TROJAN F-36 SOFT SPOTS

[RIGGED4PLEASURE]

I bought my 1974 f-36 last year i have been restoring it, i am going to start working on the soft spots on the bow any suggestions would be great i would like to fix the soft spots and paint the bow with some kind of product like is used for spray on bedliners or a similer plyable anti-skid product.

[F36]

[quote="RIGGED4PLEASURE"]I bought my 1974 f-36 last year i have been restoring it, i am going to start working on the soft spots on the bow any suggestions would be great i would like to fix the soft spots and paint the bow with some kind of product like is used for spray on bedliners or a similer plyable anti-skid product.[/quote]

Hi
I have a 73 F36 in great shape but it too has some soft sports on the forward deck. I understand that it's caused by the deterioriation of the bulsa laminate sandwich in the deck struture due to water penetration. I'm about to start on mine and I will after some research either cut open sections of the deck and lift off the pieces or I will drill several 1-inch vent holes(each end or top and bottom of the soft spot) into the laminate clean out what I can and then use a high viscosity(thin) resin to flood the affect areas using large disposable hypodermic needles (get then at fiberglass suppliers)resin delivered space with compressed air to help move it in. I will then relaminate the section or plugs and refinish the deck.

[Danny Bailey]

I posted my topic before I saw yours. I have the same problem on a 1980 F-36. Since the top layer of F/G is the thickest, and the bottom layer is not stable enough to glass on by itself, I decided to try to repair it from the bottom. I cut two inch holes in the bottom of the foredeck with a drill and holesaw, dig out the wet / rotten balsa wood with whatever works best, let the area dry thoroughly and then fill it with a mixture of polyester resin, thickeners, milled F/G & 1/4 inch chopped F/G. I space the holes close enough together so that I can get out all the bad balsa. An empty caulking tube with a duct tape collar works great for filling the holes. The first area I repaired has held up for two years now.

[F36]

Hi
I've had my '77 F36 for over a year now and are slowly working through all the issues I have with the boat. I feel I'm about 90% done now and she's nearly ready to go. I use to build surfboards and I've maintained many boats over the past forty years, so fiberglass doesn't phase me. My way of fixing my the soft spots in my deck was the simplest and most effective I could figure out, without having a boatyard charge me for another child's college education. When the surveyor pointed out these spots on my boat, I searched around the internet and then finally took a good look at what was causing my problem with my soft deck area. What I can discern is this: The gelcoat breaks down(UV-I think) exposing the cloth, once the top layer is broken water can enter easily, destroying the very soft bulsawood composite. These can be cracks or crazing or an area that looks like rash. I could feel some of the cloth fibers standing up even before I tackled this. Some of this area had been partly repaired? (covered up) before my ownership. So I ground down all the deterioated gelcoat, used a electric Roto Zip tool to follow the run of the cracks to gelcoat depth only, a pointed grout scraper and sander to open out every other deck crack(how ever small) or worn out area of the deck. I then filled or recoated the affected areas with a wet coat of marine white filler using a plastic speader. Some areas required two or three applications of filler. After it set, I sanded it and finished it clean. With that done I marked out the soft spot, (12-inches by 15-inches) drilled several 5/8th holes at the top of the area and several 5/8 hole at the bottom. Using large syrigines from Tap Plastics, I injected a slow-setting flexible resin into the cavity(talk to your fiberglas resin supplier to figure this one out). It took a quart to fill this space, as it's a 3/4 inch tall cavity where the bulsawood formally stood. Take extra care to only drill through the first layer of the deck-Popping out the bottom would make for alot of extra work. I kept forcing resin into the cavity till it started flooding out the lower holes. I then bunged the lower holes with dowls and kept on filling from the top till it was spurting back out the other top hole. I then bunged off both these holes with dowls and left it to set for 24 hours. It worked perfectly, No more soft spot! I then sanded the whole deck, taped it off and then painted it with two coats of West Marine textured Non-Slip grey epoxy. Looks bitchin.' Even the guys at the Marina were duely impressed. Cost: two Saturdays, $25 worth of filler, $10 sandpaper, $8-two syringes, $5-grout scraper, $6-rubber gloves, $4-dowls, $20-Roto Zip drills, $12-in blue tape, $65-deck paint, $11-roller and bushes(disposable for hardware store) and rags. $141 - Priceless!
Final Point:Make sure you have extra resin, running out doing this would be a real pain in the stern.

[F36]

