Rot around chainlocker inlet

[Sailor_Grant]

My chain locker hole is a bronze fixture that looks like the attached image. When inspecting it for the first time yesterday, I realized it was installed by cutting a hole in the cored deck and then just bolting it down. This left the wood core completely exposed.

The core in the hole is completely rotten, and I can feel it with my finger because it was never covered or protected.

What should I do? And what should have been done in the first place to properly install this?

I am worried the rot with keep moving forward until the stem head...

[mike d.]

I had the same issue with our Gulfstar ! I cut out the bottom layer of glass inside, about 8 inches to the back, and out to the edge, where the glass goes up to the deck edge ! I used a wiz wheel to cut the glass ! This left about a 45 degree angle toward the inside of the locker ! Then i dug around until I found dry core ! I used a chisel to clean out the core until the deck glass was clean ! Then I cut quality water proof plywood to fit ! I epoxy coated the top surface of the ply, and the glass, then I used Wesy system 6/10 on the top of the plywood ! I pushed it into place, and propped it up hard, ( made the prop before ), then after cure, I filled in the voids, with thickened epoxy ! Let that kick, then glassed over the whole patch, and out over the the old glass under the deck ! I re-cut the hole, then sealed the edges of the ply, and remounted the fitting ! Note I had room to lay in there upside down, about a third of my body !

[Kelkara]

This is exactly how the chain pipe on my boat was originally installed ... The first thing you need to do is figure out exactly how far the rot has progressed already ... after 45 years of water seeping in through the unsealed edge and my whole foredeck was rotten ... it was a big job.

https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...re-224788.html

anywhere that I wanted to replace the fittings I made solid epoxy/filler with no balsa core, so I hope that there is now no way for water to get back into the core even if it does get past the butyl bedding.

[Sailor_Grant]

If I do decide to recore the deck, can I do it with solid fiberglass so I do not have to worry about this problem again? Or is there another type of core where water could not damage it, like closed-cell foam?

Also what is the best way to see how far the rot has gone, other than drilling?