Hello Wrinkleboaters! I need your wisdom and advice in replacing a small (I hope!) section of wet balsa core. While doing some maintenance last Saturday on my M15, I found some wet balsa core around the strap that holds the jib halyard block on the deck. The deck was not springy or hollow sounding. I only noticed this because there were some brown stains on the bolts in the cabin. The strap is close to the mast step, so I pulled that to check. Balsa looks good there. Whew! My plan is to cut out a 5x5" section centered on the strap and replace it from the inside. Assuming I can cut it away neatly enough, is it OK to reuse the inside skin? Or should I just put new glass on it? Should I use balsa or is there some other gee-wiz core material I should consider? Any special considerations if this has progressed far enough that I have to cut out from under the mast step? Thanks for your help, Charlie -- Charlie Fortner Earth, USA, GA, Atlanta M15 #411
Charlie, I had to replace quite a bit of rotted balsa core in my v-berth area on my 17. NO FUN!!! If you can get at it, I would take out the screws that are holding the strap down and drill out a 1/2 hole down to but not through the cabin liner. Then put a bent nail in a drill and swish around inside the hole to see if you can ascertain just how far the rot had progressed. You may be able to simply pull out the rot with the bent nail and then fill the hole with epoxy. That will leave you with two 1/2+ plugs of epoxy that you can now drill through for the screws to hold down the strap. This is SOP for any fitting that bolts into or through the deck. If you cut up into the ceiling chances are that the ceiling piece will be destroyed when you try to pull it down. That will require you to replace the damaged balsa with some cell sheet made for the purpose and then epoxy it and the cover pieces back in place while twisted up with your back and looking up into all the crap that will fall out of your work area. Advise you try the drill out and epoxy from the top routine first.😉 On Mon, May 18, 2020 at 12:04 PM Charlie Fortner <charlie@rentrof.net> wrote:
Hello Wrinkleboaters!
I need your wisdom and advice in replacing a small (I hope!) section of wet balsa core.
While doing some maintenance last Saturday on my M15, I found some wet balsa core around the strap that holds the jib halyard block on the deck. The deck was not springy or hollow sounding. I only noticed this because there were some brown stains on the bolts in the cabin.
The strap is close to the mast step, so I pulled that to check. Balsa looks good there. Whew!
My plan is to cut out a 5x5" section centered on the strap and replace it from the inside. Assuming I can cut it away neatly enough, is it OK to reuse the inside skin? Or should I just put new glass on it?
Should I use balsa or is there some other gee-wiz core material I should consider?
Any special considerations if this has progressed far enough that I have to cut out from under the mast step?
Thanks for your help,
Charlie -- Charlie Fortner Earth, USA, GA, Atlanta M15 #411
On Mon, May 18, 2020, at 14:02, Thomas Buzzi wrote:
Then put a bent nail in a drill and swish around inside the hole to see if you can ascertain just how far the rot had progressed. You may be able to simply pull out the rot with the bent nail and then fill the hole with epoxy.
Ah! The bent nail. I'd read about that technique, but dismissed it for some dumb reason. I'll try that first. I'd much rather start there than lying on my back with rotten balsa raining down on my face. Charlie
Usually a good way to start fixing something you don't already know completely about is by using the least invasive ways first. When you have hollowed out the opening inspect the balsa, if it is not black but merely damp than aiming your wife's hair dryer into the hole for a while may dry it out. If there are no other soft spots than it is probably safe to simply fill the hole with epoxy and redrill for the strap screws. On Tue, May 19, 2020 at 9:12 AM Charlie Fortner <charlie@rentrof.net> wrote:
On Mon, May 18, 2020, at 14:02, Thomas Buzzi wrote:
Then put a bent nail in a drill and swish around inside the hole to see if you can ascertain just how far the rot had progressed. You may be able to simply pull out the rot with the bent nail and then fill the hole with epoxy.
Ah! The bent nail. I'd read about that technique, but dismissed it for some dumb reason. I'll try that first. I'd much rather start there than lying on my back with rotten balsa raining down on my face.
Charlie
participants (2)
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Charlie Fortner -
Thomas Buzzi