Greetings all-- (Question in the final paragraphs:)
In my ongoing restoration of my '81 M15, and my earnest quest to get her into the water before the end of May, my latest episode: Removed some deck hardware on the foredeck with a view toward rebedding it, and discovered (as I had feared)that the balsa core around the holes was moist, and somewhat rotten. Using a bent nail in my drill chuck, I was able to remove a pretty good quantity of moist, brown balsa bits. from within about 3/4" of my oversize-drilled holes. Drilled some more 1/8" holes, spaced about an inch apart, all around the area on the inside ceiling only, placed a heater in the boat, closed it up and let it sit for a couple of days. When everything seemed very dry, I filled the holes and all voids with thickened epoxy. I will re-drill and re-bed tonight, with high hopes for some weekend sailing. QUESTION: does a poorly-bedded teak toe-rail pose a risk for water intrusion between the hulls? My teak toe-rail is badly bedded, it's fairly obvious. The caulk seems to be non-existent or badly degraded. But the toe-rail seems to be bolted through the "lip" around the edge of the deck only. -- could there be any communication between that area and the outer hull? It doesn't seem like it. (I'm just trying to get away with leaving this for next year -- somebody tell me it's OK!) Later, Steve "Still never sailed in a Montgomery" McClellan M15 #152 Chicago Area _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats
