can injecting foam really fix a soft spot in the deck ?

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Trail_Dog@reddit

Short answer - yes. This guy did actual testing . https://youtu.be/qIytOVWaprg?si=DirJwVpTFLglmkVj

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McLuhanSaidItFirst@reddit (OP)

that's top drawer work he's showing

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Some people have had great results with mixing gorilla glue with 25% titebond. This guy didn't test that mixture. He also incorrectly said that the glue dries as an open cell foam. As far as I've read it's closed cell. The batches I mixed up didn't take on any water. They also seemed really solid. Good discussion here. https://www.thehulltruth.com/boating-how-tois-kerno-memorial-forum/1202982-gorilla-glue-pl-premium-3x-soft-deck-injection-experiences.html As for whether it's worth doing, It depends on how big the repair area is and how much work is worth putting into the boat. I chose to do the loctite/gorilla glue method on my 18 foot interlake. It's a 60 year old boat that I saved from the scrapyard. It was in surprisingly good shape for its age and only had a couple of soft spots that were relatively small. After a lot of research I went ahead with the glue fix based on other people's experiences . For the age of my boat and the extent of the repairs needed, and the amount of work I would save it made sense to me. So far, It definitely worked. I am 220 lbs, and I can stand on the 2 soft spots with one foot and there is zero deflection, where previously it would deflect with just my hand pushing down. I guess we'll see how it holds up. I just finished gluing the hull and deck back together and will be painting her in the spring. I'll have her in the water soon after. A lot of naysayers will hate on the method, but it's worked for a lot of folks and I think it really just depends on your specific situation. I wouldn't do it on a newer boat I intended to keep forever. But for an old junker? I think it's fine. Also want to poing out that the guys coming on saying how they have had to repair some of these are only seeing the ones that failed. There may be plenty of boats out there on the water happily sailing for years oblivious to the fact that they were fixed "the wrong way". Without a real scientific census we can't be sure.

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McLuhanSaidItFirst@reddit (OP)

Great points I am shocked that mixing 75% Gorilla glue and 25% Titebond creates a strong foam, it seems so random but I want to see it, for sure

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Trail_Dog@reddit

Some people have had great results with mixing gorilla glue with 25% titebond. This guy didn't test that mixture. He also incorrectly said that the glue dries as an open cell foam. As far as I've read it's closed cell. The batches I mixed up didn't take on any water. They also seemed really solid. Good discussion here. https://www.thehulltruth.com/boating-how-tois-kerno-memorial-forum/1202982-gorilla-glue-pl-premium-3x-soft-deck-injection-experiences.html As for whether it's worth doing, It depends on how big the repair area is and how much work is worth putting into the boat. I chose to do the loctite/gorilla glue method on my 18 foot interlake. It's a 60 year old boat that I saved from the scrapyard. It was in surprisingly good shape for its age and only had a couple of soft spots that were relatively small. After a lot of research I went ahead with the glue fix based on other people's experiences . For the age of my boat and the extent of the repairs needed, and the amount of work I would save it made sense to me. So far, It definitely worked. I am 220 lbs, and I can stand on the 2 soft spots with one foot and there is zero deflection, where previously it would deflect with just my hand pushing down. I guess we'll see how it holds up. I just finished gluing the hull and deck back together and will be painting her in the spring. I'll have her in the water soon after. A lot of naysayers will hate on the method, but it's worked for a lot of folks and I think it really just depends on your specific situation. I wouldn't do it on a newer boat I intended to keep forever. But for an old junker? I think it's fine. Also want to poing out that the guys coming on saying how they have had to repair some of these are only seeing the ones that failed. There may be plenty of boats out there on the water happily sailing for years oblivious to the fact that they were fixed "the wrong way". Without a real scientific census we can't be sure.

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Stormin_333@reddit

I've heard good things about Injectadeck for small areas. Anything more than about 2 ft wide, I'd be wary. We used it on an old laser and it worked great, but that's obviously a different use case

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Worth-Perception2565@reddit

That photo gives me a headache.

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New-Yak-3239@reddit

I legit thought she had scoops of ice cream on deck.

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Plastic_Table_8232@reddit

It makes me want to pound a bottle of rum after I’m done yelling at her.

