Inject a deck for soft spot repairs

[rsmith]

https://injectadeck.com/

Anyone tried this stuff?

 

[madhatter1]

I looked at the link and started reading. It is an expanding product. I have one dry void on the bow that I can hear when the hose hits it and can slightly feel under foot. I would worry about the expansion cracking the whole thing and make a mess where I don't have one now. I suppose you could lay some out to determine rate of expansion and make a best guess on how much to inject.
But I do think it would work or at least delay a future repair to a more convenient time. My second boat was a 26' Trojan express that needed a new engine. Wood stringers were wet with soft spots. We dried it out over 4 weeks with heat lamps and injected "Git Rot". Soaked it right up and hardened. Then resin coat and put in new engine. 2 years later after no new issues passed survey and was shipped to some island. Had to sell because I bought the 34C.

 

[SEVEN]

I used it on a soft spot and it works as stated. Make sure to have numerous holes for the excess to come out. Use lots of blue tape to cover the decks. Don’t inject to much it expands quite large. It’s stiffened up the deck and raised the dip that was caused by the erosion of the core. Once dry I cut off the access and then counterskak the hall and filled it with Epoxy, then sanded, primed and painted. I was very happy with the outcome.

 

[rsmith]

I had a friend that bought a 53c for charter service the only area was the cabin top/bridge floor. We drilled a bunch of holes took a bent nail on a drill and scarfed the balsa out underneath. Used the great stuff non expanding foam and filled the holes with resin. He used it 10 years in daily charter fishing and it was still solid. These boats are so overbuilt I don’t think it’s a structural problem in most cases

 

[JuiceClark]

That product is really one of convenience. Closed cell, 2 part foam is the way to fix a void in your deck. The real PITA with it is it starts expanding as soon as you mix it in the cup. So, you only have seconds to slurp it up with a syringe and squirt it into the void.
It's messy and you end-up dripping it all over n such.

The other thing is the repair works best if you shoot all the foam in one shot. That insures the liquid rolls back into the corners rather than one little foam mountain under the injections site - leaving a void around the edges. That's hard to do though because if you inject to much, you'll have a rock hard bump in your deck.
Yeah, I've done this and had the rock hard bump - and ended-up whacking it with a rubber mallet to beat it back down to flat with the deck. That was a hassle.

Squirt the stuff in a circular motion and the injection hole will let the excess mostly get out. Then, when the foam has expanded but isn't hard yet, step around the area and squish the excess out as much as possible. That's about as good as you can do.

 

[SEVEN]

You don’t mix this in a cup. The two cartridges mix at the tip. Once you inject it, it starts to expand after 10 seconds. If you don’t over inject, it should not cause any bumps. If it does you’re not drilling enough holes for it to exit in the area.

 

[MadHatter53]

Gorilla glue is an alternative

 

[JuiceClark]

You don’t mix this in a cup. The two cartridges mix at the tip. Once you inject it, it starts to expand after 10 seconds. If you don’t over inject, it should not cause any bumps. If it does you’re not drilling enough holes for it to exit in the area.

I should have explained better - this is a product of convenience that mixes the 2 parts so you don't have to do it in a cup. You can just squirt it right in without all the mess and waste.

On the other hand, 10 pound two part foam is only 50 bucks per quart at Marine Supply. To squirt it in, I always bought those big syringes you use to inject a turkey on Ebay very inexpensively. So, if you're a cheapskate like myself, you can do it the messy way for 50 bucks.

 

[Pascal]

Problem with two part foam is that it will not stick to the skins like injectadeck. So yes two part expending foam will fill the voids but not restore the structural integrity of the core

 

[Boatsb]

The foam sticks like white on rice. It's a pain to remove. I hate the stuff.but not as much as Bob Bradley lately.

 

[edward]

Iam surprised that these 40 y/o don’t have more problems. Speaks to the excellent original construction.

 

[madhatter1]

Iam surprised that these 40 y/o don’t have more problems. Speaks to the excellent original construction.

When I did restoration on my 34 (gutted it) in 96 after the headliner was down and we worked with wiring and screws it was apparent the balsa core on the forward deck was wet. Don't remember the exact procedure (involved drilling holes underneath, heat, and ventilation over weeks) it was dried and sealed back up. The restoration cured the topside leaks that were the problem. Today the foredeck is rock solid.

 

[bigbill]

two part foam will stick to anything dry....i drilled 2 inch holes everywhere it was soft or wet. i made a tool to dig out the balsa until i found good wood. poured 2 part foam in the holes (its a crapshoot guessing how much). let it expand and dry, cut the mushroom top off with a hacksaw blade, used a router to cut down the thickness of the deck, used a layer of glass then put the piece i drilled out back in place, let that dry, ground the top off enough to layer 2 more layers of glass, sanded and faired and painted. been over 10 years and not a single problem.

 

[Timeless72]

I did this on an old Wellcraft. It worked to an extent but I struggled with gravity and gradual slope of the deck. One attempt found its way through a small hole and absorbed into the cabin headliner. Surprisingly, it was just stiff as board when dry. Did no damage or change the color at all.

 

[ageless]

Robert, did you ever give this a try? I removed my windlass and have a 16" circumferential area that is "hollow"

 

[Pascal]

I used it a couple of months ago to fix a large soft spot on my foredeck. It worked pretty well, not as good as recoring but pretty close. I figured I didn’t have anything to loose, if it didn’t work I d have to rip the deck anyway….

Not cheap though, it s pretty much expansion foam with a fancy mixing nozzle

 

[nmcafee]

I just bought some, will document my experience with it. Am happy to do a call or facetime with anyone who wants to see the process/results.

 

[sgharford]

Anyone ever check with a moisture meter the before and after trying this foam method? I imagine it still reads wet after the foam, depending on how much wet core is removed.

 

[bostonhatteras]

On the sidedecks at the cockpit and the house cockpit wings/flying bridge supports we used Hilti fire foam. Good luck getting it off any surface it comes in contact with. The cockpit side decks were rodded out with fiberglass electricians snake, blown out with compressed air and then on the hilti spray gun we added vinyl tube. The vinyl tube was able to be snaked into the deepest recesses of the side decks and as we sprayed the foam just pull the vinyl tube out a little. I got pictures of foam coming out of every orifice! Pushed the lower skin down a little but who cares on the side deck. The cabin flying bridge supports I made several braces to keep the foam from expanding the two skins apart. the wings had the foam cut back 1.5" inside the skins and then that area filled with thickened epoxy as the cap. It all worked perfectly. I cut back the foam around the rod holders and filled that area with thickened epoxy so the bolts could actually clamp tight.

 

[nmcafee]

I bought a injectadeck kit but sold my boat before I could use it. Just posted for cheap in the for sale forum.