Carver 396 swim platform rot repair

[KyleR]

I wanted to start this thread to document the rot repair to our swim platform due to poor dock box installation and sealing. This is a well documented issue with these dock boxes being improperly installed by the dealers. So I thought I'd share my project as I complete it and hopefully help others out as well as solicit suggestions from others who have done similar repairs.

We are getting hauled out on Wednesday, July 5th which is when I'll start the bulk of work, but while we were tied up at the Oriental, NC free docks I went ahead today and cut all the silicone out and pulled everything apart and made preps for the actual work. Good thing too, as it took a lot longer due to screws that had been rounded off and I ended up having to grind a slot in them to get them out. Anyway, here's the first few pics showing the dock box coming off and how it is constructed. I'll keep this updated once we haul-out and I get going. Hope it helps!

[paulr]

Oh boy, now I have another thing to worry about.
I'm curious, what alerted you to the problem?

[KyleR]

When you walk across the platform, you can feel the sponginess. It is pretty self-revealing.

[g36]

QR_BBPOST Oh boy, now I have another thing to worry about.
I'm curious, what alerted you to the problem?

Another dock box issue. Everyone that has these mounted on their boat should pull them off check for any rot in the holes and surrounding area and reseal and/or fix before it continues. Mine has basically no sealant snd if the boat hadnt lived its life in a covered slip i would have had this same huge issue instead of a bit of rot around the deck screw holes. Carver did not do a through job in sealing these and at least you'll know where you stand before having to do a huge repair.

[KyleR]

Update....I've only been able to work off and on since hauling out on Wednesday due to afternoon showers that put a stop to work! But here are some updates.

This is the mess I found after peeling back the skin. Only took a couple of photos but you get the idea!!

[KyleR]

And with all the rot pretty much gone, I was looking like this. You can see the darker strip/area where there was plywood under the dock box to screw into. Everywhere else was balsa.

[KyleR]

And finally, I did some grinding and got rid of all the diamond deck texture and put a 3" wide bevel on the edges in preparation for layering the glass & wood in, hopefully to start next week - weather permitting!

[KyleR]

Made a little progress today. Bought some 1708 biaxial fiberglass and a sheet of 1" plywood for the repair. Made a template for cutting the plywood and sheets of fiberglass since I'll need multiple layers. I got a layer of glass down and epoxied in (forgot to take a photo after applying the resin). Also got the plywood cut to shape.

The plan for tomorrow is to cut the plywood shape into pieces and slide them in like a jigsaw puzzle. Once the fit is right, remove the wood, lay down a layer of thickened epoxy, coat each piece of wood with straight epoxy and then put everything back in place, followed by a top coat of straight epoxy. I'll let you know how it goes!

[g36]

Looking good, hope you'll get some good weather to continue on. Love the pics.

[KyleR]

Between rain showers and 20+ knot winds, I was able to get all the wood installed and epoxied in (see pic below). I had to grind down some high spots once it hardened just due to irregularities in the swim platform supports and then I filled any cracks and crevices with thickened epoxy. Hope to get to the top glassing this weekend but they're calling for more rain. I'm also posting a pic of the wood I used in case anyone else was wondering. Also, I ended up using 5 gallon water bottles filled with water for my "clamps". Worked pretty good!