DRAGONFLY Trimarans User Forum

There are some soft spots in the decks of the ama's. Cracks and flexing....

I can:

1 Ignore them. I'll be painting/sealing them as the previous owner did just that with a cheap brush, and it's flaking, the sealants are cracked and it looks all around sloppy. Maybe there is a paint that stays flexible enough to withstand the cracking? Of course try to stay off them....

2 grind/sand the anti skid texture smooth and apply glass and epoxy all over, trying to mate up to the beam mounts without glassing them in.... Then paint and add anti skid. This will add weight.

3 open up the soft spots and remove wet balsa, let dry and fill with foam, then glass epoxy over, apply new paint and anti skid.... Any recommendations for the foam? It's quite thin.....

Thoughts?

Oscar wrote: (snip)
3 open up the soft spots and remove wet balsa, let dry and fill with foam, then glass epoxy over, apply new paint and anti skid.... Any recommendations for the foam? It's quite thin.....

Thoughts?

Oscar if you want to fix it, and not just apply a band-aid you need to do #3. As far as I know the Danish Dragonflies were all built with foam core, so is this a Canadian-made version?

If you have balsa core it must be removed (ground and dug out) and replaced with foam if it is rotted, or if not rotted but just wet it can be dried over the winter, by exposing it or by drilling holes and using a vacuum pump system, and re-glassed.

You can use Corecell or Divinycell both available from Jamestown distributors in the US.

I suggest you hire a pro to do this work if this is your first time working with fiberglass. If your decks have cracks they will need to be re-glassed and you will want it to look nice. If decks are intact you can probably do this job from inside the ama and that will be more dirty and uncomfortable, but not require the same finish quality.

Hi Oscar,

#3 is the way to go. The West System web site is a great resource for this procedure with illustrations. If you aren't insane for a perfect finish you could do this project pretty cheaply. My boat looks like it might have had this same issue and the cosmetic finish work on the repair is really shoddy and distressing but the deck is solid.

Balsa is structurally superior to foam if if stays dry. Either one is fine for this repair.

My boat is PC molds and the main deck and ama decks are definitely foam.

good luck

OK, I'm going to have to take another hard look at the deck cutout I found. Could have sworn it was balsa. Yes, this is a PC Mould boat, #54

I have experience working with epoxy/glass. Not afraid to tackle this, and am sure I can make it look as good as new. From the inside is not an option. I don't fit through a 10 inch hole. Plus, the deck is cracked on the outside, it needs help.

Still considering laying a deck on top of what is there. It would make the whole thing a little thicker than the quarter inch or so it is now.