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Mrshadowsys@reddit

ill try to get it as dry as possible , then instead of foam ill use epoxy , ive repaired a lot of things with epoxy that way , even cracks in concrete , there are some expansive epoxies around , they have enough force to lift the deck/

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H-713@reddit

Not in a way that works reliably. In principle, 5 lb density pour foam should have similar or better compression strength than PVC foam coring. In practice, a soft spot isn't an empty void, it's an empty void 50% filled with compost and a lot of moisture. It will unquestionably suck to deal with when you inevitably do have to re-core the deck properly. Re-coring is messy, but it's not hard or expensive, unless some idiot has done this first, and then you've got a bunch of urethane foam to grind out (hell).

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Scared-Benefit8086@reddit

I personally feel that is a short term fix, that will come back and haunt them eventually.

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wychimp@reddit

I would use a thickened epoxy instead…but to answer your question, yes

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PracticalConjecture@reddit

If you use thickened epoxy and decide to redo the deck later, you're going to hate yourself.

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Plastic_Table_8232@reddit

I’ve found it to be the opposite with epoxy injection in wet / soft deck. It doesn’t adhere to anything but itself. The worst IMHO is water activated polyurethane adhesive. The original “gorilla glue”.

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McLuhanSaidItFirst@reddit (OP)

what was wrong with >water activated polyurethane adhesive

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Plastic_Table_8232@reddit

It’s a nightmare to remove the deck in that location. But the moisture is still trapped in so the moisture vapor will travel and destroy more deck. These hack fixes make more work because it needs to be done twice mate. Fix the leak with some yacht tape (white duct tape) and wait until you can do a proper repair. If you need some guidance I would be happy to assist via chat and provide some direction. I try to give back to the community. Expect nothing in return.

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McLuhanSaidItFirst@reddit (OP)

Thanks mate, that's not my boat, I was just curious if it works (for my next boat)

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TLC007_1620@reddit

You'll likely run into the same mess with the foam injection route. I came across the dilemma with my old Helms that had a wet/soft deck. Weighing options of quick & fast but nearly impossible to remedy again in the future, or slow and tedious with lots of cutting and fiberglass work. I decided to go the correct route and stripped the top layer of fiberglass off, scooped all the nasty wet and crumbly core out, replaced with new marine grade plywood, then threw a few layers of chop mat down before laying the original skin back on top. To me there was too many potential downsides to doing a large area with "structural foam"...ensuring good penetration and even coverage seems almost impossible when you cant see it. So I spent close to 100 hours doing it as correctly as I could after watching hours of Andy on Boatworks Today 😅

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yowhywouldyoudothat@reddit

Andy will get you to do it the right way, love that guy!

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TLC007_1620@reddit

Absolutely, his attention to detail is impeccable!! I started using Alexseal and Soft Sand for nonskid application. Turned out so beautiful! https://preview.redd.it/fy0tgalus15g1.jpeg?width=2252&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bd593c6b2011abb9ff1bb610b496a6dc6b9a2994

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Proud-Suspect-5237@reddit

Dumb question - what kind of prep did you do to get the old non-skid ready for the paint/sprinkle/paint process? I want to do this to my boat but I cannot afford to have it out of the water and in a paint shop - my boat is worth less than what that would cost.

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TLC007_1620@reddit

Not dumb, but to do it right, you have to at least sand down the old nonskid to a smooth surface, get down to bare fiberglass (if you want to leave some old paint you have to make sure its still adhering well and do a test to see if original paint is a 2 part or single part paint, you cannot apply a 2 part paint on top of single part). Sand with a finer grit. Inevitably there may be some pits and small holes, some crazing or cracks, try your best to fill with a fairing filler added to the epoxy, sand some more...smoother the better. Wipe the surfaces a few times over, once or twice with Acetone or a similar thinner to get any oils off thr surface (use gloves from here on out, try not to touch the surfaces with bare skin). During paint day, lightly wipe down surface with tack cloth to get as much dust/dirt off before starting. Then I used alexseal 2 part primer, did two coats, then dropped a coat of the actual paint (carina white was on sale so that's what I used), with your first coat of paint still fresh and wet, sprinkle the nonskid liberally, I bought a bucket of the stuff. At this stage you really cant over apply the particles, any excess that doesn't stick to the paint after drying gets swept up, then you can collect it back into your bucket to use again. Get all of the loose particles swept up and maybe even vacuum after to get it all. Then drop another two or three coats of paint. Follow the paints instructions closely. If you apply 2 part paint within a certain window of time, dry but not fully cured, you dont have to sand between coats. Technically if you go over the cure time the surface needs to be lightly sanded again...not something you want to have to do with nonskid down.

