Deck survey [9/28]

Today I ordered Blue Interlux paint for the topsides and some red
Interlux hard bottom paint$$$ from Defender Industries, they were
20% less than West Marine.

I surveyed the deck today.� Took a little plastic hammer and
tapped on sections of deck composite that I had rudely sawn off
yesterday. I could see on the sawn edges where the good balsa
core made a transition to the rotten core and could calibrate my
ear for the different "sound". It is pretty easy to hear.

Then I surveyed the remaining deck and drew boundaries, according
to my ear, separating the good areas from the rotten or
delaminated areas. I measured the entire deck and measured the
rotten areas and saw that about 50% was rotten. I thought "is
the glass half empty, or half full?"

The thought of trying to patch up so much of the deck seemed
futile and at present I plan to strip off the top layer of
fiberglass, dig out the balsa, keeping the lower layer of
fiberglass, and lay in sheets of 1/2 inch plywood using epoxy
with filler. Then I will glass the top of the deck with cloth
and epoxy and then add a non-skid pattern and paint the final
result an off white. I believe this will be stronger and might
be quicker than patching. Now, the work that I have glibly
outlined in a few sentences may take weeks or months, if the
weather turns cold!!!