Shocking Discovery

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1st grady

GreatGrady Captain
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I was having a problem with the trash can cover for a 95 Islander. The gelcoat was popping off around the pull up handle and the underside was hollow. (separated from the core) I started cutting away the underside coating and discovered a product like Masonite (or pressed board) used as the core. I thought it would have been plywood but the MASONITE just crumbled away. The culprit is the pull up handle with a rubber washer underneath. It appears that water worked its way down the hole for the handle and saturated the masonite core.
Solution: recore with qaulity plywood and overdrill the hole for the handle and fill with epoxy, re-glass the underside then off to the fiberglass guys to re-coat the textured top. (it is like an abrasive substance under the gelcoat, not the blotchy coating anti-slip) I do not know how to apply this type of texture. It looks like something you sprinkle and spray gelcoat over it.
I did discuss this issue with a factory rep at the NY boat show last week and he said the newer boats have a solid fiberglass strucure. He did not know when the change happened.
 
Plywood

It may have been a plywood or balsa core. When water intrudes the wood turns to peat moss. I has a similar problem with deck hatches on an Egg Harbor.

First I took a circular saw and on the underside cut the inside edges of the glassed in coring. I took my electric cutoff tool, put a 4" surface grinder on it and ground all the damaged wood and fiberglass out. Then I glassed in a new piece of plywood. I did oversize the hole for the pull and drilled out the hole for the handle.
 
MAS Epoxies makes a product which is the reverse pattern of your non-skid (they have almost every pattern) which you put over your fresh glasswork to create matching non-skid.
 
Brian,
It is not the splatter type of non skid, but kind of like an abrasive that is embedded under the gelcoat. I do have the splatter used other places on the deck and it is different. It looks like sand particles spaced about 1/16" apart. The cover was repaired once before and they replicated this finish pretty well. I guess I could try the splatter technique and if it doesn't match well, sand and refinish professionally.
 
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