Thread: Marine Ply repair

Hi Guys

Hope you can give some guidence here.

My F/glass 1/2 cabin boat has storage shelves runing along the inside of the open hull. On one side, the shelves have started to rot. They are made of what looks to be Marine Ply covered by Fibreglass. Looks like years of water ingress has rotted the ply, and it needs a repair. I spotted it because the F/glass had gone soft in spots.

Its not massive area's, just two sections each about 5cm x 10cm, but where it is affected the timber is buggered.

I intend to repair the rotted ply using either body filler or f/glass. It would be nice to use ply but that would mean a complete repair of the whole shelf (approx 2 mts). Some of the ply is still damp (fresh water) but not rotten.

Q. Does this need to be dried out or can I just repair the rotten area's with bog, reglass and entomb the damp ply. Will it stop rotting if I can stop air and further moisture getting to the damp ply? If not, how can I dry damp ply that is sitting under f/glass.

Thanks for your guidence on this.

Steve