TOPIC: New core for the GW Invader

Today I cut out all the inner skin of the hull and dug out all of the wet and rotten balsa. There was only a 2" x 2" piece of it still bonded to the fiberglass. Seem like the boat is 100 pounds lighter. My thought is to just replace the old balsa with new and put it back together as original. Does not look like it would be that hard to do. Am I missing a different way or material to use? I have no problem working with fiberglass so its really just the material choice I am wondering about. No pictures this week as the wife is out of town with the camera which is why I'm able to make so much progress this week. Thanks

Probably best just to use good quality end-grain balsa contour panels. They have a scrim of glass attached to the backside to hold all the pieces together. Trim to shape and install. I would definately use epoxy on this. You could even pre-treat the balsa with Smith's CPES to really make the balsa water resistant. That is how I plan to do my Harvey, which was cored with a pathetic series of 3/8" plywood strips.

Bruce

Google "Coremat". It's a synthetic honeycomb material that is 100% rot-proof and much stronger than balsa core. Slightly more expensive, but a non-issue with the 10' Invader.

Lots of conflicting information about coremat out there I see. Has anyone used it? I found one resto that used balsa and then a layer of coremat. I'm open to this idea but I'm not finding anyone who has just used coremat and what the results might be. Thanks

The only Core Mat that I know of looks like that absorbant bandage looking stuff that butchers put under a piece of meat when it is packaged. It soaks up a million gallons of resin.

I agree with you Bruce. The only info on core mat I find is just what you describe and I don't find anything referencing using it as a core only or in place of Balsa. I did find a small boat resto using balsa and then a 2MM core mat and the guy says it came out super strong and was way overbuilt which is what I usually do. Thats the way I'm thinking of doing it at this time.