Formula 330 Cabin Floor & Ceiling Work

[tpenfield]

My boat (Formula 330 Sun Sport) has developed a rather nasty 'banging' sound in the area of the windshield when I hit waves a certain way. This has developed over the past couple of years, and I figure that I will look into it.

This year, in particular, I began to notice some gelcoat cracking in 2 spots around the windshield, which sort of gave me a good idea where the banging noise was coming from. . .

This is a spot at the forward edge of the windshield frame where the windshield meets the deck, just to the starboard side of the windshield 'hatch'.



What's below this entire area is the enclosed head (restroom), which leads me to believe that the structure of the restroom is somehow impacting the underside of the deck when I hit waves just right. If I keep the bow of the boat down hard into the waves, then it does not seem to be a problem, but that is not always possible.

So, the boat came out of the water last week, and I figure I'd start to dig into it.



The foam came up dry (which is a good thing), but there is some rot progressing from the 'mini' bilge that you can see in the upper right of the picture.

I am thinking at this point that I will do a partial floor repair, along with some 'chemotherapy' (i.e. Ethylene Glycol) treatment for the isolated dark spots. I'll have to rebuild the 'mini' bilge as well.

The carpet itself is a bit grungy (23 years old) and I plan on replacing with some vinyl plank flooring (of some sort).

I also drilled into the stringer that is directly below the wall of the restroom to see If I got any water out of there, but nothing major to report . . . The stringer itself looks solid with no darkened areas. The moisture meter comes up as having some moisture, but I think it is due to the floor of the bathroom having a leak at the seal where it meets the bathroom wall (which I will fix as well)

While I got stuff apart, I plan of checking the joints where the stringers meet the adjacent bulkheads. I haven't found anything that would point directly to the noise/cracking issue all of a sudden, but maybe I'll find something.

More to come in the next few days . . .

 

[kcassells]

Sounds and looks like some good proactive medicine to be had!

 

[alldodge]

Not sure why it took 20+ years to develop into a problem, but maybe age does that to a boat.

Like us the boat is spreading out and the top is coming in contact

 

[tpenfield]

The more I look at the darkened pattern on the cabin floor, it looks like I may be ripping up the floor, instead of doing some patchwork.



The 'rot' pattern is that of the underlying stringer/ribs, which tells me the moisture is coming from below. I suspect the structural wood under the floor is fairly wet. :facepalm:

 

[kcassells]

Oh boy that's not good at all is it? Best of luck when you open it up. When was the last time the boat stringers etc. were rehabbed?

 

[tpenfield]

Oh boy that's not good at all is it? Best of luck when you open it up. When was the last time the boat stringers etc. were rehabbed?

I did the aft and mid section about 5 years ago, but stopped at the cabin bulkhead. So, what I am looking at in the cabin is 23 years of age.

I drilled into the keel stringer this afternoon, and sure enough, the shavings came out dark & wet.





This really shows how far moisture can travel through a boat's structure. The water came from the cabin 'mini' bilge, through the fiberglass, into the keel stringer in the cabin floor, traversed about 5 feet forward of that stringer, out along each of the several ribs that join the stringer, then up through its fiberglass encasing, and into the plywood of the cabin floor.

I'll be taking care of this during the off-season. Probably will do the gutting over the next month or so, and then the re-building in the spring.

The boat repair work is starting to add up

 

[kcassells]

Dang....I'll be aboard for this redo!

 

[alldodge]

Bummer, was hoping it wouldn't come to a redo

 

[emoney]

It’s a nice boat and deserves the proper treatment though. While entertaining for us, not as much fun for you I’m sure. At least it’s your off season! I’m down trying to get to winter so it’s not 90 degrees and 90% humidity, so there’s that.

 

[blamtro]

I would be willing to bet a source of the water is spray coming up and hitting your port hole windows.

I discovered mine were leaking on my 280 and water would end up in the forward bilge. Talked to the TAG and they advised to remove them from inside reseal and reinstall.

