Found some rot - what now and how bad

1975 Mustang 16

I pulled the seats/motor cover out and pulled up carpet to do a good interior cleaning - everything I can see after removing these items is that all the original glass is still tight - I don't have any spongy spots or deflection due to rot except for one place I found a small amount of rot in the channel along the driver side exhaust path. I scraped out the rot about 1" deep and the remaining wood seems pretty dry down to this point - Is it best to dry this out and then use some epoxy to fill back up and just monitor it from this point? Any comments/suggestions would be appreciated

assuming the cores are dry - what type of filler should I use to encapsulate this back?

MAN - GA wrote: also everything is still aligned and running fine - no problems there at this point in time

Just wanted to be sure the engine wasn't going anyplace! It checks out at or below .003? Did you follow the normal alignment checking procedure?

Clean the area around the hole by grinding and then level out the hole made by the hole saw with some filled epoxy. Go over the top with some cloth and epoxy. Small epoxy repair kits are available at marine supplies or on line. It should have everything needed.

You may be able to get a couple of more seasons out of it before a stringer job, however it's inevitable! Check your alignment often.

Mark, BuffaloBFN has done an entire stringer/floor replacement on his 88'BFN. He's up in Gainesville so he isn't too far from you. Maybe he'll chime in and offer to come down and have a looksie to see what you've got.

I would recommend that you look at the stringers at the low point in boat, close to the pylon and bilge pump. These areas see the most frequent exposure to water and movement/stress. One of my stringers ended up solid towards the rear but completely gone up front.

Good luck with it, Frank.

I will.. If the main stringers are holding there is nothing wrong with making a water tight repair on the "spot". As long as you realize your just buying time. It is, however, a pretty sure bet the foam is wet. Based on your description of your problem, " I would swim with current" for now.
bj

Have done some fiberglass work before but it was very simple patches on an old fishing boat - nothing turned out extremely pretty, but it didn't need to be either