Good luck with that, Robbin. I spent yesterday lying on my back up in the v-berth of my M17, cutting away the headliner and scooping out some very soggy balsa. Got it all out and am letting the rest air dry. Found out that a "Multi-tool" with metal cutting blade is the cat's meow for slicing through both fiberglass and, or course, balsa. It makes a saw kerf about one sixteenth inch wide and is very easy to control. So with an old sweatshirt, a shop vac and goggles, respirator and headphones I got to know a little about the innards of my 17. Must be something wrong with me, I enjoyed it. Am looking for a 1/4 inch sheet of Airex to replace the balsa. It has favorable load carrying and impact resistance and is closed cell so will not soak up water. NOT that there will ever be any water in there again. Can't wait to splash my very yellow Montgomery 17. Fair winds, Tom B. M17 #258, 77' On Sun, Apr 13, 2014 at 7:16 PM, Robbin Roddewig < robbin.roddewig@verizon.net> wrote:
Hi M boaters, I had planned on letting the composite shop at the marina handle the wet core under my mast but they were not eager to work on it so I decided that today was a good day to make a hole in the deck. After taking off the hardware including the tabernacle and another compression board I jacked up the ceiling with a post and a floor jack. Then I opened up the deck with a roto zip and a lot of effort since nothing was delaminated. I had enough time to cut back to dry balsa on most all the sides. The balsa right by the holes for the hardware was black but mostly what I removed was wet. Once I get back and verify I have all the wet core out I will see about putting in some solid fibre board. The shop recommended bluewater 26. I was surprised that the bulkhead is not in contact with the ceiling so I guess the design was for the load path from the mast to tie into the bulkhead via the three boards on the end and the trim piece on the top of the bulkhead. It is easier to figure out the loads on an M-17 eh? I will keep the pictures coming as the project moves forward.
Cheers Robbin