Pensacola FL Sailing Blog - sailingnightwatch

Another problem with that vintage boat was soft decks. Some manufactures cord their decks with plywood, balsa wood or foam. Hardware was fastened to the decks with out removing the core around the fasteners and adding resin to the hole, sealing the core. As time passed and they developed leaks, the core material began to rot and dissolve, leaving space between the inner and outer layers of fiberglass, hence soft spots. We looked at a Columbia 45 that had been cruise for about 2 years and had almost the value in new equipment as they were asking for the boat. It was scary to walk on the deck. I priced out replacing the deck and deckhouse. If I did all the work myself and did not figure in my cost, it was still expensive. Thank God we found what we bought.