? Your results are particularly neat. What glass did you use for the inside layers? Whose epoxy, and was it easy to use?
I might suggest using precut fiberglass tape. When I cut the cloth myself I tend to get furballs of shmutz during layup and annoying loose strings which pull the work away
Yes I have been cutting and scraping a lot in the supine position. Helps to wear goggles and mask for sure.
Ebb, you asked about pressing the core into place while setting. That step is coming up! Any suggestions? I was thinking of pre cut sticks pushing against a plywood cut out the shape of the holes. Maybe with release agent.
Precut tape for the seams sounds wise, I have had the fuzzy furball problem when cutting cloth as well.
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