Rot Doctor

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Subject: ? for Dr. Rot (CPES vs. Git Rot)
Date: Fri, 15 Sep 2000

Dear Dr. Rot,

Nice web site, well done…

We have soft spots under our fibreglass deck on our houseboat, unable to access it from below for repairs so will have to do from above. The fibreglass is still in good shape. At http://www.houseboat.net Capt. Tom on the bulletin board said to someone else’s query about a similar problem:

“…There is a much simpler solution than cutting out all the fiberglass and attempting to replace the underlayment or worse yet working upside down in the hull. There is a product called “GIT-ROT” It comes in a bright yellow box that is a 2-part epoxy. It is available at West Marine or Boater’s World. BW price is 16oz. for $20.00. It is temperature sensitive and must be applied in cooler weather to allow time to infiltrate the wood fiber before it sets up. Can be refrigerated prior to use, too. You drill 1/4″ holes 1″ apart on the soft area. DO NOT drill all the way thru the wood underneath!! use a drill stop to prevent this. Mix the solution per instructions and fill the drilled “wells”. Thru a capillary action the solution will penetrate through out the soft area. In about 36 hours be as hard as concrete. I am impressed with this product !! A tad expensive but much easier than the work exhaustive alternative of complete cut-outs and large re-glassing repairs…”

From your experience, do your products work better than GIT-ROT, and if so which ones in particular do you recommend for us. Do you agree with Capt. Tom’s procedure above? We live in the interior of BC, (Okanagan Lake) but the temperatures are still in the mid teens or higher during the day.

Thanks for any advice,
Don McE.

Don,

If you look at the Testing Section of our website, “Git-Rot” is product “B”.

“Git-Rot” will work to some extent if conditions are ideal, although in our opinion a standard epoxy resin with a slow hardener will work as well. That’s basically all that “Git-Rot” is. You will note in the Test Section that of the 6 ml of “Git-Rot” applied to the balsa wood, less than 25% was absorbed.

The basic problem here is that “Git-Rot” or a standard epoxy will not penetrate far enough to give one any confidence that all deteriorated areas have been saturated, and if they have not been saturated there is no assurance that the rot process has been deterred. We have seen many cases where a standard epoxy resin is applied to rotted wood, and although it gets hard and solves the problem in a particular spot, the rotting process can and will continue beyond the penetration area of the epoxy.

You will note that 6 ml of CPES penetrated 16″, and when more was added it penetrated over 20″. On wood that is reasonably dry, even if it is under fiberglass, CPES will penetrate thoroughly. Holes can be 5–7″ apart. With sufficient cure time (about a week) CPES will harden the wood. If the wood is badly deteriorated, then two applications may be required. If there is actually missing wood on the interior, then we recommend that the CPES treatment be followed with an application of our Layup & Laminating Resin into the same holes. The L&L Resin is VERY slow setting and will penetrate a long way itself.

The temperatures mentioned relate to the temperature at the time of application. CPES comes in two formulas, a Warm Weather Formula for temperatures down to about 50F, and a Cold Weather Formula for temperatures that go down to 28F.

We only ship directly to our customers, and ship the same day as ordered. Because CPES is classified as a Hazardous Material, getting it into Canada is usually done by shipping to a point on the US side of the border, such as a friend, relative, USPS Center, Mail Box outlet, etc. We supply NAFTA paperwork so there is no import duty. It can be shipped directly into Canada, but requires shipping charges as well as UPS Brokerage fee along with Canadian Customs Duties/Taxes. See our shipping options into Canada for more information.

Let us know if we can be of further help.

Doc

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