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Proud-Suspect-5237@reddit

Boat only has gelcoat, never painted (other than topsides) - do I really need bare fibre?

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TLC007_1620@reddit

Old skin was blazing hot on sunny days https://preview.redd.it/z5eyzao4t15g1.jpeg?width=2252&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=24b3de397b21c259f0127b8edeb370f09c94ea4b

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Westar-35@reddit

Yeah… Thickened epoxy makes sense injected into the laminate, not under teak.

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Otherwise_Rub_4557@reddit

The idea behind the foam is when it expands it pushes out the moisture, which epoxy wound not. Didn't work quite as advertised for me, but might in the right circumstance.

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Optimisteducator@reddit

Sicomin in France has developed foaming epoxy. I was unsuccessful getting hold of any in US, but we will be in Martinique in a month or two and I may try again. Sounds like neat stuff.

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Singlesailor1963@reddit

I think you would be better off injecting gorilla glue! that takes moisture to cure! I think the only real fix is to open it up!! that’s what I’m doing on two boats

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McLuhanSaidItFirst@reddit (OP)

Extremely helpful, well written explanation of how to find moisture in your hull: http://www.pcmarinesurveys.com/Moisture%20meter%20mythology.htm from comments below: If you are going to do this, I think it makes a lot more sense to use polyurethane glue such as gorilla glue. The reason is that gorilla glue needs moisture to cure and will expand as curing. The problem with epoxy and foam is it won't really adhere to a wet surface well. You would need to dry it out which is near impossible from a few holes unless you use a vacuum system over several days. Whereas polyurethane glue needs water to cure. That being said, it only makes sense if the boat is so old and the repair so costly, that you would rather fix it so that it is "good enough". https://www.practical-sailor.com/boat-maintenance/can-glue-injection-fix-rotten-core

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Temporary-Show-2446@reddit

From a boatbuilder: If you have a soft deck the teak battens are not affixed to the deck, and/or more likely, wet core. Adding foam traps moisture, so you are actually making your problem accelerate. Removed the teak from the deck and fix the core before the subdeck is mush and structural integrity is compromised. It always amazes me that people will work so hard to avoid a problem and not address it. We core needs fixing. If you have teak elsewhere, you should reseam and sand flat for added service life.

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Infamous_Try3063@reddit

Sometimes it is what happens when people try to fox problems that they dont fully understand.

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Furtivefarting@reddit

Even if you do understand the problem, human intuition is to work witb what youve got. I struggle with this inherent laziness daily. It takes a concerted effort, lots of effort to regroup and start over and do what you know needs to be done. Personally, i make it a rule to flat out stop doing whatever im doing when i catch myself trying to take an easy way out, and that takes a lot of effort in itself. I do this daily, i consider laziness to be my greatest strength, hands down. It scales. Working on a small project the pull to use whatevers closest is very strong bc maybe it will work, ive also been on salvage jobs where the rigging has been run under the wreck and you need to stop, everybody knows it, but the temptation to keep going is sooo strong, bc, well we're almost there...almost..then you sling cut the thing and have to start all over. If that sounds specific, its not, its happened more than once. Think of it like when screwing in a bolt into bruised threads thats probably crossthreaded, its so much easier to keep going and hope it catches...but it rarely does.

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roadpupp@reddit

Absolutely., Did several soft spots on my friends footer. Solved!. Inject-a-deck.

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TLC007_1620@reddit

Inject-a-deck is exactly what I considered using, actually made for wet decks. I'd be very hesitant to inject regular thickened epoxy into a wet deck, seems like it'd either cure poorly, or just trap the moisture in even more.

