Floor Repair

[joe7670]

Looking to repair the floor in the V20. I've seen skools post and pictures where he cut out the floor and saved the cap.

I have 2 soft spots, from reading it's best to assume the spots are bigger that they seem from the top side.

Questions though.

Is it best to remove whole floor like SkoolsOut did and reuse the top? I like the idea of reusing to keep the molded sections around tank and like well.

How about in the areas where it's still good and connected to the wood, how do you get cap off?

Is the wood under screwed into the stringers? How's best to remove?

Should I be cutting through the cap and wood and expecting both to come off or cutting just through cap and removing it first?

[Skools Out]

the cap is screwed on at the rubrail and then the floor is glued to the stringers. i cut and removed the floor to avoid having to remove all the controls and wiring from the hull. but it's up to you, if you don't like glass work take the cap off then just replace all the wood from the bottom and reinstall, but if you are good with glass work you can cut the floor.

[joe7670]

Lets consider I cut the floor much like you did.

Is the glass on the floor is not glued to the wood?

or should I be cutting through the glass floor and wood and then prying the wood up to unstick it from the stingers?

[TXS V20]

I don't know what year you have or whether I/O or not. I had a couple of soft places in the floor. I did not remove the floor to repair. I did remove the gas tank cover and repair that - fairly easy. I also replaced the motor mount for the 470 - also relatively easy. I replaced the bulkhead just in front of the motor mount and the bridge between the two below deck storage boxes. Lot's more work! Big Boy in a small space upside down most of the time. I don't know where you're soft spots are and I did have access to the areas I was working in. I did not have the expertise to remove the floor and get it back together. I could muck around and get the work that I needed done. Didn't have to look all that good just solid and strong.

[joe7670]

Spots are in the placed shown in red in the graphic below. guessing Skool's process is prefered for this much of a soft spot?

[nymack66]

Joe,
I think your perception of the job is not correct.

First you cut the SKIN all around and peel it off chances are it not glued to the wood you may or may not have to help peeling it off with a help and some pry bars attached to 2x4 to avoid the glass
If the skin breaks or you are force to cut it DO NOT PANIC it can and will be attached later in the project without a hitch see my post when I replace the fuel tank before and after.

After the skin is peeled off you can cut the old wood up in pieces if its still attached to the stringers etc
You can use saw horizontally to cut the floor off the stringers if attach hard YES you will have a clear view of the project at this point.

http://i527.photobucket.com/albums/cc357/amackhrandilal/Sanding%20Gelcoat/DSCF0030.jpg

Lets consider I cut the floor much like you did.

Is the glass on the floor is not glued to the wood?

or should I be cutting through the glass floor and wood and then prying the wood up to unstick it from the stingers?

[TXS V20]

Spots are in the placed shown in red in the graphic below. guessing Skool's process is prefered for this much of a soft spot?

The ones in my V were very isolated to one bulkhead that I had access to on both sides. You're prpbably correct, it looks like a considerable area.

[Skools Out]

Joe,
I think your perception of the job is not correct.

First you cut the SKIN all around and peel it off chances are it not glued to the wood you may or may not have to help peeling it off with a help and some pry bars attached to 2x4 to avoid the glass
If the skin breaks or you are force to cut it DO NOT PANIC it can and will be attached later in the project without a hitch see my post when I replace the fuel tank before and after.

After the skin is peeled off you can cut the old wood up in pieces if its still attached to the stringers etc
You can use saw horizontally to cut the floor off the stringers if attach hard YES you will have a clear view of the project at this point.




not so the floor wood is glassed to the floor glass and there is a layer of glass under the wood too. just set your skill saw depth to 3/4" it will cut threw all the layers you need to remove. trust me the V is not my first floor nor my last.

[joe7670]

OK was gonna do some glass work on the transom holes but weather was a bit rainy so diverted efforts to get tank out.

Just finished and new tank is in the horizon as this one was shot with a hole on the site and all types of crap in it. So opened other holes in it to help leverage removing the tank from the snug hole.

Getting closer to opening the floor to see what i find. So far stringers in tank area seem fine. Did find some water in tank area and didn't clearly see a drain, but it's late and I may be over looking something. Will verify once I clean the hole thouroughly.

[joe7670]

Had a little extra time due to waiting for transom epoxy to set and I decided to rip up the floor!

Much easier than I thought.

Stringers look good. Found the PVC clog that I had. Looked like a big glop of sylicone or similar texture.

Pe=ressure clean is next. No reason to need to remove the foam from the side holes?

