Gonna tackle a soft spot

Pat Hurley

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 22, 2020
Messages
252
Reaction score
113
Points
43
Age
67
Location
OCMD
Model
Marlin
I have a soft spot to the port side of my Bomar cabin hatch on my Marlin. It’s a small area about 12” square I detected when we purchased the boat last fall. I suspect it got there via the hatch cut out not being sealed correctly or possibly from around the hardtop pipe work support that is fastened to the cabin.

I figure we can remove the Bomar to see if that’s where the water intrusion came from and excavate the coring, dry it out and insert some splines, epoxy fill and reseal. We’re going to do this when the boat is hauled and shrink wrapped to avoid any weather problems. The only other option would be to cut from above, remove the exterior skin and repair coring since the interior liner prevents reasonable access. This would require more cosmetic work which I’d like to avoid.

I’ll take pictures, document and share the repair process when we get to it next month…. Anyone run into this issue ?
 
An easy fix, not as pretty, would be drilling some holes about every 3-4 inches just through the top skin to the core. Can use a bent nail or Allen wrench in a drill to remove some rotten core material. Then refill with penetrating epoxy and marinetex the top of drilled holes.

see ‘repair rotted core method 2’

 
I just noticed the same problem on my 282 in the same spot. Definitely keep us updated, I’m going to try to fix it this winter.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Halfhitch