Still at it. I have 6 areas approx, 2 feet by 2 feet opened up. The end grain balsa is in and two layers of woven mat is vacuumed bag under them. I hope to wrap that work up before the big freeze. I will restore the inner layer in the spring. I have learned a lot about fiberglassing upside down. The repair work is great. The sponginess up top has gone and it feels solid to walk on. I am glad the boat will get a new lease on life.

Work Work Work!

I have finished the first damp cabin top area and fiberglassed  it. I used a layer of thick mat, followed by bi-axial cloth. I ground a few imperfections out and added more glass and thickened resin. It looks pretty good. When I stand on the roof top it doesn't bow like it did before. I think will be good for a long time. Each balsa square is individually encapsulated. Even if I miss a leak source, it won't be able to spread. Now I need to find a filler substance to fill the air space between the actual roof and the inner liner which varies in distance (nothing to 3/8 of an inch. I could just fill the entire thing but it would be heavy as well as wasteful. A gallon of West System epoxy is 150 dollars!!!

Another shot of the 'puck system"

 

The Good and the bad

Well, I stopped this blog last year, put the boat away and went to work on my house. I have done a great deal of work to my house, nothing to the boat. Last year, we pulled it and had a survey. Bad news, there were wet areas in the cabin top. I knew there was one, but the testing revealed it was more extensive.
 SO... I gave up for a while and moved onto other projects. I have done a lot of research. The cost of repairing the boat in the yard would run about 20 thousand dollars. Labor is well over 100 dollars an hour. The O'Day has an outer layer of fiberglass, a 3/8 thick layer of end grain balsa wood.
An inner layer of fiberglass and then, another layer, the inside liner!
Problem, how to get at the wet core and repair it. From the top, ruining the diamond finish, from the bottom, cutting up the inner liner? 
I went with the bottom. The next problem was gravity. How do you get a good bond? As far as the end grain balsa goes, I have the answer. I got the idea from Ice cube trays. I purchased a pile of plastic containers from the dollar store and cut them down to 3/8 inside depth. I cut a 'puck' of end grain balsa that fits neatly inside. I mix West System epoxy with their thickening agent and pour a dab in the mold. The 'puck' is pressed into it and the mold is filled to overflowing.

Meanwhile a took a leap of faith and cut away the overhead liner. Then the bottom layer of fiberglass.
I found a weird little world! There was an area of rotten wet wood. It was surrounded by wet but solid wood. I chiseled out the crap. the surrounding area dried out and looked fine. Now to try my molds.
I wire wheeled the surface and cleaned with thinners. I filled the pucks and painted an unthickened coat of epoxy on the bare outside layer. I pushed the mold into place and it stayed! I used a block to support it but it seemed OK without the support.

Here is the result, so far. the light colored layer at the top of the photo is the inner liner. next is the inner layer of the 'sandwich'. The squares each contain a puck of balsa encapsulated in epoxy thickened with the West System material. They are glued to the outer layer. Toward the back you can see some original Balsa that was dry.
I purchased a vacuum pump. I need to find some tackle to build the vacuum system.