1966 16' re- core + tank job

[SWEET 66]

Today is June 1 and I am still not completed.
Used Divinicell to replace the balsa. Tank was replaced in 1988 and as I read 10 years life expectancy, I thought I would rip out the foam and check -- sure enough , pitting was evident and almost through the wall of the alumn tank.
New tank was around $435. Seems high but I made the dimentions 1" higher and 1" longer which gave me a 26 gal. tank--due june 4. I have spent around $500 and 15 gallons of resin and mat + woven roven to get this far!

[Lenny]

How did you go through 15 gallons of resin on a 16' deck recore only? Basically adding 175 pounds of mat/roven and coring? . A 16 deck weighs about 250-275 pounds "new and cored". Keep in mind you can build an entire 18 footer, hull and deck with about 30-ish. ??? and that is with 8 lay-ups of CSM and Roven and Hy-brids. What did you lay back in there, a mat,dyvincell,mat and a roven? Saturation ratios, when wonderfully done, are in the ballpark of 70% glass/re-inforements to 30% resin. I am just curious. :)

[SWEET 66]

I was advised to lay the mat wet then while wet I put down the foam with holes poked 4-6" apart and soaked it with resin so it would bond with the bottom-let it dry then put woven roven on top. It just ate up the resin. Was this incorrect?

[Lenny]

The 1 1/2 oz down first seems right, followed by pre-saturated foam coring and then while sitting there against the wet mat you wet it out some more. Once it has kicked you would lay a mat on top of it again and then the roven. Roven and any re-inforcements like to (need to) be, next to a wet mat in order to obtain a good co-hesive bond.

I think 15 gallons is a lot of resin, considering this is closed cell foam. Did you do the port and starboard as well at the rear of the 16 and cockpit floor as well?

[SWEET 66]

Yes, I did the entire boat. No mat was put down between the foam and the woven roven. The factory guy who made the foam in Texas did not suggest it! I hope its strong enough. They suggested 5/8" thick foam since the balsa was 1/2". Sounds like you know!

[yesyoucan]

I am currently trying to remove deck from my 1967 16'.I cannot find any tabbing holding it together,however,it does not want to come apart.Any suggestions?

[SWEET 66]

One sure way is to place a 2x4 inside the engine compartment and with a hoist, pull it up slightly. You will be able to see where its hung which will be a fiberglass patch holding the top to the bottom. Usually on the undersides of the seats. It must be cut apart and the top will come off. Use 4-6 friends to accomplish this task.

[BERTRAM BOY]

When I recored my 16, I only used between 5-6 gallons on polyester, and I used balsa, which soaks up a LOT of resin.
I didn't put a mat down before the core. I used polyester putty to adhere the balsa to the deck. I used double bias stichmat over the core.

[SWEET 66]

Nice job! I took every pc. of balsa out and cut all the top portion of woven roven out. I used the resin to fill some voids and to smooth out some areas. I could not get the divinycell to lay as flat in some areas as needed even with weight on it so after it dried, I filled each hole up with resin to bond both sides together. May have been overkill but I don't want to do this again !