new floor on 1976 Starcraft Holiday.

[parannah]

Hey all,

First time, I'm stuck here on the floor with a 1976 Starcraft Holiday that I received as a gift from my Step father. Love the boat, however the floor was rotten. My wife and I thought we'd tear the old floor up, and redo the floor. Asking the group, when redoing the floor with a lot of rot, we've seen some people say to leave an inch or so on the side, some say to clear it out all together. We've got some good wood, and some rot, but the rotten wood tends to be on the sides under the side compartments. I can't remove these compartments for some reason, which is making me regret my decision to do this in the first place.

What should I do? In the picture of the floor without the carpet, you can see we took out the front section of the old floor, and on the next section, there's rot where the passenger seat was at. There's a lot of water in the front, so it's not properly draining to the back either. I am not a professional by any means, and do not have the means or time to redo the compartments.

 

[jbcurt00]

Its all got to come out.

The side panels need to be removed to get the deck out from under them.

Look thru the Holiday restos posted here
http://forums.iboats.com/forum/owne...ft-rebuilds-and-restorations-they-re-all-here

Oh, and any reference to leaving an inch around the perimeter should have been for fiberglass boats, not aluminum. I wouldnt do it that way on a glass boat either

 

[Watermann]

:welcome: aboard,

Yeah the Holiday is one of the easiest for deck replacement. Yes you have to remove those side panels and of course they need to go back on if not also rotten.

 

[MNhunter1]

As stated above, pull the panels and replace completely. The new deck will also improve the structural integrity when you re-install the side panels into the new deck.

 

[parannah]

Thanks guys, I figured it out. EVERYTHING is riveted, so I have been popping rivets and pulling stuff out. Couldn't get the power pilot apart to get the driver side panel off the boat, but I will be able to fit the wood underneath it, and go from there since it's loose.

I had 1/2" standard plywood in there, but I'm debating on going to 5/8" or 3/4", or just sticking with 1/2" marine grade. My only concern is the extra weight. Going to 3/4" will be roughly a 54 pound addition, but a much sturdier floor. What is your guys preference with new floors?

Also, there was a lot of water pooling up front that we sucked out with the shop vac (roughly 12 gallons). I have a feeling that the water was stuck there because of all the bad foam. I was able to see the channel, and water does flow, however it's very slow draining. I will be installing a bilge pump before I put the floor in, but I worry about all the extra water being up front, and just hanging out there. Once we clean it, the water should flow back right? I apologize for newbie questions, this is my second year owning a boat of this size.

 

[classiccat]

Thanks guys, I figured it out. EVERYTHING is riveted, so I have been popping rivets and pulling stuff out. Couldn't get the power pilot apart to get the driver side panel off the boat, but I will be able to fit the wood underneath it, and go from there since it's loose.

if it hasn't been hacked by a P.O., removing the power pilot involves just removing the 2 Philips head screws on the lower half face plate.

you'll see 3 captive hex-head 1/4 bolts (2 in plain sight...1 hidden behind some wires to the buzzer) Hold those down in the recesses with your finger while you turn the nuts off from the backside of the wood.

 

[parannah]

if it hasn't been hacked by a P.O., removing the power pilot involves just removing the 2 Philips head screws on the lower half face plate.

you'll see 3 captive hex-head 1/4 bolts (2 in plain sight...1 hidden behind some wires to the buzzer) Hold those down in the recesses with your finger while you turn the nuts off from the backside of the wood.

Whomever installed it put the mounting bolts on the top. When I removed the three screws, I was not able to take the top apart after removing the flat head screw on the top. It will make things more difficult, but I think it's on there for now. I also don't want to screw something up with the power pilot and be boatless! Imagine, home bound and boatless, what a world.

 

[SHSU]

I had 1/2" standard plywood in there, but I'm debating on going to 5/8" or 3/4", or just sticking with 1/2" marine grade. My only concern is the extra weight. Going to 3/4" will be roughly a 54 pound addition, but a much sturdier floor. What is your guys preference with new floors?

Also, there was a lot of water pooling up front that we sucked out with the shop vac (roughly 12 gallons). I have a feeling that the water was stuck there because of all the bad foam. I was able to see the channel, and water does flow, however it's very slow draining. I will be installing a bilge pump before I put the floor in, but I worry about all the extra water being up front, and just hanging out there. Once we clean it, the water should flow back right? I apologize for newbie questions, this is my second year owning a boat of this size.

Read through the forums and you can see a lot of guys upped the floors to 3/4. 1/2 works ok, but has a little to much "bounce" for me (6'2" and 260 lbs), hence why I went up to 3/4.

Also, need to take into account how it will affect your front console and such if you have windows as the 1/4 inch will mess up alignment.

BCX from the big box store and sealing the wood works just fine for flooring. No need to go marine grade.

No apology needed for newbie questions. We all started somewhere. I had no idea what I was getting into (I thought I did...) and thanks to the guys on this forum I was able to get her done and splashed.

SHSU

 

[Watermann]

5/8" plywood is a good choice, I used it for my raised decks in the SS

 

[68 Starcraft SS]

I used 5/8 marine plywood when I redecked my SS. I'm very happy with how solid they are. As others pointed out when I was doing mine the additional thickness may result in issues mounting consoles or the sliding panels in the rear that hide battery and fuel tanks. My consoles fit OK but I did need to do some work on the sliding panels.

 

[parannah]

Alrighty, I finished the whole floor, we ended up using pool noodles under the floor. I couldn't find long enough Rivets, so we used self tapping screws and screwed the deck down. She holds quite nicely. The fun part was getting the sides back in after putting in 3/4" marine grade plywood. the extra 1/4" plus the 1/8" carpet really makes a difference. I also rewired the whole boat with a new toggle switch for the lights and new bilge pump.

Now to clean the carbs this weekend, and we're off to the races!

Thanks everyone for your help!

 

[jbcurt00]

Pool noodles aren't a good substitute for flotation foam.

What kind of screws?

Long rivets are easily available online.

Looks nice though.

Enjoy the summer

 

[SHSU]

Here is to a safe and fun launch!!!

Noticed what looked like truck bed liner on the rivets, you spray some to stop leaks?

SHSU

 

[N1265]

That floor looks great.