Greetings..and thin deck laminate.

Oscar · Post by **Oscar** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 6:53 am

Greetings, new to this forum. Not new to forums or fixing boats.

The latest manifestation of my marine insanity is a folding tri, a 1990 Dragonfly 25. The picture is a sister ship of the non-folding variety:

The important pieces are there. Good sails, trailer. Decent engine. Some electronics. It needs a lot of elbow grease.

For starters, there are bad spots in the ama decks. They are a laminate, although very thin. Balsa core of about 1/4". The bad spots are cracked on deck and flexing. Weight is everything on a multi hull, so I suspect that it trumped over strength in the design process.

I have searched around here, and found some discussion on deck repair, but I think because of the thin core I have a unique situation here.

I can remove the outer deck in the soft spots. The core will most likely come with it. Then I can try and re-core with balsa, although at 1/4" that sounds tedious. I can just fill with solid epoxy, or I can use foam. Your thoughts? And if foam, what kind and where does one get it?

Thanks.

Post by **Tim** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 7:21 am

For the repairs you anticipate, I suggest you replace the structure in kind--that is, use balsa to recore the areas you open up. It sounds as though the structure is adequate for what the boat's designed purpose is, and that the issues at hand stem more from construction practice than any manifestation of structural deficiency. There's no need for thicker or heavier materials in the application you describe (narrow ama decks). It is a lightweight, lightly-constructed boat, and that suits it.

Tedious? I'm not sure why this approach would be any more or less tedious than another, but in any event that's just how it is sometimes.

Oscar · Post by **Oscar** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 7:24 am

Thanks. How do I create 1/4" end grain balsa, or is it for sale like that?

Post by **Tim** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 9:00 am

Here's one source for 1/4" balsa core, as an example.

Link: 1/4" Contourkore at Defender

Oscar · Post by **Oscar** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 11:42 am

Excellent. Can you point me to any threads on this forum where someone has documented the process?

Jason K · Post by **Jason K** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 12:11 pm

Hi Oscar,

Welcome to the forum. Core repair is a very popular topic here, nearly as much as heads and holding tanks!

This forum has a search function (near the top of the page). I recommend using the "and","or" qualifiers to avoid getting an overbroad search. Try searching "core and repair."

Tim meticulously documented the core repair process on his website at: http://www.triton381.com/projects/resto ... ecore.html

This is a link to a good thread on the topic here on this forum: http://www.plasticclassicforum.com/view ... ore+repair

This is something many here have done - the project is big but not difficult. If you have any specific questions, I'm sure you'll get fast and knowledgable answers.

Oscar · Post by **Oscar** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 1:06 pm

Thanks, yes I suspected that this horse would be on life support. I did a search but still came up with a pile of non related stuff, even after attempting some Boolean qualifiers. Thanks again.

Oscar · Post by **Oscar** » Thu Dec 25, 2008 4:10 pm

Read the two links. Very good stuff. Next steps is to get the floats inside (four years of building a shop paying off), grinding down the anti skid (sand in paint type) and putting a cutting bit on a dremmel with a router base and start cutting out the cracked areas. I don't want to reuse skins with a lot of cracks in them for obvious reasons. Keep increasing the perimeter until I run into dry core. Re-core and then glass up, and repaint with anti skid.

I will post pictures in the project section.