Rot repair advice

[Ian Bamsey]

I'm removing the deck paint on my Tiki 21. The boat is in great shape. However, I've found one small area with some rot.

You can see it is only a small area, but the photo is deceptive as it is as deep as the gunwale is thick (about 20mm). It is dry, flaky and fibrous. It was covered by glass/epoxy. It is a little worse than the photos suggest.

Should I cut a section away and add new wood, or clean out the soft wood and fill with epoxy filler?

I would benefit for your experiences and comments.

[kim whitmyre]

Ian, where possible, I always replace the bulk of the repair with solid wood...I set it in thickened  epoxy, after a neat epoxy layer, and then fill any remaining gaps with thickened epoxy.  This expands and contracts in "harmony" with the established wood/plywood. A plain epoxy repair is a "hard" spot, i.e., less movement than the original material.

[Ian Bamsey]

Kim, this makes sense and was just the sort of advice I was looking for. Thanks.

[Galway Bay]

Ian - Geminidawn has posted some very relevant info. on this topic.

He is -apart from being a native of Galway  which is in itself a laudable achievement - a professional surveyor ++ etc. He teaches his pupils not only to cut out all soft timber but to then treat what timber is left with preservative to 1.5 M each side.

A fine example to follow but not always so easy to do....but in my restoration / rebuild after 20 yrs I treated all timber affected as best I could before filling / scarphing / or as needed. I do not believe it is enough to cut away only what you can see, I believe you must treat what is left even if it is to be covered in epoxy.

[Ian Bamsey]

Thanks, helpful as ever. I'll and away some of the cloth on the gunwales near the damage, and similarly on the deck. I'll treat it as suggested and replace the wood, then recover with cloth etc.