Hi-looks like they didn’t do a great job sealing the bolts for the swim ladder on my swim platform and some water got in there. I had a 4x20” stainless backing plate fabricated for strength, but was wondering if anyone had any recommendations about filling any potentially rotten wood inside the platform around the ladder bolts without taking it off and redoing the whole thing. The rest of the platform sounds solid. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance
Water absorption in swim platform
- Thread starter BlueFlu15
- Start date
There's really no way to say until you get in there. You can use some Git Rot and that should help. But it all depends on the exensiveness of the rot. BUT... you should know that the rot will likely be (it usually is) about 3 times as much as you are thinking.
If it was me - seeing as how the platform is so accessible and easy to work on... I would remove the fiberglass skin from the underside - maybe a section about 6" bigger than the bolt pattern/size. See what you see and fix. Then epoxy the skin back on and lay a piece of cloth tape over the cut (after bevelling the cut). You can finish it off nicer, if you wish - but doing that will be 100% functional.
Side note... at 20 years old, your boat is 10 years overdue to reseal lot's of things. This is a maintenance thing that should be done. I wouldn't blame the factory for this - well, not completely, anyways - your boat may have been built on a Friday and they may have forgotten the sealant
But, point is, it's up the boat owner to make sure things get re-sealed when needed. And... "needed" is defined as: "Before it's needed"
If it was me - seeing as how the platform is so accessible and easy to work on... I would remove the fiberglass skin from the underside - maybe a section about 6" bigger than the bolt pattern/size. See what you see and fix. Then epoxy the skin back on and lay a piece of cloth tape over the cut (after bevelling the cut). You can finish it off nicer, if you wish - but doing that will be 100% functional.
Side note... at 20 years old, your boat is 10 years overdue to reseal lot's of things. This is a maintenance thing that should be done. I wouldn't blame the factory for this - well, not completely, anyways - your boat may have been built on a Friday and they may have forgotten the sealant
But, point is, it's up the boat owner to make sure things get re-sealed when needed. And... "needed" is defined as: "Before it's needed"
ROBERTH
GreatGrady Captain
Do it right. Remove the platform, cut the skin off bottom and remove all the balsa in there. Replace, reglass and you will carve off unwanted weight and get more strength. There are some links on here where some of us including me have done this already.
I cut 60#'s off my platform once I restored it.
I cut 60#'s off my platform once I restored it.