Flybridge Core project

[gitchisum]

Pulled the boat and winterized. Had an impulse to start the re-core project on my fly bridge floor. Thought I would find the first layer pretty soggy but found that both layers of core were bad. Should be fun!

Photo is after digging out both layers in a 4 x 8 section. Think I will use Tricel instead of foam or wood. Anyone with good or bad to say about Tricel, please do. Plan on Calling Bob in the am.

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[AndyF32]

Wow that looks great. Good idea to go after the whole area at once. I did a small section on mine and now need to chase it a bit further.

[gitchisum]

Finally spent the last week putting new core in the fly bridge.
Decided on using Balsa after a few conversations with Bob, Thanks Bob!!!

First pic is first 1" core layer going in.

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Then .125 Mat layer glassed in over that.

Then additional 3/4" layer of balsa, which I smoothed with thickened Epoxy before laying original skin back down

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IMG_20190419_102216.jpg (60.08 KiB) Viewed 12607 times

Other than fighting the less than 50 degree weather, it went well. Used total boat 5:1 epoxy with good results

Didn't snap a pic after grinding and glassing the top skin, all I have left is to fair and paint.

[Captrichc]

Excellent job!!!!Are you going to just fare the cut lines? Or are you going to fill it with epoxy first? I would recommend just using gelcoat. The color will blend after a season or 2 and you wont even know it was done.

[prowlersfish]

Nice work . Not a fun project for sure

[WayWeGo]

It looks like you were able to remove the top skin in one piece and reuse it. Did it come off easily or was it difficult? How did you support the bottom layer while working on it? Scaffolding in the salon?

[gitchisum]

It was a fun learning process, but a bugger of a project. Resin was taking 2 and 3x as long to kick with the temps. Had to go a little heavy on the catalyst the first part of the week.

The cut lines were ground and a mat layer glasses in to avoid print through. Plan is to sand then fair that, followed by a coat of Interdeck (interlux) non skid. Already had a coat of that up there, so going with another.

WayweGo, I did cut it in one piece. I was not easy to get out, but better than several pieces to work with. Spend considerable time grinding it smooth before laying it back down.

This project scared me before I did it, looking back it was not as bad as I feared. Although I have about 60 hours into it, mostly because of weather.

[BeaconMarineBob]

Excellent
Please post pictures of finished results.
Thank you for sharing, this well help a lot of people.

[WayWeGo]

I am curious about the decision to use balsa. I realize it is stronger than many alternatives, but it seems a bit out of favor these days.

[gitchisum]

I am curious about the decision to use balsa. I realize it is stronger than many alternatives, but it seems a bit out of favor these days.

I was sold on TriCel when I decided to take on this project. The fact that the weight of Tricel was less, chance of rot was less, high tech stuff! It was several conversations with Bob that brought me back to using Balsa. ( Always trust the Guru!!)

When I considered the steps I would need to do to use the Tricel and get a proper layup, and compared that against the steps doing the same job with Balsa, Balsa won! If I were to construct panels, I would use Tricel, but using a honeycomb material would not allow me to get the middle glass layer in place. I would have had to construct a mold, and then layup a glass panel that I would use to create a panel to epoxy down, then epoxy the top layer to the skin and glass that down. Was nice to build up from the bottom. It should be another 31 years before a problem occurs, if at all.

I have not included finish product as I sold the boat a couple of weeks ago. I will try to get a few shots from the new owner and post them. We are in the market for a 80's/early 90's 48 - 52 Viking or Hatteras if anyone has any leads. Need a 3 stateroom layout.

[WayWeGo]

Thanks for the explanation!