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bill9896@reddit

The fact that it is SOLD to fix wet decks means that it's job is done when you give them your money. Expecting magic permenant repairs... good luck. Everybody is looking for a shortcut. If you are the kind of boat owner who has neglected their boat so long it has large areas of wet and soggy deck, you will be naturally attracted to shortcuts that sound too good to be true. If you bought a boat with wet and soggy boats, you don't know enough to decide what is the right fix.

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McLuhanSaidItFirst@reddit (OP)

how big was the area you injected? how thick was the void you filled ? How did you remove the moisture that caused the problem ? if you didn't remove it, isn't that guaranteeing it won't fix the problem? is this a water curing adhesive foam like Gorilla Glue?

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roadpupp@reddit

1: an area about 36” x 24”. On a 90’s race boat. No idea the void, drilled a bunch of holes in the soft spot and injected , and water was squeezed out of the holes further down. No teak present but fiberglass and balsa core. Did three spots two seasons ago and receded the hardware that caused the leaks. all have firmed up.

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McLuhanSaidItFirst@reddit (OP)

thank you! Interesting- is it a polyurethane foaming glue like Gorilla that uses water to cure ?

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YoSixers@reddit

If this is a wu-tang reference, kudos. If not, it’s still a TRIuMph.

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Boatshooz@reddit

It’s rare that discussions about my teak deck and my love of East Coast hip hop intertwine, but here we are.

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daysailor70@reddit

I have use Injectadeck on a couple of boats. I owned a boatyard and have done traditional core replacements but had a boat that was a neat boat but not worth going with the traditional repair. It had rotted balsa core throughout the deck and cabin top. The Injectadeck worked exactly as advertised. I drilled a matrix of holes 8" apart, carefully injected the product, watched it as it did its thing as it expanded and pushed the wet rotted core out of the holes below where I was injecting. I walked on the deck as the foam cured to move it around and voila, I had a solid as a rock, stable smooth deck. I did the whole deck and cabin top for about $200 in materials and it took 4 hours. We did a couple of repairs on other boats with similar results. I am a believer in this stuff and highly recommend it.

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McLuhanSaidItFirst@reddit (OP)

I'm ready for something better than balsa or foam core, or boats that don't leak Boston Whalers are great boats but they can become waterlogged too rotted balsa seems so widespread, I'm surprised some quality engineer who sails hasn't designed a better alternative I suppose a sandwich of two layers of thinner FG with balsa between them is lighter and cheaper than a single layer of fiberglass with equivalent stiffness ?

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sailorknots77@reddit

There are a ton of alternatives to balsa. Plascore, nidacore, etc. They are just more expensive than balsa and so regular boats aren’t built with it.

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daysailor70@reddit

I can't think of any manufacturers continue to use Balsa. There are so many alternatives, nidacore, divinacyl, airex..... that there is no need to use it. Unfortunately, this wasn't the case up to the mid 90s so balsa is prevalent.

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McLuhanSaidItFirst@reddit (OP)

For extensive repair of balsa, If the boat is valuable enough, I wonder if Split the entire deck and replace the balsa with nidacore, divinacyl, airex, etc is practical ? would those alternatives be worth it / available ?

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daysailor70@reddit

We have done these repairs. It is extensive and expensive. So, to your question, yes, this may be warranted if the boat is of a pedigree to warrant it. Otherwise, I would use Injectadeck.

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McLuhanSaidItFirst@reddit (OP)

Lot of people here saying "don't do it" but two or three saying they used it successfully Deserves further investigation

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iddereddi@reddit

Depends on how big the soft spot is and how dense is the foam. Typical gun foam does not like repeated compression (being walked on). Pouring epoxy into 20 liter empty void gets expensive quickly.

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FredIsAThing@reddit

And heavy

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iddereddi@reddit

Not just heavy but top heavy (if on/in deck).

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FredIsAThing@reddit

I had to look it up. The Google says 1.15 to 1.3 kg/l

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Singularum@reddit

For comparison: balsa wood is about 0.16 kg/L West Systems reports 1.11 to 1.18 kg/L for their epoxies when cured.

