Help! I have soft spots in my floor and don't know where to start.

[JtJr09]

I recently was give a 1976 runabout boat that was in need of a good cleaning. The transom in the boat is solid as a rock, but some parts of the floor are soft. I am new at boats and dont know where to start.

Should I just take out those spots in the floor? If so what is the best way to cut them out?

Could I put a new piece of plywood on top of the current floor and fiberglass it in?

What is the best thing to do. Some parts of the floor are solid.

Any advice would be great.

 

[mcbroomsear]

Re: Help! I have soft spots in my floor and don't know where to start.

Depends on how much use you plan on getting out of the boat. I've had friends who've just installed new plywood over old plywood and that'll fix it for a season or so. With it being July: I doubt you'll get enough use out of it doing it that way to justify the cost of the glass.

My suggestion is to just tear the floor and stringers out and re-do it correctly. Shouldn't take more than a few weekends/evenings to get it good enough to be out on the water by August. If it turns into a long drawn out project, you've got all winter to work on getting it back into top shape! I'd advise against the temporary fix of just tossing a sheet of plywood over the old stuff even for a quick fix. Those rotten stringers and that deck are probably holding a good amount of water. Any foam in the hull is probably holding water too. This makes the boat much heavier and tossing another 40-50lbs of wood on top of it will only complicate things and make the craft less safe rather than more so...