Talked with JC pretty in-depth about this. Yes, there are some soft spots on the deck from water intrusion, leaky deck hardware, ie. cleats, cable ties, etc. I asked how much of the deck is really a major structural point? "not really much" he said, He even referenced center consoles with no deck whatsoever. Said if I was not going to do it the right way, which no matter what way, he said will never be as good as "1978" then an extra bulkhead would be a good idea, that a solid deck is mostly there for load bearing deck/foot traffic. Anyway, having the deck re-cored in the future may still be in the cards after we see how everything else holds up. No stress cracks anywhere yet, the stringers and transom seem pretty damn solid. I just can't see having 50k in what will always be a 10k boat.. Going to drop the engine in hopefully this weekend, she is buttoned up and ready to go! Got a deal on a rotating assembly since my prior posts, and the 477 BBC has grown to a 511 BBC, I'll post up some recent pics when I get a minute.

I would not add a bulkhead if that deck is rotten. Adding a stiff brace to a weak deck will create a shear point if rough enough water is encountered.

The materials that are available today can make that boat better than I was in 1978. I think jc should stop being so ignorant, and realize that there's a lot of his old boats out there that people want to restore and be safe........not my style though.

Repairing the soft spots isn't that hard to do. It's actually quite easy.
Remove stanchions cleats at all suspect areas. From the underside. Take a circular saw and set the depth @ 1/4". Wearing goggles and a respirator, cut away the glass under the bad areas. ie: a square or rectangle. Take a screwdriver and pry the glass off. Important! better to start with a small opening. You can always make it bigger.Remove all the delaminated balsa and grind the area.
Cut a piece of 1 1/2 oz. mat to the exact size of the opening. Also cut a piece of balsa 1/2" to the exact size of the opening. And while your at it. Cut a piece of 1708 and a piece of 3/4 oz. mat 3" larger the the shape for over the balsa core.
the glass part can be messy if you don't know what your doing. I would suggest putting down a plastic tarp of some kind.
Wet the area, (mix resin a little warm) and apply the mat and wet it out. Steel roll the air out. Then apply extra resin to the mat. Now wet the underside of the balsa prior to putting it in place. Balsa will suck the resin out of the glass. Thats why you pre wet it. Now simply push the balsa up into place. Use your steel roller to apply pressure to it. It won't fall down. Once hard. Grind perimeter around area around 3". If you have any voids around the perimeter where the new Balsa meets the old. Fill with filler prior to glassing. Now just wet the area, apply the 1708 and the 3/4 oz. mat and steel roll. When cured. grind and feather in the glass, and gelcoat.
Good Luck!

Rick

At the least seal up what is there now, you say no cracks now but as it gets worse and you use the boat more it will start to crack

I'm no glass expert either, but if you don't care about walking on the deck could you just cut/grind out the rotten core, make sure the deck is tabbed to the hull properly (and add to the tabbing if need be) and perhaps add an extra bulkhead for strength? We may be picking up an old SB in similar shape and will not be using the cabin, so the loss of cabin space won't be an issue.

Compared to a Carrera or Pantera the 24x7 SBs are laid up light,
I would go as far as to call it thin in comparison as such it is more suspect
to cracks,delam and general fiberglass troubles.
Lightweight makes em faster than the others but personally I would be wary

As I said earlier. The under side of the deck has a layer of 1 1/2 oz. mat and cloth over the Balsa. No big deal to cut out the bad areas and recore them. Making more work for yourself by adding bulkheads. Not to mention distroying any resale value. JS