[nymack66]

Good job , You will never see a drain for the Tank area as I posted before its reason.
You floor and below is the best I have sever seen , looks like it was not really soft ?
As for the foam removal its up to you, Why not install a deck hatch and utilize all that wasted space next to the tank towards the transom ! Mine is setup the reverse of yours tank towards the transom and open area next to the cuddy

[joe7670]

Yep after further inspection, floor was rotted only in the spots I noticed from the top. I will feel a bit better though knowing exactly what's up and thats a great idea on the hatch. Let me review my options to se what it would take.

[phatdaddy]

http://i377.photobucket.com/albums/oo214/gls216/DSCF0397.jpg

like nymack said mine is also reverse. when i had my deck up i added this storage. its not real dry, but good for cast nest, fenders ,etc.

http://i377.photobucket.com/albums/oo214/gls216/DSCF0395.jpg

http://i377.photobucket.com/albums/oo214/gls216/DSCF0396.jpg

[joe7670]

I have read so many posts in the last 2 weeks that I don't remember where I saw it, but someone posted a website for where to buy those hatches. Done a bunch of searches and can't fint that thread now.

The discussion had to do with finding the flatest possible hatches so that they are as flush as possible with the floor.

Also, I'm guessing that when I convert one of those holes to a hatch, I should be drilling through a drain to the center hull for the hatch to drain?

[nymack66]

I have read so many posts in the last 2 weeks that I don't remember where I saw it, but someone posted a website for where to buy those hatches. Done a bunch of searches and can't fint that thread now.

The discussion had to do with finding the flatest possible hatches so that they are as flush as possible with the floor.

Also, I'm guessing that when I convert one of those holes to a hatch, I should be drilling through a drain to the center hull for the hatch to drain?
My hatch was from West Marine (Deck Hatch) not absolute flush can trip a lazy foot :)
Remember if you re doing the floor make your own 100 % flush hatch easy to do ..
In regards to the drain mine drain everything with the exception of the fuel tank area ..

[joe7670]

Sweet! So the blank hull areas should already drain... one less thing to do.

Definitely will consider adding a few hatches. Let me see on the option of making them level. I'm pretty new to glass work and i'm guessing that after routering the bevel to sink the hatch down the 1/4 or so, I will need to glass it over to avoid rot.

[phatdaddy]

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/producte/10001/-1/10001/42657/377%20710/0/deck%20hatch/Primary%20Search/mode%20matchallpartial/100/Manufacturer%20Name%7C0?N=377 710&Ne=0&Ntt=deck hatch&Ntk=Primary Search&Ntx=mode matchallpartial&Nao=100&Ns=Manufacturer Name|0&keyword=deck hatch&isLTokenURL=true&storeNum=5000&subdeptNum=24&classNum=487

i also got mine from west used the tempress. they last about 2/3 years and then crack because of the heavy traffic in front of the cabin door & kids jumping down from the cabin roof

[joe7670]

Floor is moving along. Will be ready for wood in the next few days.

After removing floor it seemed to be more solid that expected, but after removing the glass and digging into the wood, the wood was much worse than expected as it was moist in most areas. Only 2 areas where is seems quite hard to remove from glass.
Very glad I went with removing the whole floor instead of trying to piece repair it.

Cut out the fish box and expecting to reuse it. Was expecting to work around it, but the wood between it and the deck was roted in some areas.

[phatdaddy]

http://www.theburningreel.com/forums/project-pictures/3507-floor-stern-replacement.html

joe, saw this on another site, this is what i did with the string to get stringer heights close and check "plumb" of the deck.

[joe7670]

Just got done in garage. Some beers :beer: with some help from my cousing and got the wood cut and adheared onto the deck cap.

I was trying to see how many items I can place on the wood to make it adhear evenly! Fertilizer, fuel, paint, cement, acid, pool salt, resin... If it had some weight to it, it was used!

On to getting glass over the wood in next few days.

[Skools Out]

looks good

[joe7670]

Moving right along. Not as much done this weekend due to rain. Installed wood and put biaxial over it. Then prepped and reattached Fish box to the floor.

Prep floor joint, install Fuel lines and tank ground cabling are next.

[joe7670]

Floor is in. Prepped edge with reinforcement to attach floor to per Skools recommendation.

Prepped tank with Coal Tar Epoxy and liquid nailed floor in.

Camera was incorrectly set and took some crapy shots of floor install progress, but here are a few of reinforcement and installed floor.

[nymack66]

Awesome job, You will enjoy the fruits of your hard work hang in there ..

[joe7670]

OK, pictures to show progress. Floor is in and tied in with class to the lip which was left. Just noticed that I don't have enough pics of that, but you can see part of it in the picture below.

Tank was hooked up and foamed tonight.

Also a few pics of the fuel hatch and live well which are getting repaired. Hatch was re-lined with ply and live well is getting the edge lip glassed to reinforce and fix some cracks.

Durabak paint arived and may be going on this weekend.