Trojan Boat Forum

wondering if this i something for the do it yourselfer. any info on this problem would be a great help. thanks!

I have spent the last 15 years either repairing or building new boats. Its a tough repair. And better off subbed out.

Are you talking about the cockpit deck, or the foredeck? Here is a photo from my cockpit deck restoration project a couple of seasons ago.

My only caution would be when you start taking stuff apart, you need to be prepared for more issues than you can see from above. When I pulled the delaminating teak plywood cockpit from my '75 F26, the underlying oak frames were badly rotted, along with a portion of the bulkhead that separates the engine compartment from the cabin. I ripped it all out and replaced the fames using 5/4 x6 inch mahogany decking. It was a relatively cost effective solution. The photo shows large hatches I created to provide good access to the engine compartment. Now I have complete access to the mechanicals for maintenance.

While the cockpit deck was out I replaced the fuel tank. After 30 years on salt water, they get dangerous. I've horror stories of spilled fuel due to old leaky tanks.

I finished it off with 3/4 mahogany plank decking over 1/2 in marine plywood. I finished it with black Boat-life in the seams and use teak oil to water-proof it. It looks traditional, but was less expensive than teak, and is holding up well after a couple of seasons. I'll try to find a photo of the finished result. If I had to do it over, I would probably just put down marine plywood, and coat it with epoxy paint.

Good Luck
Chuck

Nice work Chuck!

Man, that looks like a ton of work.......email me pics of the finished deck.....what kind of experience do have with soft decks/balsa restoration?

I think we're talking about the balsa core used in the fore deck and other deck areas of the later '70s Trojans. This being the case there are some good links that were posted earlier this year (March?) on the same topic. Also there are several good links on the web, one of them from West Systems showing how to repair this type of delamination and soft spots from the TOP of the deck. I repaired mine, as advised in earlier posts here, from the BOTTOM of the deck by removing the headliner and going after the repairs upside down. Messy to say the least, but I did not have to worry about screwing up the deck surface/non-skid on top of the boat.

I finally remembered my camera to take some new photos of the deck. I couldn't find the originals from when it was new. Its ready for another coat of teak-oil, but this is what it looks like almost halfway through its third season.

This is 1-in. (not 5/4) round nose Mahogany decking. It was epoxied and screwed down on top of 1/2 in marine plywood over the frames shown in the post above. The planks were placed with 1/8-in. gaps subsequently filled with boatlife deck sealer from a caulking gun. I've used various water sealing finishes over the past two summers, teak oil seems to look and hold up best.

Here is a shot of what it looked like as I was ripping out the old deck. This is the forward port corner of the cockpit. The original teak deck was delaminated. The bulkhead was rotted, and the frames were badly deteriorated. The exhauast mainifold is vissible in the bottom right hand corner - you can also see the original water tank location, which I relocated forward of the engine.


I'll be interested to hear more about balsa deck core repairs too. I'm developing some soft spots on the fore-deck that should get some attention during the off season.

Finally, just for giggles, here is a bird's eye view of the boat, from an arial photographer out of Newport, RI last weekend. Recognize those hatches? There are three rows of three hatches They are 3-ft wide down the middle and I think 21-in. wide on port & starboard. The extra hatches make it much easier to service the engine.

Good Luck
Chuck