Deck thickness on Falcon

[johnmat]

I need to attach some items to the "ceiling" of my Falcon. I understand that the deck is a balsa wood/GPS sandwich. Does someone know what the actual thickness is before I send a screw through all layers! Thanks, Johnmat (Perchance to Dream)

[Jolly Roger]

On my Fulmar the balsa core is about 20-25 mm thick. Sorry I cannot be more exact at present as I am not on board. I expect Westerly used the same thickness balsa across all of the ranges.

You can check yours quite easily, I am presuming you have foam backed vinyl directly stuck directly on the fiberglass, not on ply boards. First make sure there is no fitting directly above where you intend to fix to the ceiling. Then carefully drill a 2mm hole through the first layer of fibreglass, then stop drilling. Take a long needle and push throught the balsa core - it is end grain you are pushing through so will be quite easy. Measure how much of the needle is still protruding, then withdraw it. Measure the needle length and subtract the protruding portion - that will be the maximum screw length you can use, plus the thickness of the fitting.

If what you intend to fix is heavy, you may need to give the screw(s) something to bite into. Then you will need to remove some of the balsa core by spinning a small alum key in a drill chuck and filling the void with an epoxy filler (apply tape to the vinyl before drilling the hole). Then drill and screw into that when set.

[rhumlady]

On the Konsort the layers of glass are around 5 to 6 mm with 10mm balsa. May I suggest you used cordless drill for going in that direction to avoid any water getting into the drill just in case:-S

[johnmat]

Many thanks to rhumlady and jolly Roger for some very useful and informative replies, Johnmat