Help with wet balsa core

[coopem5]

I recently noticed some cracking on my deck. I purchased a moisture reader and found some high moisture readings in the deck (caveat, I'm an admittedly recreational fisher / boater) - I know there is a wealth of experience on this board - I'm fairly compitent with epoxy / west system. There are no "dead spots" in the deck, I was thinking I could drill (many 2" holes) and dry the deck w a blower. Has anyone attempted to do a job like this without removing the floor or spending the kids tuition?

Thanks

 

[F/V First Team]

For big issues, say like a hull cored (poorly) with foam core that has had water ingress through clearing ports (which were just cut, not sealed at all) an easy fix is to cut a hole just shy of the size a wet vac hose needs, jam that up in there and then drill a vent hole somewhere else (if need be, the clearing ports were more than enough vent in this example), that way the vacuum will draw out the water over time. You might try that. Home depot has them on sale regularly for like 20 bucks, they even have one that just goes on top of a five gallon pail. Give it a shot.

 

[coopem5]

Thanks, I will try that. In the past I've used WestSystem as a filler. I recently came across this [Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer™ (CPES™) made by Smith & Co. of Richmond California. CPES™] and was wondering if anyone has used it. It is supposed to penetrate any decaying wood and displace any help evaporate remaining moisture as it sets?

I'm open to suggestions.

 

[benenglish76]

Cpes wont work if the substrake isn't dry. Once you have your spongy spots dried out, its works well, but it defintly wont be the same as replacing the wet areas. The thing about wet core is you never know how well it was installed in the first place, and the water could of migrated to various poorly bedded areas throughout the deck. The vacuum method works very well. I e heard stories of repairs were the entire outer skin was pulled off of a soggy area and exposed to sunlight, but why they wouldn't just replace it while it was exposed is a mystery to me.