Core rot under the Sampson Post
Posted: Fri Jan 24, 2014 1:44 pm
Hi all,
My refurbishment was going as planned and on track until I went to install a new Sampson post and when I was tightening it down the bow deck area was compressing. Thinking to myself... Hmmm, that's not a good sign I promptly undid the Sampson post, grabbed a hammer and unfortunately, I got a dull thud instead of a nice ping when tapping the area.
This is something I would not have felt comfortable working on but after spending the last 7 months refurbishing my Investigator 563 I'm pretty confident to now tackle most if not all jobs.
I mapped out the differential in noise as much as I could using a hammer and then proceeded to cut out the top layer of glass to get at the rot. My newly acquired 'multitool' was simply fantastic as it cut through the top layer of glass but not through the bottom layer.
The next photos say it all.... rotten to the core
Some cleaning with the multitool and some more digging got me to dry wood, thank goodness it was only a few cm from my initial cutout. The area was cleaned up to get me back to glass on the base and top.
I force filled the small gaps between the bottom and top layer of fiberglass that I did not cut out but gouged out with an epoxy/filler mix via a large syringe.
I then cut out a new 4mm marine ply core piece, did a dry fit and fine tuned its shape. I wet the ply down with unfilled epoxy mix and bonded the ply to the bottom layer of decking fiberglass with a lightly mixed epoxy/filler combination. Then once the new core was in, I mixed a heavier but still 'fluid' epoxy/filler mix and poured that down to fill the seams.
Once the seams were thoroughly filled with the epoxy/filler fluid mix I epoxied the top fiberglass piece back on top. To hold the fibreglass top piece in place I screwed a scrap piece of wood to the deck, wedges a firm piece of rubber underneath the wood and used it as a fulcrum to press the top layer to the marine ply to the bottom layer.
Once the mix has cured, I'll add a little bit of fairing, some primer and a quick 2 pack paint touch up and I'll be able to reassemble my Sampson Post again
Feeling confident that my work should reap rewards but I'll soon know tomorrow when I take the fulcrum off to check. So far so good (I think)
UPDATE 2:
Part 2 of the rotten deck refurbishment was to glass over the refurbished rot area on the bow simply to give the refurbished rot area more strength.
Had to Feathered out the edges to allow the glass to be layered up.
I'll start layering the glass/epoxy tomorrow only because I ran out of epoxy today lol
UPDATE 3:
Rot refurbishment area now covered with 3 progressive layers of fiberglass ( using polyester resin because the local West epoxy dealer only orders in and does, not stock it yet he is a dealer). The polyester resin will be ok because I ground back to the original polyester resin/fiberglass to give me a good working surface. Would have preferred epoxy but feel confident this will be sufficient.
I'll sand down to give be the required finish, fair it off and whack on a lick of 2 component primer and then paint. Then reattach the Sampson post. I feel confident that this fix will help me sleep well at anchor although, I'll not actually sleep well at anchor lol
Cheers, Pete
My refurbishment was going as planned and on track until I went to install a new Sampson post and when I was tightening it down the bow deck area was compressing. Thinking to myself... Hmmm, that's not a good sign I promptly undid the Sampson post, grabbed a hammer and unfortunately, I got a dull thud instead of a nice ping when tapping the area.
This is something I would not have felt comfortable working on but after spending the last 7 months refurbishing my Investigator 563 I'm pretty confident to now tackle most if not all jobs.
I mapped out the differential in noise as much as I could using a hammer and then proceeded to cut out the top layer of glass to get at the rot. My newly acquired 'multitool' was simply fantastic as it cut through the top layer of glass but not through the bottom layer.
The next photos say it all.... rotten to the core
Some cleaning with the multitool and some more digging got me to dry wood, thank goodness it was only a few cm from my initial cutout. The area was cleaned up to get me back to glass on the base and top.
I force filled the small gaps between the bottom and top layer of fiberglass that I did not cut out but gouged out with an epoxy/filler mix via a large syringe.
I then cut out a new 4mm marine ply core piece, did a dry fit and fine tuned its shape. I wet the ply down with unfilled epoxy mix and bonded the ply to the bottom layer of decking fiberglass with a lightly mixed epoxy/filler combination. Then once the new core was in, I mixed a heavier but still 'fluid' epoxy/filler mix and poured that down to fill the seams.
Once the seams were thoroughly filled with the epoxy/filler fluid mix I epoxied the top fiberglass piece back on top. To hold the fibreglass top piece in place I screwed a scrap piece of wood to the deck, wedges a firm piece of rubber underneath the wood and used it as a fulcrum to press the top layer to the marine ply to the bottom layer.
Once the mix has cured, I'll add a little bit of fairing, some primer and a quick 2 pack paint touch up and I'll be able to reassemble my Sampson Post again
Feeling confident that my work should reap rewards but I'll soon know tomorrow when I take the fulcrum off to check. So far so good (I think)
UPDATE 2:
Part 2 of the rotten deck refurbishment was to glass over the refurbished rot area on the bow simply to give the refurbished rot area more strength.
Had to Feathered out the edges to allow the glass to be layered up.
I'll start layering the glass/epoxy tomorrow only because I ran out of epoxy today lol
UPDATE 3:
Rot refurbishment area now covered with 3 progressive layers of fiberglass ( using polyester resin because the local West epoxy dealer only orders in and does, not stock it yet he is a dealer). The polyester resin will be ok because I ground back to the original polyester resin/fiberglass to give me a good working surface. Would have preferred epoxy but feel confident this will be sufficient.
I'll sand down to give be the required finish, fair it off and whack on a lick of 2 component primer and then paint. Then reattach the Sampson post. I feel confident that this fix will help me sleep well at anchor although, I'll not actually sleep well at anchor lol
Cheers, Pete