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captcraigaroo@reddit

Can you melt balsa wood to make it flow better? I'm having trouble getting it in a liquid form without combusting

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Lukario45@reddit

Just put it in the blender and add some water to make balsa pulp! Then after applying, you must sun cure the boat from a southern facing rooftop for a week.

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84thPrblm@reddit

You need to do it under vacuum. Just move the whole boat into a suitably sized vacuum chamber, get into a space suit, and drop everything down to about one billionth of an atmosphere. Melting may still be a problem, but combustion should no longer be an issue.

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oshitimonfire@reddit

Maybe using inert gas to displace the oxygen could "work"

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84thPrblm@reddit

Inert gases might work. Definitely don't try flooding the room with fluorine gas though.

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z3rba@reddit

You probably wouldn't have a room, boat, or anything left, but at least it would solve the "soft deck" issues in a way.

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BaggyLarjjj@reddit

Sure, just sweep up the ash after you’ve finished burning it.

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ThrowMeAway_eta_2MO@reddit

Can you use the foam that they use for leveling concrete slabs like driveways? Seems like that stuff works great in applications requiring repeated (and continuous) compression by multi-ton vehicles… it’s gotta withstand moisture too, since it’s pretty much always below grade.

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iddereddi@reddit

With the foam capable of lifting concrete slabs, I think you might blow the deck open. When I built the reserve buoyancy for my sailing outrigger canoe, the two component PU did raise the small deck \~10mm. Comparsion clips at 9:53 - 9:59 [https://youtu.be/qJPZy1XI9bo](https://youtu.be/qJPZy1XI9bo) https://preview.redd.it/km6bda71g45g1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=25d20ad5ded96e5c49023e7a6cf6a7d64ee9fbc4

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tearjerkingpornoflic@reddit

Really enjoyed that video. Was almost meditative or something. You have a new subscriber. Trying to understand something though...If you didn't plug the top pour holes why would there possibly be voids? wouldn't gravity just fill it all and excess would come out top? Or you need the pressure to force it into the voids, but then where does any air in there go without an escape path?

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iddereddi@reddit

Excellent questions and thanks for the sub (I hope you turned the cc/subtitles on)! 1. In theory the goo should flow to the lowest point and fill its surroundings but it is really difficult to get the amount of the mix right. The reaction is exothermic and the final volume seems to depends somewhat on the temperature. 2. As it is expanding the still soft mix will follow the path of least restriction. Capping the pour holes, I hoped that it would press itself to corners further away. There probably are tennis ball volume bubbles in there somewhere, but that is probably OK. To remove trapped air problem one could do the pour in one go without the polystyrene, but the foam is quite heavy (alos somewhat expensive) and I did not need the structural strength from the foam. Just something to fill the void. Leaving the buoyancy filled just wiht air comes with its own problems. 3. Plywood is porous and will let some air through. Not porous enough to let the trapped air out before the goo sets but I had problems with the PU outgassing while laminating the plywood. Even after 48 hours after pouring the PU it was still blowing bubbles under FG. As it was spring when I was building it I was impatient to get on the water so...

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tearjerkingpornoflic@reddit

Haha...I was annoyed for you with that offgassing still going.

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Bighorn21@reddit

I would assume there would be issues with heat when curing that much epoxy. How small are the pours for a void that size?

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Cheap_Cod679@reddit

It would have to be pretty high density foam. Unless it's closed cell expanding foam, it will absorb water. I've had success with epoxy mixed with microballoons and milled fibres, injected via syringe..

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McLuhanSaidItFirst@reddit (OP)

Extremely helpful, well written explanation of how to find moisture in your hull: http://www.pcmarinesurveys.com/Moisture%20meter%20mythology.htm

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ThicknCrispy@reddit

Definitely thought that was ice cream

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Aghaiva@reddit

Injecting foam can provide a temporary fix for soft spots, but it won't address underlying issues like rot or moisture. If the soft spot is large, consider a more thorough repair to ensure long-term stability. Ultimately, properly addressing the root cause will save more time and effort in the long run.

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Mal-De-Terre@reddit

Briefly

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YourFatherIam@reddit

Testing your thermal isolation by seeing which vanilla icecream ball melts first?

