The little repair job just got a little bit bigger

The first bit of gluing worked well. This shows the middle laminate layer nice and solid

This shows the inner laminate layer looking nice and solid. It needs a bit more work on this side to fill in some of the cracks but its basically sound. I will sand and paint inside with anti-slip paint and the repair will be invisible.

So I marked out the area for the outer laminate layer and removed the outer layer inside the taped area. The new laminate layer will then sit inside this area. This is the technique used when repairing this kind of construction with increasing sizes of laminate layers from inside to out to ensure that the new wood bonds to the existing wood.

And now the outer layer is removed and its ready for the new piece.

You can see where previous repairs have attempted to inject glue through small holes to fill voids between the laminates.

The next task was to scrap away the paint around the area.

All was going well until some of the wood started to come away with the paint and I discovered more rot.
I had to dig away to remove it and see just how far it went. It was about this point where I began to feel like I had just opened up a can of worms and maybe I should get a professional shipwright to fix the problem.

But although its was not good to find yet more work at least it was quickly found and removed and I could to see the reason for the problem. There had been a repair done on the inner layer using a fairly solid piece of wood and not a laminate as it should have been. They then attempted to fill the void between it and the middle and outer layer with epoxy resin - and failed. Water had got into the void and had partially rotted the laminates.

Once I had cleaned it all out I had a nice clean hole about 2" by 1.75" that has a nice solid inner layer just below the area I was originally working on. I have already cut and shaped a piece for the middle layer and I will glue that in when I do the outer layer of the area I was initially working on. Then I will have to just peal off the outer layer around it enough to fit another outer laminate layer and that (hopefully) will be that.

I was planning on doing the gluing today but by the time I had sorted the new problem the temperature was dropping and the light fading. Hopefully sometime soon the weather will improve and I can get it done.

I could do with turning the boat completely upside down as it will make it easier to work on the hull and put weights on the layers while they are glued in.