Ok! I know most will say she is not worth repairing but this was my first boat that I bought myself and have had her for years. I have no expectations of having her going anytime soon so time is no issue. I am looking to both fix the problem and also customize the entire thing.

Question is how do I fix this problem? Balsa core rotted away and let outer layers give way. I also have to fix the stringers and transom. The last picture shows that I have removed all of the rotten balsa and the two layers of glass including the outer layer. Lesson learned never let the core get wet!!!!

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omg,,i wouldnt even attempt this and i do glass work! the boat looks to be too far gone,had a friend years ago with the same boat,,tore the whole bottom off it just from going in excess of 80 mph,,ins totaled the boat..

Why is it that scary? I don’t know much about glass work and that is why I am asking but to me it just looks like 3’ x 5’ of replacing glass and the core material?
I guess why I am asking help is to find out what material to use in place of the balsa wood and what material to use for the glass?
I have already cleaned up and removed the rotted wood and damaged glass, all of which was only on the port side with no damage to the starboard side.
All of the damage was caused by my water pick up tube for the speedo.

Thats just the beginning of a long process to do it rite,,you cant just glass in the core and lay fiberglass over the damaged section,,you will need to get inside the boat after the outside glass work is done other wise from impacting waves that piece that was glassed in would crack and fall off..you want to use vinyl ester resin 1708 mat for strength on the outside,,once you get the outside done then glass in the coring and lay over that with more 1708 and resin,,go at least 12-18'' beyond the area damage..you will also need to grind out the bad area on the transom and continue up the transom with the mat..try to do it in one piece and keep the mat wet when laying multi layers for strength..

once you fix that area their is a possibility that the rest of the hull will do the same thing,,if you really like the boat and want to fix it you will need to separate the top deck from the bottom..then support the whole so it dont get all out of shape because once you start glassing that will be the shape the hull will keep and you may have problems getting the top to line up correctly to the hull..also keep in mind when glassing the bottom has to be straight so you dont put any hook in the hull..you will need to remove all the coreing and bad glass or you will just end up with the same problems..

side note,,i have a friend that had the exact boat,,it did the same thing but a whole lot worse,,times ten of the damage yours has...almost the whole bottom of the boat was gone..

Too far gone, you will never keep it together.