soft floor question

[smokeonthewater]

Seacast and the like ARE heavy, but they also ARE very slightly lighter than wood and glass.

A wood deck would be CHEAPER than foam filling... Closed cell expanding foam is $$$

There is no way you can keep the deck from exploding from expanding foam other than cutting plenty of good size escape holes for it to over flow from as it expands.

[smokeonthewater]

Oh and you aren't getting much action because you haven't asked many specific questions...
For the most part you have asked for someone to write you a book with all the details of your project.... You gotta do the leg work and we can help you out when you get stuck...

My V-20 had the stringers n deck replaced by a former member here before I got it..
He went by kamikaze iirc so you could search for his posts here.

[Destroyer]

Originally Posted by Troutkiller2006

thanks skunk. after looking around the forum for as long as i have, i was hoping you would chime in. was hoping for more replies too but it that time of the year, most peeps are out enjoying there boats or working on them.

if i do this i will definitely be removing the liner to get at everything. ive also given some thought to seacast for the stringers. my biggest concern with that stuff is weight. ive read that it is very heavy and that it is lighter than wood. would definitely be a lot easier. ill have to do some cost analysis and give it some consideration.

any idea where i can find some good reading on the floor repair procedures or some guidance? what materials to use and maybe a lay up schedule would be a great help! i like to learn as much as possible before doing or even considering such a project.

i did have an idea earlier, maybe my dumbest ever lol! what if after the transom and stringers are sorted out i didnt even replace the rotten wood in the floor? since corsa and the like are too expensive for my budget, what if i cut out the rotten wood and instead of replacing it and glassing it in i just glued the correct thickness foam board to the underside of the deck so that it reaches the stringers properly and then filled all the voids underneath with foam? i could screw some generic plywood down on top of the deck to keep it from bulging and heaving and fill her up!

Ok, now you're starting to think out of the box, and that's good.

I'm sure that others besides me have redone their floor, but here's what I did. The story: The previous owner never vented under the floor, especially in the winter months with the boat covered.. so the floor rotted out but the stringers were still fine. Thank God he sold the boat to me before they did. The fix: Cut out the floor leaving a 2" border around the seats and in from the hull at the transom. Take out the floor, turn it over, pry, scrape, remove and clean all of the rotted wood off the underside of the floor. Then glue (Liquid Nails or equivalent) and Stainless screw irregular pieces of plywood to the underside. (Use irregular pieces so they don't make a continuous joint line like a box shape would). Then SEAL (something Wellcraft never did) the wood. I used fiberglass, but I don't see why you couldn't just use a good brand of wood sealer or epoxy. (Note: I had to remove all the old foam in the voids as it was waterlogged). Then I made a shelf out of scrap plywood and glued and screwed it to the underside of the 2" border that I left when I cut out the deck. Foamed the voids over the top so they would meet the bottom of my new deck. (Let the stringers be your guide for that part, and you'll have to cut and scrape the foam to properly shape it before you put your deck back onto it. But it's soft, and, while messy, it goes pretty quickly). Then I put the floor back onto the shelf, with glue and screws, and finally I covered the entire deck in U-Pol Raptor Truck bed liner (like Rhinoliner). I used the liner material because it's tough, has a nice soft rubbery feel to it on bare feet, is a great non-skid, cleans up easily and, because of it's thickness when applying, it filled all the joint lines and screw heads, making them completely invisible.
So your comment about filling the voids to the bottom of the deck is valid. I did it and my deck is solid as a rock.

[Troutkiller2006]

thanks man, thats really helpful! so underneath the floor is just some wood bonded to the bottom of the floor? its not encapsulated? i was thinking it would be cored in with many layers on the bottom. this is good news from a budget stand point. doubt if my ole lady will see it that way but... good news, lol

thanks man

[SkunkBoat]

No, under the floor is wood between glass. Actually, lots of little plywood squares. You can find some pix here if you look around. What you want to do is save the outside deck skin and fix from the bottom.
If you take the cap off and flip it (easily said...) you can cut out bad wood from bottom. The cap is "glued" with a poly resin filler/adhesive. Much of it has probably already broken loose and is probably blocking the drains in the bilge.

Make sure your repair is not thicker than original because the cap has to fit when it goes back on.

[smokeonthewater]

The overfill and trim method is THE method used for all foam filled boats BUT I would do anything I could to avoid foam in a wood stringer boat...

No ventilation equals a rotten hull.


MAYBE you could use that spray foam for a couple side jobs to fund the materials to do the boat... Then you can tell the wifey it was all free!!!!

[Troutkiller2006]

boy could i use a side job or two right now! or some overtime at the shipyard! how much you pay me to cut your grass man? frickin doctors bills... i use to have good health insurance but now, thanks to obamacare, i have expensive insurance that sucks. at least thats what the doctors tell me

thanks for all the good advise guys. im leaning more and more towards doing this, just gotta get past my fears of the unknown and of the time its gonna take

[Destroyer]

Originally Posted by Troutkiller2006

thanks man, thats really helpful! so underneath the floor is just some wood bonded to the bottom of the floor? its not encapsulated? i was thinking it would be cored in with many layers on the bottom. this is good news from a budget stand point. doubt if my ole lady will see it that way but... good news, lol

thanks man

Yes, underside is just wood glued to the underside of the deck. No encapsulation. That's why it rots so fast. If Wellcraft has spent just a few more dollars and put a thin layer of glass over the wood it would have saved countless boats from premature deaths. Just remember to use irregular shaped pieces of plywood when you replace it so there's less chance of a structural weak spot like there would be with square pieces.
You're welcome

[Kracker Jack]

My personal opinion is that wellcraft did a absolute horrible job building these boats. On My 74 restoration i found some of the worst layups in my life. It almost seems like they were made to be disposable. I think you have answered your own question....the boat is in great shape with out a scratch correct? I say lift the liner...repair the sole ( floor core) from the bottom side..remove rotted stringers(grid) and replace with marine ply or comparible material and layup with resin.i built my boat with poly resin and have beat the crap out of it and it is soli as a rock. Im not gonna sugar coat it for you..its a long row to hoe but its so freaking worth. What ever you decide we are all here to help.

[Troutkiller2006]

Originally Posted by smokeonthewater

Plus you could mow the grass while ur here LOL

Originally Posted by Kracker Jack

My personal opinion is that wellcraft did a absolute horrible job building these boats. On My 74 restoration i found some of the worst layups in my life. It almost seems like they were made to be disposable. I think you have answered your own question....the boat is in great shape with out a scratch correct? I say lift the liner...repair the sole ( floor core) from the bottom side..remove rotted stringers(grid) and replace with marine ply or comparible material and layup with resin.i built my boat with poly resin and have beat the crap out of it and it is soli as a rock. Im not gonna sugar coat it for you..its a long row to hoe but its so freaking worth. What ever you decide we are all here to help.

there are so many really good designs that were horribly built. companies hire help as cheap as they can and when they have a hot seller they they hire those guys buddies and cousins and push them out the door as fast as they can. the shop motto quickly becomes "cant see it from my house", but in spanish. thats why hi dollar boats are almost always of much better quality, youre paying for craftsman and a good quality control program.

my boats definitely get beat to hell. we dont get big seas here in my part of the gulf, but 2-3 footers 3-5 seconds apart is a rough wet ride. and running anywhwere from 6 miles to cat, 10-20 miles to the marsh or 40 miles to chandelieur... i am a bitnervous bout seacast or arjay. but the time it saves makes me wanna believe in it. my ole lady is not exactly onboard with this project. so when i get started i gotta be working faster than a pack of kenyans on crystal meth