I have read and read many other posts about this.<br />Some things I am not sure about. Please help me out figuring this out. <br /><br />I am in the start phase of a project for my 26' Formula. <br />In my deck there is a hatch to a storage compartment. The compartment floor rests between the bases of the 2 stringers. Floor was rotten to the point where I said: "Now or never!" 
.<br />I cut it all out and now I am looking at 2 clean solid stringers which are fully encapsulated by fiberglass and painted with gray/blue bilge paint.<br /><br />I will have to put in new floor for that compartment. It is about 5' by 4' in size. <br /><br />1. Do I need to grind off the bottom of stringer where it is going to meet my new floor all the way to clear fiberglass, or wood stringer core?<br /><br />2. I have a heavy fiberglass mat that I plan to use for laminating the new floor. Do you let epoxy cure between the coats of epoxy and mat?<br /><br />3. I will need to build a support for gas tanks.<br />This is where I am really concerned. <br />Two years ago, the previous owner of the boat had installed new tanks. Instead of using epoxy or poly treated wood, he put in 3/4" untreated, regular plywood. <br />There is exactly 2 inches between the top of stringers and the wood the tanks are standing on. Looking at that rotten wood under two 75gal. tanks make me extremely worried. <br />My idea is to fit two glassed 2x4's and glass it to the top of the stringers across the width of the hull. As the untreated wood will get fully destroyed, at least I will be sure that the tanks will not drop to the floor. <br />Getting tanks out is out of the questions, because I would either have to pull both engines out or cut the whole deck. <br /><br />I would greatly appreciate your opinions on this one. I will post backwith progress...<br /><br />THANK YOU!
.<br />I cut it all out and now I am looking at 2 clean solid stringers which are fully encapsulated by fiberglass and painted with gray/blue bilge paint.<br /><br />I will have to put in new floor for that compartment. It is about 5' by 4' in size. <br /><br />1. Do I need to grind off the bottom of stringer where it is going to meet my new floor all the way to clear fiberglass, or wood stringer core?<br /><br />2. I have a heavy fiberglass mat that I plan to use for laminating the new floor. Do you let epoxy cure between the coats of epoxy and mat?<br /><br />3. I will need to build a support for gas tanks.<br />This is where I am really concerned. <br />Two years ago, the previous owner of the boat had installed new tanks. Instead of using epoxy or poly treated wood, he put in 3/4" untreated, regular plywood. <br />There is exactly 2 inches between the top of stringers and the wood the tanks are standing on. Looking at that rotten wood under two 75gal. tanks make me extremely worried. <br />My idea is to fit two glassed 2x4's and glass it to the top of the stringers across the width of the hull. As the untreated wood will get fully destroyed, at least I will be sure that the tanks will not drop to the floor. <br />Getting tanks out is out of the questions, because I would either have to pull both engines out or cut the whole deck. <br /><br />I would greatly appreciate your opinions on this one. I will post backwith progress...<br /><br />THANK YOU!