Steplift Cuddy Top Rot... Help Please

1BadTitan

1BadTitan

Member
I have rot where the piece of threaded steel comes up and attaches the bow cleat. Its about 9" around. I dont know what its called, its the celing of the cuddy. The white liner on top of the inside is molding too. How can I repair this stuff without pulling the whole cap?
 
when I had mine I just took the threaded rod off, and never put it back, I used a flat Alum plate under the cleat instead.
As for the rot you are going to have to lay on your back!! Mine was wet but not rotted. Best way I guess is to cut it out from the inside till you get good wood,( leave the out side not cut) square it off to cut a nice new piece to put in there.
Let say you make it 12 x 12, now coat the new piece with resin and while wet stick in the new hole you made, using a 2x4 or something to wedge in there till its set. You could put a few temp screws in thur the top and just fix the small holes after.
Then just add cloth till you make it the same thickness as the rest of the liner. Good news is no one is ever going to see it so you don;t have to be a pro at it. After you are done the carpet will not get wet any longer stopping the mold.

Fill the screw holes on top, if you went that root with some marine tex, and call it done. Now you can add your new cleat, use plenty of 5200 on the screws, (put Blue painters tape down first, then 5200, this way you peel the tape off while still wet and have a clean install) and around the cleat to water proof it! Don't forget the new backing plate for the cleat, can be what ever, but alum in the best choice IMO, just use some anti seize on the screws to stop the different metals from corroding over time.

Some of the glass guys will be here soon to help you, this is just my non pro fix, but it will work! Good Luck
 
Pretty much what MJ said. I would do the screws through the top. And around where you cut out, dish out an area about 3" wide around the cut. This gives you the ability to lay larger and larger pieces of glass until your thickness is built back up. But working on your back is a pain!
 
1BadTitan Will the would continue to rot if it stays dry or will it not spread.
Today 11:53 AM
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If you mean the wood, No not if you cut away the rotted stuff, and replace, also stop the leak.
If you leave it alone, it will also stop after all the wood rots, and the cabin roof falls in!!
 
Others might think this is a bad idea, it probably is... Get some epoxy and chop some mat up. Mix up some runnyish epoxy and mix the chopped glass in. Duct tape over the hole on the bottom side and start pouring. You may have to drill holes at the edges of the rot to release trapped air. Thats the easy way to fix it.
 
If you repair the fiberglass w/out drying out the wood core, then the wood rot WILL continue to spread untill it eventually rots the entire core...yours sounds like a relatively small area now, so it can be dried before you repair the glass...there's a repair method/product called Git-Rot...everybody has their own opinion about this stuff, but yours is a prime example of its best use...you'll HAVE TO HAVE the boat put away and in the DRY for a long period of time...drill 1/8" holes thru the top glass skin starting close to the center of the rotted area and working out to where your drill bit finds solid wood...w/those holes for ventalation, it will eventually dry out if left in a low humidity atmosphere...blowing a fan across the area constantly will also help...but the Git-Rot product requires DRY wood to work properly and that's gonna take time...Google it up, read the procedure and see if it is for you...
 
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