Hi
I've had my '77 F36 for over a year now and are slowly working through all the issues I have with the boat. I feel I'm about 90% done now and she's nearly ready to go. I use to build surfboards and I've maintained many boats over the past forty years, so fiberglass doesn't phase me. My way of fixing my the soft spots in my deck was the simplest and most effective I could figure out, without having a boatyard charge me for another child's college education. When the surveyor pointed out these spots on my boat, I searched around the internet and then finally took a good look at what was causing my problem with my soft deck area. What I can discern is this: The gelcoat breaks down(UV-I think) exposing the cloth, once the top layer is broken water can enter easily, destroying the very soft bulsawood composite. These can be cracks or crazing or an area that looks like rash. I could feel some of the cloth fibers standing up even before I tackled this. Some of this area had been partly repaired? (covered up) before my ownership. So I ground down all the deterioated gelcoat, used a electric Roto Zip tool to follow the run of the cracks to gelcoat depth only, a pointed grout scraper and sander to open out every other deck crack(how ever small) or worn out area of the deck. I then filled or recoated the affected areas with a wet coat of marine white filler using a plastic speader. Some areas required two or three applications of filler. After it set, I sanded it and finished it clean. With that done I marked out the soft spot, (12-inches by 15-inches) drilled several 5/8th holes at the top of the area and several 5/8 hole at the bottom. Using large syrigines from Tap Plastics, I injected a slow-setting flexible resin into the cavity(talk to your fiberglas resin supplier to figure this one out). It took a quart to fill this space, as it's a 3/4 inch tall cavity where the bulsawood formally stood. Take extra care to only drill through the first layer of the deck-Popping out the bottom would make for alot of extra work. I kept forcing resin into the cavity till it started flooding out the lower holes. I then bunged the lower holes with dowls and kept on filling from the top till it was spurting back out the other top hole. I then bunged off both these holes with dowls and left it to set for 24 hours. It worked perfectly, No more soft spot! I then sanded the whole deck, taped it off and then painted it with two coats of West Marine textured Non-Slip grey epoxy. Looks bitchin.' Even the guys at the Marina were duely impressed. Cost: two Saturdays, $25 worth of filler, $10 sandpaper, $8-two syringes, $5-grout scraper, $6-rubber gloves, $4-dowls, $20-Roto Zip drills, $12-in blue tape, $65-deck paint, $11-roller and bushes(disposable for hardware store) and rags. $141 - Priceless!
Final Point:Make sure you have extra resin, running out doing this would be a real pain in the stern.

[Danny Bailey]

F-36,
Sounds like your method may be a good temporary fix for small soft spots, but what happens when the wet balsa wood around the filled area rots? The forward 5 feet of my foredeck was soft, and I dug out bucketfulls of mushy, wet, rotten balsa wood. This stuff may be fine for model airplanes but is a problem waiting to happen when it is used on boats. The method I am using is very labor intensive, and I had to remove the headliner, anchor windlass and air conditioner but it will be all fiberglass when I finish, with nothing in there to soak up water and rot. One reason for using balsa coring is the weight savings, but once it gets saturated with water, it is just as heavy as solid fiberglass, so I'll be no worse off in that respect. Let me know how your repair holds up. I have the same problem on the flybridge floor and I may try your method there. Danny

[F36]

Danny,
I would agree with you that this method is only good for a small area. Luckily, that's all I had but I will point out that you have to stop the water peneration along with the fixing the soft spot. If I had a larger soft spot I would have opened it up in pieces, cleaned it out and then reset the whole deck from either above or below. So far so good, its been about three months.

[Danny Bailey]

F-36,
I totally agree on stopping the water penetration. My source was the anchor windlass. It was bedded with something that looks like gray auto body putty. I later rebedded the bow rails (with Sikaflex) and they too had that awful gray sticky putty under them.

[Buckknekkid]

did either of you take photos of the process?

[Danny Bailey]

I had some but lost them when my hard drive died last July. The way I'm fixing my foredeck is probably the most extreme and makes the most mess. I have the entire V-berth area stripped out....all the headliner, wall covering and foam covered plywood is gone down to the bare hull. If pictures would help, let me know and I'll post some.

[willietrojan]

When I fixed mine deck I used Plasti-Kote truck bedliner paint (white),
looks great!

http://www.plastikote.com/plastikote/au ... t=BedLiner

[Buckknekkid]

I had some but lost them when my hard drive died last July. The way I'm fixing my foredeck is probably the most extreme and makes the most mess. I have the entire V-berth area stripped out....all the headliner, wall covering and foam covered plywood is gone down to the bare hull. If pictures would help, let me know and I'll post some.

Bin there done that last year, worst part is reinstalling the headliner, you have to hire four octopusses (pi)

check this out for a project we are doing this year

http://boatdesign.net/forums/showthread ... #post73206

[lakeguy72]

On my 1977 F-32 I replaced a large section of the foredeck, 5' of the starboard deck and around both trunk cabin hatches. I removed the top skin(in many pieces), ground out the rotted balsa and installed foam core bedded in biply and mat and topped with more mat. Then I vacuum bagged the areas. I used bonding putty at the old/new core interface during the layup process. The bagged area was tabbed to the surrounding areas usine several layers of 1-2" taping, I then used a fairing compound to smooth the area. I then rolled new gelcoat on the deck,trunk and both side decks, followed by Interlux two part epoxp primer and topcoat. The final topcoat contained non-skid material.
It was a lot of work but the job came out great. I then wet sanded(400,600,800,1200 grit) followed by buffing with an automotive finish compound the bridge, house,toe rail and stern deck. The boat looks like new. I also added a hardtop and enclosure. I've owned this boat since 1983. This spring I will restore the cockpit sole.
Lakeguy

[Danny Bailey]

Buckknekkid, Checked out the pictures of your project. Reminds me of the 3 years I worked on a 1974 Chris Craft in the back yard. My cockpit sole in the Trojan is all fiberglass (thank the Lord!!)

Lakeguy72, Sounds like you took the time to do a professional and permanent job. Thanks for the ideas.

Danny