Drying out encapsulated wood - Any Magic Solutions out there

[sharmajm]

As part of the winter restoration of my Halcyon 23 I have removed all the toe rails as water had got underneath and it was leaking like a sieve.

Since then I have been trying to dry out the Fibre Glass encapsulated wood into which the toe rails had been screwed.

So far I have drilled out the old screws with a 10 mm drill, intending to use a combination of epoxy and dowel to completely seal the holes once they are dry.

We ave tried a number of drying techniques including, hot air guns and do nothing, but the best so far is to keep packing the holes with rolled up newspaper.

This is laborious and time consuming and the season is disappearing in front of my eyes!!.

I guess the two questions are:

- Any other bright ideas?

- How dry do I need to get it before I can risk sealing the whole thing in epoxy? As an indication I have gone from sopping wet to the newpaper being damp after 1/2 hour in the hole.

Any thoughts gratefully received. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[steve28]

I dont know if there is a quick answer, you may be better sealing the leaks and put it back for this season and do the job in full next year. Also if you follow this advise you could drill some holes on the inside this will allow it to dry as the season progresses.
I found this link relating to core repairs, i saved the link as i have to do some where the glass had de-shelled from the core.
http://www.westsystem.com/ewmag/19/Replacing_Core.html

hope its of help

steve

 

[alan]

I think Steve has pointed you in the right direction. I think you will have to get in there and ream out all the soaked core and then fill it with epoxy, and drill and tap new holes for the screws. But the epoxy will not work properly if it is damp. The best known technique is to use an Allen key in a drill to ream out the core .... I think the method is described in the West system documents.

Good luck,
Alan.

 

[Lakesailor]

That sounds like a nightmare.
Are they just toerails? No stressed components attached?
Why not epoxy the rails back onto the grp and forget the fastenings? That would also seal the leaks.
I don't know about the damp remaining in the encapsulated wood though.

 

[oldsaltoz]

G'day Jon,

Before you do anything, talk to the builders, manufacturers or designer and find out if the timber is structural or just a filler to provide a profile as some are, if this is the case, use an epoxy resin suitable for wet application and refit the toe rail.

Drying encapsulated timber is best done using time rather than heat, it takes a lot longer but does less damage, based on the assumption that it is not going to remain wet long enough to rot.

You need holes, and you need lots of them, they do not have to be large, small holes close to each other do a better job than a few large ones.

Using rolled paper to remove the moisture by capillary action is ok, however a small cloth will do the same thing and not require regular replacement.

Drilling from inside will work fine provided the internal ventilation is good, and would be the way to go.

With this method (drilling inside) you 'may' be able to achieve both your objectives, the first being to dry the timber.

The second, reconnecting the toe rail; could be done with a heat gun and epoxy mixed with glue fibres and a rapid set epoxy, as the total area is quite small heating of the fast cure epoxy would not be a problem, and the fact that the area would be warm to hot when the epoxy mix is added will only speed up the curing process and lessen the risk of water damage during curing using normal epoxy resins with fibre fillers.

Working on a few holes at a time you should be able to create a local dry area that will remain dry long enough for the fast cure epoxy to start curing, there are fast cure epoxies that will cure underwater, so you should have no problems here.

But you 'must' provide an outlet for the moisture trapped when you plug the toe rail holes, or you will have a bigger job next season.

I hope this helps.

Avagoodweekend.

 

[30boat]

I have a book on fiberglass boats repairs that says that a good way to dry out a water soaked core is by injecting acetone into it.It appears that the acetone takes the water with it when it evaporates.Of course you'd still need a lot of holes and probably a lot of acetone as well.Faced with a similar problem,I went for the tried and trusted system and cut the deck open and replaced the core,so I don't know how effective this method is.
Maybe somebody knows more about this.

 

[tcm]

good stuf.

yes, i would reckon that drying encapsulated wood is gonna need some drain holes using the ole gravity thing rather than merely holes above to "air" the wood. Any way this can be done?

 

[aitchw]

[ QUOTE ]
Using rolled paper to remove the moisture by capillary action is ok, however a small cloth will do the same thing and not require regular replacement.


[/ QUOTE ]

Just to add to oldsaltoz advice strips of those high absorbency soak up cloths are brilliant for wicking water away and are useful in all sorts of places around boats.

 

[sharmajm]

All,

Thanks for your replies I have plenty to work from. I am convinced that the wood is not structural as it runs parallel to another that obviously is. It is only about 1 1/2" wide and 1/2" deep so cannot image it provided a great deal of support.

Many thanks

Jon