Thanks Ebb

I think one thing that has helped on my project is that I filled the toe rail and then laid up 1708 biax and then a layer of finishing cloth on the underside of the area I'm recoring early on in my project. That stiffened it up significantly. Also the way I modified the bulkhead at the aft end of the chain locker made a huge difference in the stiffness of the bow area. So I'm pretty comfortable that all of the areas I'll be recoring will support the process pretty well.

As far as the balsa goes, I really wanted to go with the same material that was originally used. On the cabin top where I recored areas for reasons other than wet core (like hardware reinforcement and the new mast step I built) the balsa was in great shape and just as strong as it was when new. I think if you properly protect it from deck penetrations it will last indefinitely.