What to do about bad wood

[HeadedToTexas]

I discovered some rotting wood while renovating my holding tank vent hose situation. The rotting member is basically the hinge side frame on the engine room door in the day head of our Mariner 37. The door is solid and offers no evidence of weakening. Yesterday while sitting on the port gunwale trying to absorb some breeze I saw the source of the water intrusion. The inset in the photo below shows the top of that rotting member exposed to the surface. It is black and wet and rotted. No softening of the deck at that point (yet), but that well on the side of the pilot house is a collection point for water and I need to do something.

Question is, do I need to replace that piece of wood, or can I glass over and seal the exposed area and rely on the surrounding fiberglass for structure?

 

[lwarden]

To do it right you will need to remove all the wet wood and replace, then re-glass. Anything else will not last IMO. You might consider replacing with a foam core so any future water intrusion doesn't wick and cause further damage. If going foam you need to do the drill, fill and drill for any screws though.

 

[Pete Meisinger]

If you are going to repair it the first thing is that it must be DRY. Sometimes can take a whole year to properly dry.

Then I would try "Git Rot" turns rotten wood into fiberglass.

pete

 

[mike50]

I discovered some rotting wood while renovating my holding tank vent hose situation. The rotting member is basically the hinge side frame on the engine room door in the day head of our Mariner 37. The door is solid and offers no evidence of weakening. Yesterday while sitting on the port gunwale trying to absorb some breeze I saw the source of the water intrusion. The inset in the photo below shows the top of that rotting member exposed to the surface. It is black and wet and rotted. No softening of the deck at that point (yet), but that well on the side of the pilot house is a collection point for water and I need to do something.

Question is, do I need to replace that piece of wood, or can I glass over and seal the exposed area and rely on the surrounding fiberglass for structure?

If it’s a non-structural area, dry it out best you can with a heat gun and use Smith & Company Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer. The product works by wicking into the wood and displacing the moisture. I have been using the product for over 30 years on both wood and FRP boats with great success.

 

[Xlantic]

You should try to remove all the soft wood before repairing. I also like to add an anti-fungal product at this point as well.

Once dry, you can then apply a few coats of Smith's Clear Penetrating Epoxy (CPEs) or Interlux's PU base coat (until it is not absorbed any more and gives a shiny finish).

At that point you fill the gaps, depending on the size, with solid wood and epoxy with a filler or just epoxy and fillers or the above mentioned "Git Rot".

 

[FF]

Git Rot works by using alcohol to chase after the water and bring the epoxy along with it.

As the epoxy is spaced apart by the alcohol , there needs to be more hardener used .

We have been using home brew GR as the materials are usually at hand.