With the galley fully removed it was time to get the bulkheads and compression post out. This required the cabin roof to be jacked up slightly. I rigged a satisfactory device from a 2x4, 2x8, some towels and my truck jack.
It worked really well, and I was able to free the compression post with less than 1/2" of lifting. After removing the post I was surprised to see very little compression of the floor or roof. I would later find out that the core underneath the post was only saturated and not completely rotten. The bulkheads were removed by unbolting the chainplates and unscrewing the settees.
It was then time to prepare the sole for removing the top skin. I purchased a circular saw blade with the most teeth could find (155 finish blade). To prevent splintering and reduce the amount of fiberglass dust I taped the area to be cut with duct tape. I set the blade depth to about 1/2" and crossed my fingers. The circular saw did fine, but couldn't get the corners because of obstructions. I used a hand saw to deeply score the corners and then lifted the top skin off. To my happy surprise the scored corners snapped perfectly with no splintering. Now the rotten core was exposed:
As you can see, much of the floor was rotten. I used a 4" putty knife to scrape the rotten core out. The only plus side of the wood being this rotten is the ease with which it comes out. Some of the core was not rotten, but all of it was completely saturated. In fact, water was splashing in my face when I hit it with the knife. It became clear that I needed to cut even more skin off, so I cut all the way forward to the vee berth and pulled this skin off. The core under this area was not rotten but soaked. It didn't come out very easy (I took this as a good sign) but I managed to pry all of it out.
I was pleased to find that I had managed to get all of the wooden core out of the sole. The sole is solid fiberglass a couple of inches inward of the berths (the fiberglass can be seen in the top right portion of the above photograph). Also, it seems there is solid plywood underneath the footing for the table leg. Strange that this area (very little compressive force) would be reinforced with a solid material when underneath the compression post was not.So, now the rotten wood is out and I am allowing the area to dry out while I track down a suitable replacement material. The original material was scored 3/8" end-grain balsa with a thin fabric backing. This material is available from a number of suppliers and it's price is comparable with the same area of 3/8" marine grade ply. I can get the plwood in town but must order the balsa core. I am also investigating the possibility of foam coring such as Divinycell. Anyway, I will post again when I have the materials and it is warm enough here in NC to cure epoxy.
