Rhylsailer99
Well-Known Member
On the top of my boat near fixings the wood in-between the fiberglass is black and soggy. Is this bad and how would I get the moisture out from between the fiberglass . The boat is now out of the water. Its a cobra 850
Moisture inside grp
- Thread starter Rhylsailer99
- Start date
Rhylsailer99
Well-Known Member
I mainly noticed it around the 2 glands that connect the wires to the mast the plug in type .
D
Deleted member 36384
Guest
If the wood core has rotted then the deck area may flex as the GRP has lost some support. It can be easy to fix if only a small area.
Instruction manuals, book, videos & workshops - WEST SYSTEM Epoxy Click on the Application Specific Epoxy Manuals and select https://www.westsystem.com/wp-content/uploads/Fiberglass-Manual-2015.pdf Go to Section 3.2 The Youtube link from the first link may also help.
Normally, a simple repair could be oversizing the hole and gouging out the rotten wood, drying and just back filling with relevant Epoxy fillers and then drilling the hole again for the cable transit. A more complex repair could be curing out a section of GRP, removing the damaged wood, bonding balsa or other material back in, then gluing back down the GRP section removed and fairing the cut lines. If the core was not rotten, sometimes just drying and drilling small holes and injecting Epoxy can be a solution.
As it is at the mast base it may be worth exploring further as these areas can have ply pads under the fibreglass to spread mast loads where normal balsa core would not be suitable. The mast is probably sitting on a raised section go GRP, this is where the ply base is instead of balsa. I dont know the Cobra design but it could also be solid GRP here, so a moot point.
Although West Epoxy products are stated, there are other Epoxy products n the market that are just as good and lower costs.
East Coast Fibreglass Supplies ECF are also very helpful.
Instruction manuals, book, videos & workshops - WEST SYSTEM Epoxy Click on the Application Specific Epoxy Manuals and select https://www.westsystem.com/wp-content/uploads/Fiberglass-Manual-2015.pdf Go to Section 3.2 The Youtube link from the first link may also help.
Normally, a simple repair could be oversizing the hole and gouging out the rotten wood, drying and just back filling with relevant Epoxy fillers and then drilling the hole again for the cable transit. A more complex repair could be curing out a section of GRP, removing the damaged wood, bonding balsa or other material back in, then gluing back down the GRP section removed and fairing the cut lines. If the core was not rotten, sometimes just drying and drilling small holes and injecting Epoxy can be a solution.
As it is at the mast base it may be worth exploring further as these areas can have ply pads under the fibreglass to spread mast loads where normal balsa core would not be suitable. The mast is probably sitting on a raised section go GRP, this is where the ply base is instead of balsa. I dont know the Cobra design but it could also be solid GRP here, so a moot point.
Although West Epoxy products are stated, there are other Epoxy products n the market that are just as good and lower costs.
East Coast Fibreglass Supplies ECF are also very helpful.
neil_s
Well-Known Member
I have some patches of that on my boat, too. Notably under the cockpit seats, where strips of teak were screwed down without sound sealing under them. Since it wasn't an area immediately visible, I cut some 1 inch diameter holes in the inner laminate to let the wood dry out, removed the teak and sealed up the top surface. The seats are a little spongy in places, but I have decided that I can live with it.
Wansworth
Well-Known Member
Worked in a boat building factory mainly unskilled labour learning on the job very little quality control as long as you can weld a brush and slap on erasing in an unheated shed,not surprised problems with bonding and water ingress over time,hopefully boats made theses days won’t suffer problems
