Deck Overhaul { Need Help}
 

I had a couple of soft spots on the V-17 deck I was going to wait till next year to fix it. While sanding the bottom to paint I found where the boat was sitting on a bad roller had damaged the keel about 2 inches worth{ it worn thru several layers of glass and it was forming a drip of water on it overnight there was 2 drips. Seeing that I decided to redo the deck and at the same time add several layers of glass from the inside to the area and Marine-Tex and re contour the damaged area. I took out the 5 1/4 finish circular saw and left about 3 inch lip all around. It did not go through completely in spots. Should I recut the entire deck through or peel the top layer and remove the little squares that made the deck. What's the correct way to remove the floor? I hope skools can guide me through this...............

I cut all the way through and removed the glass and wood from the back side to reuse the top "finished" part of the floor.

Sawzall helped in my case for areas where the circular saw didn't make it. I was also very careful to not cut though to the point where the circular saw cut the stringers.
http://www.wellcraftv20.com/communit...t=floor&page=2

The deck is out, I have a small stringer repair to do on the port side ahead of the rear bulkhead it was not glassed from the factory and there was some minor rot for about 1 foot worth that's it. Next the foam has some water about inch worth's the rest is dry. What's the best way to remove the foam?

Sawzall will work for the big stuff. Drywall manual saw should work too.

Pressure cleaner also works very well. Wear goggles as it will fly everywhere.

I 'll be cracking out the pressure washer tomorrow..............

Got in there today it's tropical here, removed half the foam and it came out easy, found more damage the entire center stringer is gone and need to replace 3 feet on the port side stringer and the same where the tray goes for running cables and the rear bulk head bottom 2 inches is marginal. Need advise on wood for the stringers, the center 110x9.5x1 can I use 2 pieces of marine plywood glued or resin and encapsulated in 9oz cloth and resin. And the bulk head I hate to tear it out it only has a very small amount of damage can I just add to it. Something interesting the center stringer at the bow end is attached to a bulkhead only and the bulkhead is not attached to anything and never was, no sign of it ever being glassed. I plan on encapsulating all the new wood, the glass the new stringer with 24 oz mat a single layer. That's what Wellcraft did with the bare wood.
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...r/PDR_0305.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...r/PDR_0306.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...r/PDR_0307.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...r/PDR_0308.jpg

Wow, huge job there, looking good!

As far as the wood goes, perhaps you might want to consider a foam or composite core material instead.

Aircraft Spruce (http://www.aircraftspruce.com/index.html) sells a lot of different kinds. If you're planning on keeping the boat for a while, even though it is a bit more expensive, might be a better alternative than wood.

I have some experience with composite cores for experimental (home built) aircraft, and they are VERY strong. If I ever need to replace any wood stringers on my V it will definately be with a foam core.

I can't believe I can't get a answer from anybody to my questions, even PM several members that I know were quite knowledgeable on it and got not a single reply. Makes wonder why I'm even here.

Blu, you may not be getting answers to your questions because it appears from your pix that you are doing a helluva job!!

I have not done much floor or stringer work (only fixing some isolated soft spots on an old Speedliner 17'), but I would think 2 pieces of thick marine ply, glued together, then glassed over, would form a nice stringer.

All right guys with way more knowledge than me, step up and help Blu out with this. He's doing a great job and just has that nagging question or two we all have when tackling a project!

Blue, truthfully that is one area of boating that I've never had any experience in... I'd offer help but if you followed my suggestions you might wind up with the hull suspended over your head by the time you were done. It looks like you're doing a great job, and you already have more guts than I do for even tackleing a job like that... I cannot think of a reason why Marine grade ply laminated together and then glassed over would not work..:head:

blu, go over to classic mako and check out some of those rebuilds, should answer a lot of material questions for you.

blue, idid a i/o to outboard re fit i had some bad stiingers to i used marine plywood glassed together then more glass u can use liquid nail to hold lam to gether

Please post the questions or the direction you are going in regards to the stringer replacements. If you are going to use wood let me know. I have NO experience with stringers. I will recommend you read through some of these restoration posts.
I found this one that seems to cover exactly what you are doing please check it out.
http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=237215

Dang Blu don't get mad. Which question?
Stringers- Use Marine Plywood, A/C Fir or Composites. I do not think you will need to double up for the entire length you could get to 9' plus by scabbing a piece alongside and laminating it up with maybe a foot or two of overlap. The 17 looks a lot different than the 20' as the 20's have no center stringer.
What you have done so far looks good.
The piece of floor you cut out- You could flip it and go for the rotten wood from the bottom of the floor. That is what I did. You need a large flat table to work on and once you get all the wood out and the bottom side ground out you can replace with similar thickness wood or composite. I did not go back with small blocks of wood. I like the technique of drilling 3/8" holes every 4 to 6" in larger pieces of core, and weighing it down into two layers of 1.5 oz mat. Let it cure and then grind and glass to encapsulate the core (matt or 9 oz cloth would do the trick). My boat has a full liner so I removed the liner and flipped it to replace my floor.
I would replace the bulkhead that shows any sign of rot and would consider replacing all the stringers. I did not and I now regret that decision.
I was not aware that Wellcraft used 24oz mat? I did have a bulkhead that Wellcraft did not glass in the front of my center console. My boat had 24oz or heavier roven layed into mat on all the stringers and most of the liner was done with the chopper gun.

hey blu sorry just got to reading on your floor around the edges, glue and screw a board under the old floor, leaving half sticking out to screw your new floor too. in mine i used treated decking material under the floor and glued with liquid nails and stainless screws counter sunk. the decking boards i didn't worry about glassing due to they were treated and under the deck they will out last my owning the boat since the non treated floor lasted 32 yrs i won't keep it another 30 plus yrs. support that board to the hull if needed such as pieces of treated 2x4 blocks wedged between the deck board and hull. if you wish i can take a pic of a made up example in one of my projects. i've been so busy working on my 22ft deck boat. i'm installing all new stringers and flooring in it. or you can PM me you number i'll call ya we can talk about the flooring some.