Very good point. Thank you for letting me know. I have some more fiberglass work ahead in the near future. That should help the process.

Allyn, you're the first one to make a comment about the hat! Yes, I do love Moxie cola. It's an acquired taste, but I buy it regularly. I went to buy some here at my Publix in Florida two days ago, and it looks like they don't sell it anymore (in bottles). It hasn't been there for 2-3 months. I may have to call around to other stores or order the cans from the company online. I'm glad someone finally noticed. I actually have a bottle on my desk at work. The cola is where the name Moxie came from, of course, so that's why I wear the hat on occasion. Once I can find more bottles, you may see one appear in a future episode. -Matt

@@SailingMoxie Yes it is all over the north in the custom cola sections. Yeah you have to drink a bit of it to like it but once you drink enough you are hooked.

I think it was bare plywood inside that drain area. I believe, like you said, that the wood inside turned to mush. What is left is the fiberglass layer over the wood. I'll look inside with a light and see if I can clean out some of that wood. I may just have to leave it. But yeah, bare plywood inside, as far as I can tell. Once I put down the bilge paint, I'll be ok with a few drops of standing water over it. That bilge paint will add the additional protective barrier in that bilge area.

@@SailingMoxie Well that is not good news. Once the wood is wet, the rot will go on. Bilge paint sound for me like "painting over rust". I am not sure how crucial the coring material is. Assuming it is not structural you could let it rot and/or glass over it. If it is structural you might want to consider to rebuild the rotten sections. Thats a not so easy task as these sections are typically covered or blocked by interior elements making a otherwise simple job rather complex.

I think whatever wood was there has pretty much rotted away. It's not structural. The fiberglass frame is holding things together pretty solidly. I don't think the wood was meant to last forever, and it's not sandwiched between layers of fiberglass - no rotted core. I'll remove any rotted wood as I can reach it. I applied my first coat of bilge paint this past weekend in that V-berth area. I only applied it over fiberglass that I had sanded down and wiped clean, so I'm not painting over any rotted wood. All the fiberglass I painted over was pretty solid, despite the boat being 38 years old now!

@@SailingMoxie Here is Mads going super scientific about a very similar problem with his boat: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/btOXltZ6x5nFmac.html I think his concern is more that the structural members actually rely on coring material and he wants to glass over them. (First 5 or so minutes in the video) Maybe that is an inpiration. It's good that the fiberglass is solid. If that is failing at the structural members -it proves that something is significantly wrong.

I used a filtered respirator from Home Depot. 3M. Any time I use epoxy or paint I use a respirator with charcoal filters.

I sold that tri a little over a year ago. I'll put out a video soon about the fact that I sold it and some of the lessons I learned from it. It would have been an awesome boat if I had been able to move it to Florida.

Good advice! Thanks!

Hi pop eye. So I did a little research before I posted this video just to make sure I was getting the terminology right. When the resin and hardener are separate (before mixing), I refer to the epoxy resin and hardener as two separate things. Once mixed, I called the mixture "epoxy." At that stage (during the wetting out), it is mixed epoxy (resin and hardener together), but it has not cured into a solid yet. That's why I said I was wetting the area out with epoxy (uncured epoxy at that point). Just wanted to clarify that. I was trying to get the terms right. At no point was I wetting out the glass with just the resin. The hardener had already been mixed in. In my mind, it becomes epoxy once the two components are mixed together. The uncured epoxy is liquid - it only takes a few minutes to harden. Thank you for watching the videos! And thanks for the comment. I definitely want to use the right terms in my videos. I hope I explained things correctly here.

@@SailingMoxie Thanks for your reply. It tells me I didn't communicate very well. :-) . There are essentially two main ways to bond fiberglass together for the DIY boatworker. Those ways are with polyester(vinyester) resin mixed with with a hardener called MEKP, or methyl ethyl ketone peroxide. The second common way is with epoxy resin with the appropiate hardener. Both have advantages and disadvantages. For the most part your boat, the Hunter, was fabricated with polyester( maybe vinyester in some areas) resin, not epoxy. In your video that gallon container with the Bondo fiberglass resin name is a polyester resin, not an epoxy resin as you are calling it. Contact your supplier to confirm this. Only trying to help. You don't want to use a material in an inappropriate way and it comes back to haunt you. Enjoy your videos and have fun. Not trying to be picky or trolling.

Ah, got it, pop eye. What I was using is chemically different from epoxy. Got it. I was lumping it under the umbrella of "epoxy," but it's actually a totally different chemical make-up. Thanks for clarifying that. My bad. Thank you for watching the videos as well. I appreciate the comments and advice! -Matt

Sailing Moxie , love the videos love the boat. I've had my eye on the Hunter 54 for a while, so your videos are very interesting to me. As someone who has done a fair amount of fiberglass work, I know there is a learning curve. Just as Pop eye, I hope to be helpful and my intent is not to be critical of your work. In general, when bonding new material to old, use epoxy resin. As your repair is "superficial" and not structural, it isnt a big deal, though the repair may delaminate at some future date which will create a place to trap water. Again, with this repair, not really a big deal. One other thought, when you lay up fiberglass, you can use resin just enough to "wet out" the glass. There should generally be just enough resin to make the glass clear, but it shouldn't be swimming in resin. If you have too much resin to glass as a ratio, the resin will be prone to cracking. I'm probably explaining it poorly. Anyway, if you find the need to do more fiberglass work, "boatworks today" on KZfaq is a great resource. Also, "sail life" on You Tube will probably give you ideas too. Great work man. Keep up the great work. Can't wait to see what you do next with this beautiful boat!

Awesome. Thanks for the comments and advice. After reading pop eye's comments, I've been looking more at various marine epoxies: West System, TotalBoat, etc. I will switch to using epoxy for future work on the boat. I'll use the Bondo resin for small standalone pieces or small fixes. Thank you for the detailed advice on fiberglass work as well. I will be doing a lot more fiberglass work as the refit continues.