Post #607096 by fatuhiva on Sat, Sep 17, 2011 9:47 AM

Thanks for the advice guys.

I'll probably skip the concrete route.

I took a good look at it today, I need to fill a void that is about 1-2 milk jugs worth of space.

I'm think I might go look at dense expansion foams.. something that dries hard and could possibly support some weight.

Let the tiki dry completely, apply a few bottle of wood hardener, then insert expansion foam.

Overfill the void with that, then carve/sand it back a bit, and apply bondo-like filler over that as the outside coat.. texture, etc.

Followed by an acrylic paint job to match the color, then varnish the whole thing.

This tiki was around my pool and I would tap the base regularly to see how it was holding up- but my mistake was, I never got into the planter area to check the back of it. I noticed a vine growing up the back the other day, so I went back there to remove it, and when I did, it pulled a huge chunk off the bottom.

I had thought I was keeping this tiki dry by adding 2" rubber feet to the bottom and setting him on a concrete slab, but what was rotting it was rain water seeping down to the bottom from the top/sides.

I had applied a layer of bondo-like material to the bottom a few years ago, and I think that served as a "dish" to hold this rainwater in the bottom.

Eventually all outside tikis end up having big rot problems.. it may be time to retire this one to the indoors, I dont know.

I expect the expansion foam would eventually disintegrate as well, but its not to hard to carve out and reapply...