"Clicking decks"

megalops · Post by **megalops** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 3:32 pm

I have a 1973 36' Gulfstar. At some point in her history a PO cut out the top skin of the decks, removed the balsa core, replaced it with some sort of foam (not sure what it is, it may be klegecell, it is dark yellow and dense). He then put the top skin back on, hopefully with epoxy, and covered the decks with treadmaster.

There is a section on the aft deck where the top skin is not adhering to the core. I don't think there is any rot there, there isn't any sag or any thing like that. But if you step in the right place the top skin makes a snapping or clicking noise and bounces just a fraction.

My surveyor suggested drilling some holes and shooting epoxy under the skin then weighting it. I know this is a bad idea with a rotted or wet deck, but in this situation, where I think he just didn't get the skin glued down would it work?

Any other suggestions?

Thanks

David · Post by **David** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 3:57 pm

A simple cure might be if you could thru-bolt something in that area that clicks to hold down the top skin. If it "clicks" long enough I would expect a weakening or fracturing of the top skin.

David · Post by **David** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 3:59 pm

Deleted

megalops · Post by **megalops** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 4:10 pm

Good Idea, but would be awkward as it is a pretty big open space. Not sure what I would put there. It gets a lot of traffic too.

David · Post by **David** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 4:18 pm

Short of major surgery, I suppose a round headed carriage bolt through that area would be fairly unobtrusive.

Quetzalsailor · Post by **Quetzalsailor** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 4:33 pm

If you're sure you are in the foam core, repaired area, and that it's dry, go ahead and inject some epoxy. I presume you'll pull and replace the Treadmaster so that you won't see the repair. I would not drill holes for a bolted repair which would be pretty localized.

An easy two afternoon's work that will pay almost instant gratification.

What do you suppose is generating the actual 'click' noise? If it's just clicking down agains the core the injected epoxy will likely cure it forever. If it's been oilcanning you might look carefully around for the place that it's been flexing and make sure there's no cracking in the skin. You may need to repair the skin as you rebond it to the core.

megalops · Post by **megalops** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 4:52 pm

I think the sound comes from the "pop" that the skin makes as it comes out of its flex. I may be making this sound worse than it is, the skin maybe moves 1/8".

David · Post by **David** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 5:41 pm

I don't believe injecting epoxy into the foam would do much good since it will not migrate thru the foam. I think you would need to take up the skin in that area to determine what is happening in the core. The Treadmaster would help reduce the cosmetic repairs.

Rachel · Post by **Rachel** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 6:31 pm

Although, it sounds as though the top skin has "simply" delaminated from the core, which is the foam. So I can see where you could try re-attaching the top skin to the core with epoxy. That wouldn't involve getting the epoxy to penetrate the foam, would it? I would think it would be bonding the top skin to the surface of the foam.

Granted, there might be more wrong, and the PO may not have done the repair properly, but at this point it seems like it wouldn't hurt to try the simple epoxy-bonding-skin-to-core approach..... right?

Chris Campbell · Post by **Chris Campbell** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 7:28 pm

I've certainly had good luck in the past with getting delaminated top skin to rebond to a sound core material by injecting epoxy into the void (between the top skin and the core) and compressing the skin while it cures. A bag of sand or salt makes a fine weight for the compressing, by the way...