Repair and preventive maintenance system and method for fiberglass boats

Abstract

A method for preventive maintenance of a boat hull to restore the integrity of a fiberglass boat hull and prevent new water infiltration damage to a boat hull. The wet area repair guidelines using a surface moisture meter. Any balsa cored area reading 15% or above is considered a wet area. Any wood cored area reading 20% or above is considered a wet area. The preventive maintenance steps involve removing all through-hull fittings or hardware. Wet core areas are then dried out using heat lamps, lights or heaters, hot-vac systems, or octopus vacuum with grid system. If necessary, any area not drying out is de-cored and repaired accordingly. After repairs are finished, all through-hull fillings or hardware is reinstalled using new sealant.

I claim: 
     
         1 . A method of treatment for a boat hull, said boat hull having inner and outer fiberglass skins separated by a balsa wood core in the form of small separated blocks preattached to a fabric like material on one side only of said separate blocks of balsa wood, said method comprising the steps of:
 a) inspecting predetermined areas of said hull,   b) inspecting said predetermined areas of said hull for any moisture damaged balsa wood core,   c) detecting any moisture damaged balsa wood core areas of the hull,   d) boring at least one small hole through a skin at each detected moisture damaged balsa wood core detected area;   e) drying each of the detected moisture damaged balsa wood core areas for drying out said blocks of the balsa wood within said detected moisture damaged balsa wood core areas;   f) after drying of the moisture damaged balsa wood core areas, breaking down any detected rotted blocks of moisture damaged balsa wood within the detected moisture damaged balsa wood core area into wood chips and debris;   g) de-coring said detected moisture damaged balsa wood core areas, by breaking down said damaged balsa wood core and removing said wood chips and debris from the detected moisture damaged balsa wood core areas through said at least one small hole, thereby forming a cavity within each detected moisture damaged balsa wood core area and,   h) filling each said cavity with a filled epoxy.   
     
     
         2 . The method of treating a boat hull as in  claim 1 , further comprising the step of removing any hardware from said moisture damaged balsa wood core areas of the hull, and reapplying and resealing said hardware after each said cavity is filled with epoxy. 
     
     
         3 . A method of treating a boat hull according to  claim 2 , wherein said detected moisture damaged balsa wood core areas are detected by utilizing a moisture meter. 
     
     
         4 . A method of treating a boat hull according to  claim 3 , wherein detecting said detected moisture damaged balsa wood core areas comprises utilizing a thermal camera. 
     
     
         5 . A method of treating a boat hull according to  claim 4 , wherein detecting said detected moisture damaged balsa wood core areas of the boat hull further comprises placing a graphical grid on the boat to clearly identify said detected moisture damaged balsa wood core areas in identifiable grid squares. 
     
     
         6 . A method of treating a boat hull according to  claim 5 , wherein detecting said detected moisture damaged balsa wood core areas of the boat further comprises recording the date and amount of moisture in each grid square. 
     
     
         7 . A method of treating a boat hull according to  claim 1 , in which said de-coring of debris comprises routing and turning rotted balsa wood blocks in each cavity into wood chips and debris using a rotary cutting tool entering said cavity through a minimally invasive hole for convenient removal. 
     
     
         8 . A method of treating a boat hull according to  claim 7  in which the wood chips and debris are removed from said cavity using a vacuum hose connected to said hole. 
     
     
         9 . A method of treating a boat hull according to  claim 8  in which compressed air is pumped into the troubled areas between said inner and outer skins to aid in drying the troubled areas. 
     
     
         10 . A method of treating a boat hull according to  claim 1 , wherein said drying step further comprises applying heat. 
     
     
         11 . A method of treating a boat hull according to  claim 1 , wherein said drying step further comprises vacuuming. 
     
     
         12 . A method of treating a boat hull wherein said drying step includes applying heat and vacuuming. 
     
     
         13 . A method of treating a boat hull according to  claim 1 , further comprising blowing the particles out from the boat through said respective holes of said areas of removed hardware. 
     
     
         14 . A method of treating a boat hull according to  claim 11 , further comprising the step of inducing pressurized air into respective spaces between said inner and outer skins of the boat.