 

[tpenfield]

I have not noticed water around the port lights (windows) while using the boat. I would say that they are a source of condensation with the daily temperature cycle though.

I think the main issue is the drainage in the mini bilge leaves 1-2" of water because of the height of the drain fitting. Therefore there is a constant source of water to feed the sub-floor structure. For a while I was checking it and soaking up the excess water, but it is the sort of thing that is easily forgotten.

During this re-build of the floor, I'll fill in the mini bilge with some glass/resin to a point where the bottom is at the drain fitting.

 

[kcassells]

Always something Ted! BTW I hope you had a good summer to enjoy that awesome rear swim platform.

 

[tpenfield]

Always something Ted! BTW I hope you had a good summer to enjoy that awesome rear swim platform.

Yes, there never seems to be an end to it. The nice thing will be this is the last of it, since I started in the engine bay and have worked my way forward over the past 5 years.

And, yes, the extended swim platform is a winner. :thumb:

 

[AShipShow]

Do I smell some RTM stringers and bulkheads in your future? lol

 

[tpenfield]

Do I smell some RTM stringers and bulkheads in your future? lol

I did bulkhead, fuel tank, and stringer work about 4-5 years ago (there is a thread about it here on iBoats somewhere :noidea: ) . . . just happened to stop at the cabin bulkhead. Maybe I should have kept going, but maybe 5 years ago this stuff would have looked 'OK'.

I figure I'll need one of those oscillating cutting tools to cut into the tabbing and get the floor up . . . not a ton of space to work with up in the bow section of the boat, so the circular saw and even the sawz-all are probably out.

 

[Scott Danforth]

I have used low expansion foam to cushion parts of the hull and cap.

Bosch makes the best multi tool. I have a craftsman, which does what I need. The blades are the costly part

 

[tpenfield]

Yes, I'm trying to provide some relieve (cutting) and padding where the head's wall meets the underside of the deck. I have long considered the cabin structure a weak part of the design. It seems that the opportunity exists to tab parts of the cabin structure to both the hull and the deck, but that would require a whole new approach to how the boat is assembled.

It didn't look like I could do much to change things, unless I wanted to gut the head compartment (not . . .).

 

[tpenfield]

This morning I thought to send the folks at Formula Boats Technical Assistance Group (TAG) and email about the forward cabin structure. Within an hour, they sent me 14 pictures of the forward cabin area during the assembly process.

Gotta love that about them :thumb:

 

[tpenfield]

Update . . . after so many months . . .

I dug into the cabin floor a bit further over the past couple of months and found that the rot was fairly isolated and the structure below was still solid. So, I went for the 'chemo-therapy' . . . a dry-out . . . and then a patch job.

I was not able to dry out the wood 100%, but managed to get a fair amount of moisture out of it. The EG treatment (aka chemotherapy) should hold it from progressing.

I buttoned up the ceiling and the head compartment door and trim after fixing the 'hard point' caused by the head's sidewall, then went about fixing the floor. I plan on doing the cabin floor and the step in a vinyl plank flooring, then re-using the carpet on the sidewall area.

Here is my foam patch after exposing the wood and drying things out a bit. The old foam around the center stringer had the very bottom 1" saturated with water. So, I cut back to old foam until I hit to dry foam, which did not take much.


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I also added some foam boards in areas where the floor was not completely level . . .
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Here is the patchwork set in place and glassed underneath. . .
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Since the temps are fairly low (50˚ F) I went with 2.5% MEKP and am heating the area to promote curing of the resin.

Vinyl plank flooring will go over this glassed area as well as the scurved step area. Then I'll use some of the existing carpet that I tore out along the sidewalls to match the remaining carpet in the v-berth section. I ordered some rubber nosing to shape around the curved step and will have to figure something out for where the sidewall meets the head's wall on the other side of the cabin.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Ted, almost a perfect place for Line-X, Rhino Liner or even Raptor Liner vs the vinyl plank floor.