Our “poop deck” I refer to is the last four feet of deck over the aft cabin berths. It carries the backstays, cleats, and the stanchions that enclose the aft deck. Over the years, people drilled holes, installed hardware, removed hardware, and never sealed anything properly. The core was completely rotten. The deck flexed when you walked on it, and when it rained, water leaked into the space below — which has always been a black‑mold breeding ground. A real treat.
This winter, right at the tail end of Snowpocalypse, we finally decided to fix it. We built a structure over the aft deck, tarped it off, and went to work. We cut out all the rotten core, fiberglassed in marine plywood, and laid about half an inch of fiberglass over the top. After that, we reinstalled all the hardware, including the heavily reinforced backstay chainplates.
All it took was completely contaminating our living space with fiberglass dust. Easy.
But the deck is solid, sealed, dry, and ready for whatever comes next — and the aft cabin no longer rains indoors, which is a nice upgrade.
