Pacemaker Boat Owners Association

cut the top skin off and clean out the "dead Balsa core and replace it with airex or similar core. Replace top piece with epoxy butter and two layers of matt and fair and finish

Nu-teak or flexi is nice, but you still need a solid surface to attach it to. I had to replace my fuel tanks and rotten decking over it and in 1 day, my crew of 2 and myself completely gutted the cockpit of all framing and removed the fuel tanks. It was a good opportunity to clean the bottom of the boat, make any repairs underneath the old tanks and replace all of the framework above the tanks after we installed new ones. I went with pressure treated lumber for the framework and marine plywood on top, covered with mat and fabric glassed down with epoxy. the job took 7 days and i have a completly watertight cockpit now. I installed a plastic deck hatch to allow access below and 2 round hatches (8") to fill my tanks directly or to allow future tank cleaning. I have aluminum tanks and used Steelflex epoxy to seal the tanks on the outside before installing them. If you have a soft spot, you can pretty much count on some deterioration of the framework underneath, so be prepared to do what I did. Nuteak can overlay your new plywood deck surface after it has been epoxyed.