Well,
After sponging a lot of knowledge from this forum I decided to tackle the restoration of my 1995 Larson 214 LXi. I have had the boat since new. This will be the second floor replacement for the boat. I know its too young to require another floor, but when it was just a few years old the dealer left it sitting uncovered in the elements for the winter while I had it in for warranty work. I took notice (after driving by and seeing it filled with water), and Larson paid to have it replaced. Long story short, the replacement was not done correctly - tough to see when its covered by carpet.
So, here are my objectives:
1. No more wood in the boat! I can't go through this again. I purchased several sheets of Coosa Composites Bluewater 20 for the flooring. I plan on Nidabond pourable stringers and bulkheads.
2. No glue-down carpet. Even if there is no wood, it can start to smell. I plan on a smooth finished gel coat interior with snap-in Deckadence marine flooring.
4. Factory restored vinyl. I already have a jump on this. Had copycat covers make a new sundeck cover (very reasonable), and I dyed the remaining vinyl with a colormatched dye. I am very please with both the sundeck vinyl and the pieces I dyed - all look factory brand new.
5. Exterior gelcoat refinish - should look fine after removal of oxidation.
Started the demolition last Monday. I got maybe half the deck and foam removed. The foam was saturated. I filled up 5 trashbags full of the stuff. Found the best way to remove large pieces of foam is with a shovel (really). The strigers were removed with a spoon since they are essentially dirt. It seems the entire deck has been supported by just the foam flotation. The more I work on it the more disgusted I am with the previous repair work.
I'll try to post some pics up of the highs (vinyl) and lows (stringers) so far.
Thanks!
Ben
After sponging a lot of knowledge from this forum I decided to tackle the restoration of my 1995 Larson 214 LXi. I have had the boat since new. This will be the second floor replacement for the boat. I know its too young to require another floor, but when it was just a few years old the dealer left it sitting uncovered in the elements for the winter while I had it in for warranty work. I took notice (after driving by and seeing it filled with water), and Larson paid to have it replaced. Long story short, the replacement was not done correctly - tough to see when its covered by carpet.
So, here are my objectives:
1. No more wood in the boat! I can't go through this again. I purchased several sheets of Coosa Composites Bluewater 20 for the flooring. I plan on Nidabond pourable stringers and bulkheads.
2. No glue-down carpet. Even if there is no wood, it can start to smell. I plan on a smooth finished gel coat interior with snap-in Deckadence marine flooring.
4. Factory restored vinyl. I already have a jump on this. Had copycat covers make a new sundeck cover (very reasonable), and I dyed the remaining vinyl with a colormatched dye. I am very please with both the sundeck vinyl and the pieces I dyed - all look factory brand new.
5. Exterior gelcoat refinish - should look fine after removal of oxidation.
Started the demolition last Monday. I got maybe half the deck and foam removed. The foam was saturated. I filled up 5 trashbags full of the stuff. Found the best way to remove large pieces of foam is with a shovel (really). The strigers were removed with a spoon since they are essentially dirt. It seems the entire deck has been supported by just the foam flotation. The more I work on it the more disgusted I am with the previous repair work.
I'll try to post some pics up of the highs (vinyl) and lows (stringers) so far.
Thanks!
Ben
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