Attaching a top skin

[megalops]

Some months back I posted this topic, but I can no longer find it so I am going to start from scratch, now that I'm ready to make the repair.

Parts of the decks on my boat were recored with some sort of foam before I bought it. There is a section on the aft deck, about 4 feet by 4 feet, where the top skin did not adhere properly. When you stand on that area the top skin "pops". There is no flexing of the deck, it is very solid and strong. I have drilled the area in 6 spots and have found no wet core. When I had the boat surveyed the surveyor felt that the top skin just wasn't sticking to the core and I agree with him.

My question now is, what is the best way to fix it? Sould I just use a syringe and squrit as much epoxy into holes drilled in the top skin and then weight it down?

Should I thicken the epoxy?

The area will be recovered with Sea Dek so I can make as many holes as I want, no one will see them.

Thanks,
Doug

[Tim]

You want to thicken the epoxy to a point, but not too much (nor too little). Completely unthickened epoxy is too thin and will tend to simply run into low spots and do a poor job of bonding the sort of problem you're attempting to fix. Too thick, though, and you'll have trouble forcing it into the holes, and once inside it won't flow well to other areas to create the bond. So there's a "just right" consistency somewhere. You'll have to figure this out on your own, but do plan on using some thickening in order to achieve the best repair in this case.