[QUOTE=CarlinLA;438037]Ok, with access... I noticed the underside of the aft deck has delaminated.
And water has been passing through the area including the little 2-inch beams. when I removed a screw from the beam it came out wet.
This is the area where the base of the flybridge ladder mounts - perhaps the ladder mounting screws did it in.
I found a soft spot on Salty between the where ladder mounts and the deck drain hole was piped at the aft corner of the main cabin. I needed to redo the drain system anyway so my solution was to cut out the top layer of fiberglass deck (thankfully, Salty does not have teak decks), remove the wet inner layer of plywood, and fill with West system epoxy. I then topped with thickened epoxy so I could get the right slope for drainage, then sand to finish. I am still in the sanding phase of the job and will finish by painting to match the surrounding areas. Fortunately I caught it early and it was a reasonably small area - about 12 inches square.
On the flybridge I have a larger area to deal with around where the access hatch for the ladder is. I am finding most of that is soft and I will have to tackle it in a similar fashion. Such is the nature of 30+ year old boats. What am I saying - I am well beyond that and have some repair work done and more needed too
John