Subject: rotted wood under shower
Date: Fri, 25 Dec 1998

We have a Baba 40 fiberglass sailboat. We have just removed the teak floor surrounding the shower sump and discovered extensive moisture and rotting wood on the wood underlayment. There does not seem to be any structural problem, since we can stand on the sump without any visible movement etc. We intend to dry the area out and repair the underlying wood with some combination of epoxy and wood putty, then glue and screw the teak pieces back, and sealing it against further water damage. Any suggestions on how to fix this and what products to use would be very much appreciated. Thanks.
Susan and Michael C.

Susan and Michael,

Merry Christmas to you!

What you need to do is, after drying the wood, is soak it with our Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer (CPES). This is the perfect product for your application. How you do this will depend on how thick the wood is, and/or, how deep the wood deterioration is. If the wood is thick and the rot is deep, then you should consider drilling CPES-access holes about halfway through the wood. If the wood is thin and/or the rot shallow, then this won't be necessary.

For your particular application, I'd recommend three coatings of the CPES. The 2nd two will be absorbed at a much slower rate, but will in effect waterproof the wood and prevent further problems in your under-shower area.

Following the CPES application you are pretty much free to use either a flow-on application of our Layup & Laminating Resin or a spread-on application of our Epoxy Filler. Both will bond at the molecular level with the CPES-impregnated wood and give you a strong, waterproof bond.

Take care to get the wood as dry as possible. The dryer the wood the better the penetration of the CPES.

I don't think you are going to need very much CPES. I would recommend the 2-quart unit just because it's a better buy than the 2-pint unit, and you'll be sure to have enough. You only mix as much as you need at any given time, and you've got a pot life of about 45 minutes. For the resin or the putty, that will depend on what you're looking at.

You can order and we can ship, or you can swing by our Ballard office and pick some up. We don't ship out of here but we always keep enough around for the Seattle folks. Come back if I can answer additional questions.

Doc