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Lackluster_Compote@reddit

So that’s not icecream?

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AltairAlden1916@reddit

Oh this is brutally stupid. Delam means water ingress. There will be no adhesion of the foam. Gets wet, foam breaks down. I hate teak over glass. What a waste of teak. So many boats…

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Shhheeeesshh@reddit

I also hate it, but it sure looks pretty. (On other people’s boats 🤣)

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andrewcottingham@reddit

is the teak installed on strapping to allow drainage/air below? I am not a boat builder, I am a residential carpenter so I’m thinking about how wooden siding is best installed

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mckenzie_keith@reddit

No. They screw it down into the fiberglass usually. Over time some of the fastener holes leak, and the deck core material starts to rot. Hence the desire to inject it with foam. On newer boats they may use glue or adhesive only and no fasteners, which is much better. On fully traditional boats, the teak deck is structural. They seal the seams between teak strips with old fashioned caulking materials, or with modern sikaflex.

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mckenzie_keith@reddit

It won't be soft anymore. But it will still be heavy and full of water. And that teak deck will have EVEN MORE HOLES than before!

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JohnnyOnslaught@reddit

As a former boatbuilder, this is a band-aid fix and it'll just make things more frustrating to deal with down the road. Once the water is in there, it's doing damage. It doesn't matter how much foam or epoxy you pump in there.

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Lehmoxy@reddit

Can attest to this. I did a core repair on a botched "drill and fill" repair this year.

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uthyrbendragon@reddit

Well said, and to further your point, OP needs to think about what is happening in the deck when the rig loads up - think about whether the shrouds and stays are in tension (hint - of course they are). If the standing rigging is in tension what is also un tension and what is in compression. The correct answers to the above should suggest the correct approach to repair. (Hint - dont let your deck crumple like a wet paper bag)

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Arthur-Dent7x6@reddit

Please tell me this is fake. Normally one would pull the teak deck overlay first then see what condition the core is really in with some core samples. That would dictate the proper course of repair…

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McLuhanSaidItFirst@reddit (OP)

that photo is from the advertisement for 'inject-a-deck'

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Arthur-Dent7x6@reddit

Hmm. Ok. I just checked out the website. I honestly don't think this is a good idea. There are very few effective short cuts in boat repair. YMMV. NAMS Surveyor for 35 years.

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ordosays@reddit

No. Sadly, no.

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PoohBear512@reddit

Nope

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nonsense39@reddit

Maybe you should think about removing the teak deck since it looks shot

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McLuhanSaidItFirst@reddit (OP)

that photo is from the advertisement for 'inject-a-deck', it's not my boat

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Final_Lead_3530@reddit

i started feeding my interior teak with lemon oil . i’m impressed by the difference it made .

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ilovebacondoyou@reddit

No. The reason the person who built your boat used a cored deck was to reduce weight. The reason your core rotted was due to water ingress. Water is heavy. Did you remove the water from the core? All you're doing with the foam is sealing in the water that's already in the core and adding even more weight with whatever you're trying to "fix" it with. You are adding weight to your boat in pretty much the worst possible place. Will the boat sink? No. Will it be as seaworthy as it once was? Not even close.

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McLuhanSaidItFirst@reddit (OP)

that photo is from the advertisement for 'inject-a-deck', it's not my boat

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Branchley@reddit

Such a terrible half-assed fix

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-StraightLace@reddit

A

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badpopeye@reddit

Hope so as looks like you fully committed at this point

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McLuhanSaidItFirst@reddit (OP)

not my boat, that 's from the inject-a-deck ad

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pprstrt@reddit

If the floor of thebathroom in your mother's house was squishy, would you inject foam into it? Don't do it here either. Pull up the plank and fix the problem.

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neriadrift@reddit

That deck looks kinda like mine, is that a wauquiez by chance?

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McLuhanSaidItFirst@reddit (OP)

I dunno that photo's from an ad for the company that injects foam into spongy decks

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Educational_Zebra_66@reddit

I have experience fixing decks that have had injected foam and epoxy fixes. Most of what I have seen is that the foam will make the issue better for a small period of time but eventually it exacerbates the issue and causes more delamination. Just my experience.

