Discover this spring wet core in lower half of the transom and in the starboard side hull from the transom forward to the keel, from the water line down to the centerline. Likely source is exhaust tube and engine water inlet. Core samples indicate balsa is wet, but not yet rotted. Balsa came out normal color (not black), saturated with water.

I have seen the info on this site and related blogs about recoring. With this extensive an area (at least 100 sqft), a professional recoring is not possible given my limited financial commitment to the boat. Likewise, I am not in a position to do it myself.

Ideally, I would like to sell to someone with the time/skill/money, but, in lieu of that, I am seeking alternative methods to repair other than recoring. Is it possible to open the core to the air by drilling a grid of holes thru the outer skin, and allowing to dry over a winter? Or drill from the inside, and run a humidifier for several months to dry out the core??

Any ideas you have heard of, or leads to sites/blogs where project like this have been completed would be welcome.

Rob - my two cents since I had the exact same problem on Rhapsody. First - you need to stop the source. Start at the transom. Cut the outer skin starting from around the exhaust tube and incrementally work your way up and to the port side until you reach dry balsa. My stbd backstay chainplate had mush for core so I had to go to the top. I know it sounds like a lot of work, but you could recore this area yourself, and leave the finish work (final fairing and painting with Gelcoat or Awlgrip) to a pro if you are uncomfortable getting a factory finish.

When the transom is recored, you need to isolate with epoxy any bolt holes and the exhaust tube. You also should create a barrier between the transom and intersection with the core on the side and bottom of the hull so moisture can't spread.

Finally, the core replacement in the bottom can be done after the fact, and most from inside the boat so gravity works with you. I've seen some posts on drilling holes and leaving core open to dry, but I'm not convinced it is all that effective.

I would recommend to at least get the transom done as soon as possible to stop the source.

I had the same problems as well. I did exactly as Bill stated, I isolated the sources of the water and put west systems barriers between the transom and the side and bottom on the starboard side. I also took out the water intake and found it damp. I dried it out, after I cut out about two inches of Balsa all around the hole and filled it with West Systems with a 406 filler mixed in isolating all the holes in the bottom. I have been slowly re-coring from the inside where I can and plan eventually to re-core on the outside. Take your time and do it right and you will be happy with results. There are many threads on the this page that show you exactly how to do this.


Velocity Girl #278
Canaan Leonard

I'd like to meet the guy that designed that engine exhaust. For only a few more $, they could have put in a proper system, and saved us all lots and lots of time/money.

hope you can see the pic,
more to follow,
boat isn't in the water yet, so I have some time.....

http://picasaweb.google.com/stefaninesemrobin/Repairboat2010#