Balsa cored hatches

[catalacmarc]

On my 1991 pdq 36, I have never found any wood core, balsa or plywood until I took off a lock on the forward bow hatch. Given the corrosion, I suspect the lock is original and it was never bedded. The core of this hatch has rotted. I'll dig out the rot, dry out the core as best as I can and pickle any remaining wood with sodium borate powder then fill the void with thickened epoxy. Wierd that it is balsa cored and not foam.

[thinwater]

I found isolated areas of balsa in my PDQ 32, so not surprised. One transom, but not the other. Several bulkheads.

I don't know the hatch, but it is probably best to take it off the boat, remove the entire inner skin (discard), and then replace core as needed.



Possibly a similar job on an F-24. Came out factory nice factory painting. Not hard. Notice that some of the original core was retained; it was dry and so well bonded that removal could have damaged the skins. The bad core practically fell out. A wire brush on a hand grinder is a good tool for this; it eats balsa without damaging the skins like a scraper can.
http://sail-delmarva.blogspot.com/2018/ ... r-lid.html

This is the full version, but it may be behind a pay wall.
https://www.practical-sailor.com/boat-m ... -panel-fix

The borax is a good idea, but I would go back in with balsa (except for the area right around the lock).

[catalacmarc]

I finally removed the balsa from teh hatch and replaced it with a foam core. Seems to have worked just fine.