Rotten core on forward deck, how would you fix it?

[Capt Terry]

Originally Posted by ricknewman

I would remove the top skin and save.Exposing the rotten core and leaving the bottom skin.Clean all the bad stuff out (usually small squares of ply) and replace coring with epoxy and reattach the skin.

This is basically what I did to repair the rotten balsa core in my Seafari stepdown several years ago; still less deflection than when it was brand new. Made a shallow cut to the top skin with a 1.5” cutoff wheel on a Dremel. Used a flexible drive to keep the Dremel motor away from the fiberglass dust so I didn’t ruin it- lesson learned!