Deck repair

[wcb]

I just bought a 1996 Pursuit 2655 cc. The marine survey indicated high moisture levels in the deck around some of the hatches. Apparently the bolsa wood sandwiched in between fiberglass layers of the deck has become wet. In the short term, I'll rebed screws holding deck hardware, hatches, and access ports. But in the longer run, I'd like to remove and replace the bolsa with injected foam or other material. Does anyone have experience with this issue?

[Tclaude]

I had a similar problem around the anchor locker of my old 27 Tiara. Cored deck that rotted out the bolsa wood. It too was sandwiched between two layers of fiberglass. We tried scrapting out all the rotted wood back to clean wood, then injected high density marine foam into the void. It just never gave me the strenght needed and was always mushy in the area. I think maybe some stiffers were needed in the area because the foam just didn't have the strenght for a surface you are going to stand on.

I finally game up on the foam, cut away the underneath layer of fiberglass and glassed in a new piece of wood (this time marine plywood instead of bolsa). It seems like the foam we can buy locally is not the same stuff the boat builder may use. Also foam like concrete seems to need a mesh or something to give it more strenght.

Just another note: My brother ownes a 29 Tiara and had the same foredeck rotting issue. He hired a marine fiberglass guy to repair his. The guy cut out the lower figerglass and glassed in a piece of composite plastic, it has the strenght needed and feels just as solid as my glassed in marine plywood.