Date: 8/30/2007
Name: Mark Weinheimer
email: sailscanvas@pinelink.org
subject:deck recoring
I think the spray foam in a can is not dense enough for a deck. It is meant to be insulation around small openings like plumbing and wiring where they pass thru walls etc. The reason end grain balsa is used as a core material is that it is amazingly strong in compression as well as in shear. The only cores that are better in compression are aluminum honeycomb or Nomex honeycomb. I suspect that another reason Jim's spray foam recore didn't work as well as planned is that a larger portion of the deck is actually delaminated. I would remove the compression post and do more extensive exploration. Alternate to that, adding deck beams cut from styrofoam and covered with epoxy and unidirectional tape can add stiffness without any other intrusion into the core. For those who don't want to use balsa as a core try high density polyurethane foam sheet. It doesn't soak up water...but it's operator error if the water gets into the core in the first place.
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