99 Osprey 245 - Deck Rebuild - Would Love Any Suggestions!

[billy626]

Hi all,

Bought this 99' Osprey 245 this past year and have loved it so far. When I made the purchase, I knew parts of the deck were soft and it would be something to be done over the winter. Well - the winter is here and would love to get any thoughts on how to tackle this project.

First piece: I have reconstructed several boats, so I'm quite handy when it comes to boat reconstruction - fiberglass work, etc. However, I have no experience with cored decks - all my previous rebuilds have been plywood decks straight onto the stringers.

I looked at the one other 245 Osprey rebuild on the form (link below), and it looks like the deck was cut straight through, filled with plywood onto the stringers, then the original top layer of the desk was puttied back on in place.

https://classicaquasport.com/smf/index.php?topic=7421.0

Similar to the above reconstruction, I would love to save the top layer of the deck, as I think the textured deck when it was originally laid in the mold is a nice touch. However, I was under the assumption that with a cored deck, the only way to go about it was to very carefully remove the top layer of deck (without going through the bottom layer of fiberglass), core out the old Balsa (I think its balsa, or so I've read), re-core it, then very carefully re-glass it back in.. Seeing the gentleman cut straight through the deck in the rebuild above makes me feel better that thats an option (as thats what I've done with all my other decks), but I dont want to cut all the way through and be screwed.

I guess the concept of rebuilding a cored deck is what I don't fully understand. My assumption was that you had to "re-core it" and couldn't just lay down on the stringers, but this guy obviously did.

Any help / thoughts would be greatly appreciated! Happy to supply more pictures if needed.

[RickK]

Go to Google and type this into the search box (or copy this and paste into google) - recore decking +site:classicaquasport.com/smf

[msteinkampf]

I think you have three choices to repair a soft deck, i.e. a deck in which the core has rotted.

1. Drill holes in the upper skin and inject epoxy or polyurethane foam, then fill the holes you made. Look here for a system marketed for this:
https://injectadeck.com/. I would consider this only if the damage was localized, or if the core was completely gone, but others may disagree. I don't have any personal experience with doing this, and I didn't think it was right for my own rebuild project.

2. Cut out the deck leaving a lip around the edge about 1 or 2 inches wide and lay a new deck on top of that. I suppose you could salvage the old top fiberglass skin, but in the rebuild threads I have reviewed they just fiber glassed a piece of plywood or some other coring material and sprayed nonskid on that.

3. Cut and lift off the top skin, remove and replace the old core material, and epoxy the skin to the new core. This is what I did. You can review my progress here:
https://classicaquasport.com/smf/index.php?topic=16118.0. I didn't have any trouble limiting my cut to the top skin when I cut it with my angle grinder.

M

[billy626]

@rickk and @msteinkampf, Thanks for the thoughts! Looking into your rebuild now.

[billy626]

I think you have three choices to repair a soft deck, i.e. a deck in which the core has rotted.

1. Drill holes in the upper skin and inject epoxy or polyurethane foam, then fill the holes you made. Look here for a system marketed for this:
https://injectadeck.com/. I would consider this only if the damage was localized, or if the core was completely gone, but others may disagree. I don't have any personal experience with doing this, and I didn't think it was right for my own rebuild project.

2. Cut out the deck leaving a lip around the edge about 1 or 2 inches wide and lay a new deck on top of that. I suppose you could salvage the old top fiberglass skin, but in the rebuild threads I have reviewed they just fiber glassed a piece of plywood or some other coring material and sprayed nonskid on that.

3. Cut and lift off the top skin, remove and replace the old core material, and epoxy the skin to the new core. This is what I did. You can review my progress here:
https://classicaquasport.com/smf/index.php?topic=16118.0. I didn't have any trouble limiting my cut to the top skin when I cut it with my angle grinder.

M

Can you share how any other photos you have on how you fiberglassed / fared the top skin back into the deck to look seamless? I'm assuming you tapered down both sides of your cuts, ran strips of glass in, then fared it smooth? With more research, I feel I've got an idea on how how to core it, but the final touches would also be helpful to see. Thanks!

[msteinkampf]

I haven't done that part of the project yet. I'm planning to taper the gel coat above the seam with a sander or grinder, fill in the depression with a small strip of 6 oz fiberglass cloth and thickened resin, and then spray gelcoat over the filled-in seam. I've got some other parts of the boat that will need gel coat repair, and gel coat resin has a limited shelf life, so I'm going to finish some other repairs before I do that part. Stay tuned.

M