No more wood!
 

This is why you don't use wood in a fiberglass boat. Yes, those are ants.

Composite bulkheads just moved up the list.

There was resin over the plywood. I think they got in via a screw hole for the battery switch adjacent to a biscuit joint/patch.

I hate wood.

The wood looked ok. Not great. But OK. But ants chewed thru the middle layers of the engine bulkhead plywood. Until I pulled tabbing to fix the deck, I never would have seen it.

I am considering "ring" bulkheads so I can install them, then remove the ply afterwards. That way the hull doesn't flex. The forward of tank bulkhead/ cockpit sole bulkhead will be a PITA if I don't because I have no access unless I pull a lot of cabin or cockpit sole.

I have Terminix spray my boat monthly...end of problem :)

strick

Bahahaha!!!

Coosa was at the top of my list now it's in!! No wood !! Well worth the extra cash so it's done right....

Looks familiar, all too familiar.

Every once in a while I find a pile of saw dust in the wrong place, or a line of carpenter ants going someplace they shouldn't. Lots of those little beasties in Florida... . I've had good luck with moth balls. The trick is getting a cover that allows the boat to mostly seal up. A good seal, a box of moth balls and a month or so does the trick.

Once they got into the balsa under the foredeck and ate a bunch of it (big pile of sawdust). Once I'd killed'em, checked for soft spots and sealed the hole, and a couple more. Still seems solid, thankfully. Potter put a lot of glass in the decks of this boat. That was the second place where the core was mostly gone, but you could not feel it from on deck.

I said the same and then i cut out my fish box and found a wood bulkhead under the forward casting platform.. It was eaten up with bugs.. I dont understnad why you put a piece of wood in without laminating with glass. They put it to hold the foam in the stringers. So now my box stringers are open.. And need to be glassed in..

Wood
 

Tank bed and foward bulk head

Tank bed

Looks to me someone didnt know what they were doing. Done right it would have never looked like that. Now thats no reason to dislike wood...lol Jk

That looks like the original tank deck. I believe that's how Mr. Potter installed them. Maybe not the best quality, but it's lasted 40 years...

Wood is a good boat building material if it's done right. Hell, it used to be the ONLY boat building material. But it can be a mess if it's done wrong.

It has to be done right and also maintained right. You wouldn't believe what we have seen in redoing these boats.
People install trim tabs, baitpumps and transducers and never put any sealer on them. install pedestals and leaning post with no sealer. All access hatches should be removed and recaulked every so often also so to blame the manufacturer is not always the problem.
Did everyone see the plywood we pulled out of the 67. Zero rot.
Couldn't say the same for the transom but these boats with I/O's are very prone to transom rot because of all the areas that water can get into. Actually the outdrive should be completely removed every so often and resealed.

Wood
 

Im not knocking wood. just never understood why it was not encapsolated in glass.. I know glass is not water proof either. but it helps...But then again it is over 35 years old and is still there. says alot.. whether wood or compostie if not done properly there is not much advantage to either.... for the record I am not bashing anyone. just giving some insight on what i have found with my 76 that is all. I love seacrafts and i love Ricky Scarboruogh boats.. and yes they are made of wood and fiberglass... just mine cost a lot less. lol

my rot came from when they cut the vents in the stern.. they cut to deep and into the plywood and never sealed it back up..you could stick a dowel all the way across and down to the chine.. but because of the cost of composite i opt for the plywood and epoxy

Just didnt look factory.?.? Im not real sure on the 25' either. Haven't had any experience w that one.