After a survey, including sounding of her decks, we purchased the boat at a good price (we thought) knowing she had termites in her trim.  The first measure we took was to completely tent the boat and kill the little buggers.  After sailing her during her second season with us, I decided it was time to replace the trim, primarily the tongue and groove ash overhead and deck beams.  After about 3000 bungs and screws, the ash and related trim were removed, exposing the inner FRP skin.  Much to my dismay, termite poo was falling out of the screw holes drilled into the core and left exposed after removing the ash.  It was a very bad day!  Since I couldn't risk loosing the rig over the side due to a weakened deck, there was only one thing I could do, and that was fix the damage correctly, so I peeled back the inner FRP skin to expose the core and essentially chiselled the core out, all 120 square feet of it.  It took me another year to get over the mental paralysis this job presented before I would start the rebuild process. 

 

The damage stretched from just aft of the main bulkhead all the way aft.  The termites must have been in there for many years and ate primarily the entire middle ply of five.  I also found there was water damage as well from water entering at the mast wiring hole and at some of the dorade box screws.

 

I found out from Bud Taplin that the original core was laid up while the deck was still inverted in the mold.  Westsail compressed exterior grade A-C fir plywood to the outer FRP skin using railroad ties and bags of lead ingots.  There were very few air bubbles in their layup.  I decided to replace the core using the same buildup as Westsail did, with 1/2" marine plywood (fir, A-B grade) compressed from below with multiple, evenly spread props to maintain the original camber.  I added epoxy plugs at every thru-bolt so there is no way water can enter the core.  I also epoxied in a PVC tube at the mast wiring hole for the same reason.  It's a good feeling knowing the deck is better than brand new. 

 

A special thanks to my good friend Roy Morales for making this project possible.  I truly couldn't have done it without his help..