Quote:
Originally Posted by PeterM
. . . Have been reading that the Potter hulls had glass over balsa while the later hulls laid the glass over plywood. The consensus here is that the balsa is better because water doesn't travel through it like it does with plywood. I don't understand this since balsa is extremely porous. Maybe this doesn't matter cuz if i get an older hull I want a rebuilt one. I don't want a "project" boat but I am trying not to spend crazy money . . .
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The porosity of balsa also means that resin bonds to it much better than it does to the foam cores, plus balsa has up to 10X higher shear strength! Check out
Dave Pascoe's articles on cores and you'll understand why Moesly and Potter chose it over other materials.
Just because a boat is old doesn't mean there is a problem with a cored structure. The key is to drill any holes oversize, fill with epoxy cabosil then redrill to correct size; also drill and tap for machine screws which hold much better than sheet metal screws, whose sharp threads cut into the glass. My boat is all original with solid decks and transom, but I've always carefully sealed any holes into cored structures.