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Significant_Tie_3994@reddit

...until the foam degrades and becomes the soft spot itself

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Bikerbass@reddit

Open cell expanding foam? No, as it will hold water and start expanding/contracting with temperature, and that will lead to further problems. Closed cell expanding foam? Maybe, but I wouldn’t want to test it out.

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BloodyRightToe@reddit

The better question might be, Is this the right fix? Maybe for a weekender that you don't really want to spend money on. But if it's soft that is a symptom of a bigger problem and this feels like painting over it. It maybe under it but it still still feels like the right fix is to open up the soft area. Put new core after addressing the water ingress points. Then putting down new glass.

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SailorMDI@reddit

If you are going to do this, I think it makes a lot more sense to use polyurethane glue such as gorilla glue. The reason is that gorilla glue needs moisture to cure and will expand as curing. The problem with epoxy and foam is it won't really adhere to a wet surface well. You would need to dry it out which is near impossible from a few holes unless you use a vacuum system over several days. Whereas polyurethane glue needs water to cure. That being said, it only makes sense if the boat is so old and the repair so costly, that you would rather fix it so that it is "good enough". [https://www.practical-sailor.com/boat-maintenance/can-glue-injection-fix-rotten-core](https://www.practical-sailor.com/boat-maintenance/can-glue-injection-fix-rotten-core)

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Furtivefarting@reddit

I used to have a 27 ft hunter that someone had tried that, it did not work. Made deck lumpy, and of course there was rotten wood still down there. Cut out skin, peeled it off, scraped out rotten wood, glassed in balsa, glued the skin back on. Not hard, nasty, but not hard

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OberonsGhost@reddit

Why can't people just fix things correctly? And why are there still wood decks on boats? You should pull the wood up, replace with fiberglass, and then lay down some of type mat if you are worried about working on hot decks. Or bury aluminium runners into the fiberglass and run Trex screwed into the aluminium. No worry about leaks and a long lasting deck Sorry about the rant but I despise teak decks.

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Foolserrand376@reddit

if you've ever seen what a rotten core looks like once you pull the skin off. You'll quickly realize that injectadeck really doesn't work...and really cant work. yeah you get the illusion of a repair, but the damage is still there.

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guruogoo@reddit

Lil bit

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Otherwise_Rub_4557@reddit

i just tried this with structural foam on a boat that isn't worth a proper deck redo and the answer is sometimes. In the swim platform and areas with 2 inches of area between the fiberglass skins, and where the bottom has some rigidity; worked great. The cockpit and side decks of thos 30fter just didn't have enough room (5/8 id guess)between the inner and outer fiberglass to add any real structure.

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elvismcsassypants@reddit

no. it’ll be ok for a moment. but it’s a band aid, not a fix

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WolfTrap2010@reddit

I believe the foam needs exposure to air to expand. That's why it doesn't in a can. Once the hole is plugged, no air can in for expansion.

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kinga_forrester@reddit

It can be a part of certain soft spot repairs, it is hardly a magic bullet or one-size-fits-all solution. I’m skeptical of this picture, that’s a huge area and at worst could be masking structural problems.

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twotowers64@reddit

I’d never use foam for a delaminated deck. Closed cell foam needs room to expand. If you pump that in under the decks and there isn’t enough of a cavity or multiple paths for the foam to expand then it could cause more delamination and bulge your top layer of fiberglass. Used unthickened epoxy or add in a small amount of filler but make sure it will still run. So it can freely fill the voids as you inject. There’s almost no expansion as it sets up.

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Bulky-Divide-3316@reddit

No. Get a professional. You will not stop those soft spots from spreading.

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whyrumalwaysgone@reddit

For a while, yes. But you didnt remove the rot or moisture, so it will continue spreading. And God help you when its time to fix it correctly, it will be weeks of work instead of days. Its not that hard to fix soft decks right, unless someone injected epoxy into them haha

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n2bndru@reddit

Interesting, that is a good question as I have a gouge on my foredeck that was There when I purchased my boat. It is not a large spot, but enough that would allow water to seep in. The survey said to address it As I am still learning and trying to find out what would be the best method As opposed to replacing a large section of deck

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