Continuing my removal of the original [read old and moldy] carpet and padding on the interior walls, I made my way into the main cabin. On the port side, there’s a shelf. When I removed the carpet from it, I discovered an area of rot in the plywood. Thankfully, this area is not as bad as the V-berth rot [see this post, and this one] and appears to be old, not currently moist like the V-berth. Replacing this shelf shouldn’t be too much of an issue, but I have a question for those of you who might have experience. The plywood shelf appears to be glassed into a fiberglass lip that extends out from the side wall of the hull [see last photo]. Anyone have any experience in how best to handle this replacement?
Photos:
Port side cabin wall forward
Port side cabin wall aft
Rotted shelf – port side
The wood shelf is fiberglassed right into the wall via a lip
Is the top side of the shelf fiberglassed too?
I don’t have experience with anything like this…
Whether it’s fiberglassed on the top side or not, I would suggest to try removing the shelf carefully from the top. My first thought is with a chisel but maybe a dremel with a cutting tool. I would try to keep part of the bottom fiberglass lip in place to use as a guide when replacing. Try cutting from the hull edge then what you remove can be used as a template for the replacement. Then all you have to do is to apply some epoxy, place the replacement making sure it’s level then wait for it to cure. With how it’s positioned, it looks like it could be part of a backrest for seating but without the board for the backrest.
Actually, upon taking a closer look…(after I took the photo), it seems the fiberglass lip is on the top and that shelf is adhered (somehow) to the bottom of the lip. Maybe it’s glassed in…maybe it’s epoxy. I’ll be back out at the marina Friday and will get a better feel for it. I’ll probably try to remove some from the end like you suggested and see what it looks like.
The backrest idea is interesting, but it’s definitely a storage shelf. I just realized I didn’t post any pics of what it looked like at purchase time. I’ll make a post of that probably tomorrow and show the ‘before’ photos.