New owner here. First time posting (that takes care of legal)! My swim platform is "soft" on the port side on my 2003 Gulfstream. Apparently the wood core is soft due to water intrusion. I was told a new platform runs about $600 + install. I was also told you could inject an epoxy to firm it up. Has anyone had any success using the epoxy method. Thoughts?? My son and I are pretty handy so we feel we can change the swim platform ourselves.Thank you in advance for your time.
Swim Platform
- Thread starter Bumpye
- Start date
Bumpye said:
My Marlin had the same problem in the deck and the transom, but a profesional took care of it, he replaced the wood and you cant even see the diference he did a great job!!!!!
Git Rot... Warmed or thinned epoxy... it's kinda hit or miss. Chances are, the rot area is much larger than you're expecting. Personally, I'd just skin it and rebuild as it's pretty cheap to do so. Especially if you can access the bottom side since you don't have to worry so much about how it looks. You might even be able to do without removing the platform... although it's certainly easier to do so on your workbench. You can replace it with marine ply or step up and use something like Coosa board or Divinycell and never ever have to worry about rot again. But properly done, marine ply should last many, many decades.
Thanks for the replies. I wasn't aware you could repair/replace the wood core. Sounds like that might be the way to go. I'll let you know how it turns out.
Think of it like a sandwich. Remove one of the piece of breads, swap the old meat out for fresh stuff, replace the bread.
This isn't exactly what you're up against, but it's essentially the same thing. Should give you a good idea, anyways: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=21367&p=130965&hilit=hatch#p130965
This isn't exactly what you're up against, but it's essentially the same thing. Should give you a good idea, anyways: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=21367&p=130965&hilit=hatch#p130965
ROBERTH
GreatGrady Captain
Bumpye, do a search on here and you will find some recore jobs several of us have done. Not a bad job. I did mine and it made a huge difference. Everyone has a different approach to it. I used Pro Balsa to keep the weight down and keep the strength. Others like to use ply and some the new tech boards.
Using epoxy is the way to go as it is much stronger, more water resistant and easier to work with as I found out.
Using epoxy is the way to go as it is much stronger, more water resistant and easier to work with as I found out.
I just completed a re-core of my swim platform. I found that you can't really just replace one portion because the moisture intrusion just permeates through everything once it starts. My materials cost was about $250 (balsa, glass, epoxy, and paint) but it came out great (I did not have to touch the top portion).
Roberth is correct - do a search as it's been done before, but his posting on THT was a great inspiration for me:
http://www.thehulltruth.com/boating...m/466098-balsa-core-lamination-procedure.html
Good luck
Roberth is correct - do a search as it's been done before, but his posting on THT was a great inspiration for me:
http://www.thehulltruth.com/boating...m/466098-balsa-core-lamination-procedure.html
Good luck