Gunnels on 2000 50' Post

I have a moisture problem on both the starboard and port gunnels in the cockpit area. It appears that the problem started around the rod holders as this area seems the wettest. The gunnels have a large piece of painted wood that runs the length of the cockpit and this wood is rotting. It seems that I will have to remove the wood, check if the gunnels have wet coring then replace the wood. Has any other Post owner had this issue? Is this construction of wood under the gunnels normal for Post?

Thanks Beau - I don't fish at all from the holders. There was some work done on the non-skid/painting and I'm wondering if the rod holders were not re-bedded after the work. Now the problem seems large enough where the wood and some of the coring will have to be reworked. The guy that I have looking at it is suggesting removing the rotted wood then replacing it with multi- layers of marine plywood and then glassing in the wood.

Thanks ESS - I spoke to Patrick at Post and he also thought the wood was Mahogany. He was very helpful and did seem a bit surprised that the wood had rotted. Also said that the surface of the gunnels were cored and to make sure all of the wet wood was removed. Project will start next week.

Well it's turning out to be a bigger job than originally thought. The mahogany was rotted pretty bad and the coring inside the gunnel tops had to be removed. We are reinforcing the bottom of the gunnels with layers of marine plywood that will be glassed in. The only thing that made sense is that the water came in through the rod holders and somehow wicked up between the mahogany and gunnel?

Thanks Beau. As far as I know, there was no repairs done on the gunnels before. The non-skid was redone but that was it. I'm glad to hear yours are dry. I went over the rest of my boat with a meter and didn't find any areas of concern. My starboard gunnel is also wet. I'm going to seal around the rod holders to see if I can get another couple of years out of it.

If your moisture is just in the coring (Not in the mohagony) I wouldn't think it's a structural issue. Even if the mahogany is just wet you can probaly find the source of moisture ingression and correct that and then allow the wood to dry. In my case the mohagony was rotted and had to be removed. As the rear cleat is mounted to the mohagany, I had a true structural issue.