balsa coring
 

I have just removed some wet balsa coring from my cabin interior. I purchased some replacement balsa coring. Can I use some construction adhesive to adhere it to the under side of the top deck and then glass it over, or do I need to mix some resin and thicken it and use this as a mastic? It is a patch about 4ftx 4 ft.

You would be better off using something like ATC's corebond but I don't think it comes in anything smaller then five gallons. Do not use any type of construction adhesive balsa needs to be bedded in to either a layer of ounce and a half mat and resin or a bedding compound. It's tricky and not impossible but that's a pretty good size piece of core. You might be able to whip up a good thick paste using some resin and west systems 404 but that would be my last choice over traditional methods.

Captrod28 ,there have been way to many horror stories out there from using construction adhesive like P/L , for re-coring , transoms , stringers , etc ................

doing glass work over your head is not pleasant. redoing the job because you used gorilla glue is much less pleasant...

What is the working time with corebond before it starts to cure? Is it a two-part system?

If you had a decent working time, you could prep things and vacuum bag the core so that you wouldn't have any voids behind it. I don't think I would do the whole 4x4 area at once tho, probably split it into two sections of 2x4 or 2x2 depending on working time.

Corebond has a half hour to forty five minute work time pending temp. It works quite easy and is pretty forgiving. It works well in applications like this but the biggest problem is i dont believe it comes in less then five gallon altitudes. I buy it in bulk and would be happy to split off a qt or so at cost if need be, it really is a great product for bonding upside down.

Bagging would be nice but its almost impossible to get a seal on an old core. Its actually not as bad as it seems. I have done areas as large as five foot by six foot by myself in a single layup. Technique is everything when working up side down wet on wet.