Drying cold moulded plywood

[SvenH]

Hi guys,

Due to a leaking exhaust there has been a puddle of water inside the retrofitted scoop of my cold moulded plywood (epoxy) boat.

The cause has been fixed and I have tried air drying the affected area during one winter. After two seasons there are bubbles on the area suggesting there is still moisture present. A few bubbles have burst showing traces of rust due to rusting steel tacks.

Now I would like to fix this wetness once and for all. But how to go about it?

I have two ideas:

- Trying vacuum drying without any idea of success
- routing out all of the wood only leaving the inside layer of veneer and narrow bands of material to aid in fairing, and then air drying.

Do any of you have experience in similar matters?

 

[joliette]

Hi guys,

Due to a leaking exhaust there has been a puddle of water inside the retrofitted scoop of my cold moulded plywood (epoxy) boat.

The cause has been fixed and I have tried air drying the affected area during one winter. After two seasons there are bubbles on the area suggesting there is still moisture present. A few bubbles have burst showing traces of rust due to rusting steel tacks.

Now I would like to fix this wetness once and for all. But how to go about it?

I have two ideas:

- Trying vacuum drying without any idea of success
- routing out all of the wood only leaving the inside layer of veneer and narrow bands of material to aid in fairing, and then air drying.

Do any of you have experience in similar matters?

Not sure I really understand what the structure is ... Is it really plywood or is it laminated strips of wood? Maybe the rusty tacks were used to hold the laminations / layers of ply together whilst the glue was going off. If it is laminated wood you stand a much better chance of fixing it than if it is plywood, as the water is likely to pentrate more easily and significantly in ply and the rot will get going much faster, in my experience. I've had to tackle both ply and laminated mahogany repairs recently. In both cases I cut out the rot to find sound wood. This involved both the router and also some very patient chipping away with a chisel. If you're lucky the water (and rot) will only have gone as far as the first layer of glue! ... What type of boat is it?