deckRot

I drilled a hole in these strips and injected West epoxy mixed with filler using West empty caulking tubes. It took two
tubes to fill the deck. The screw holes in the deck above allowed air to escape as the epoxy filled the voids. As epoxy
began to run through these vent holes, I capped them with duck tape. As each void filled, I covered the injection hole
with duck tape. I coated the entire deck cutout with epoxy. This should keep water from finding its way into the deck
should the seam leak in the future. I also drilled out any suspect fastener holes in the deck and glued a wall anchor in
each hole using the same epoxy. This should prevent water from getting into the deck through the screw holes.

While the deck was drying out, I repaired and refinished the interior wood trim with a light coat of Cetol followed by
several coats of Epiphanes gloss varnish. Cetol seals the wood and leaves it with a nice honey color. The varnish gives
it a deep glossy finish. There were some cracks in the trim pieces that I repaired using resorcinol glue. Since there are
a number of bungs in the exposed section of the frame, it was not possible to completely finish the trim before
reassembly. I applied at least one coat of varnish to everything. This insured that any caulking compound wouldn't get
into the wood grain during reassembly. I refinished the hatch frame, ladder steps, and aft-companionway hatch-boards
at the same time. It took about 12 hours to clean, prep, and refinish these pieces. This was done in several coats over
the course of a week. The finish leaves the steps slippery. I applied non-skid tape to the forward edge of each step.

I added two teak trim pieces to the outside of the hatch frame. I used a door gasket that is commonly sold in hardware
stores. The gasket comes with a wooden molding that was discarded. This should help keep water from splashing under
the sides of the hatch. I previously used the same gasket material and had good success. It took about 4 hours to
fabricate and install the gasket trim.

I added a pull-handle to the sliding hatch to make it easier to open and close. The handle obstructed the middle screw
hole in the hatch and made it impossible to use a standard screwdriver to tighten the screw. I had to re-drill the hole
in the underside teak trim piece to 5/8 inch to allow me to get a socket on the nut. I used a screw-bit held in place
with vice-grips to hold the screw head while tightening the nut. Fortunately, I had a 5/8" plug-cutter to make the
oversized bung. I repainted the deck hatch and doghouse with West Marine Sea Gloss Pro Nonskid Paint. I mixed a
quart of offwhite and a quart of white, since the unfinished gelcoat appeared to be somewhere between the two
colors.

Click on the photo below for a larger image.