Our boat partners got us a good place to park the boat while we’re working on it, so Saturday, we got to work. We emptied the house of everything. Radio, cushions, sucked out water.
I didn’t notice the first two times I looked at the boat, but there was a soft spot on the deck. Woops. If I were paying $15k + for a boat, that’s what a marine survey would have been for. But this one didn’t cost that much. So we started going to town.
We started with an oscillating mulit-tool from the underside, leaving enough space to feather in new glass. Fiberglass boats are usually constructed with a sandwich of polyester resin and fiberglass, a balsa or foam core, and another layer of resin and fiberglass.
What came out of the bow was a big wet mushy mess. Over the next few weeks, almost the entire deck core would have to come out. I’ve been out to work on the a couple of week days each week since we started, cutting, grinding and sanding fiberglass. Even with a Tyvek suit, respirator and goggles, it’s a messy business.
