soft spots

[Procraft Patrick]

bought a boat about a year back and have been slowly fixing it up for this season. I was putting in some new seats when I noticed a couple soft spots. One is right under the driver's seat and one is right in front of driver console, thought I may have problems with rotting so I pulled back the carpet. Upon further inspection it seems that they are only cracks since the previous owner was a rather large guy. I was wondering what I needed to do to go about fixing the cracks? My boat is a 1986 Procraft competitor bass boat.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: soft spots

There's rot under them thar cracks, boat decks don't go soft unless there's rot.

The cracks have been the entry points for the water intrusion that has caused the rot, the top of the plywood may not look that rotten... but the bottom of it will, and there will more than likely be other evil rotten things below the decking too.

This member thought he just had a soft spot in his deck, take a look at his thread:
http://forums.iboats.com/boat-restoration-building-hull-repair/first-attempt-boat-repair-579280.html

 

[GT1000000]

Re: soft spots

Hi and welcome Procraft Patrick...
First thing you are going to get asked for is pictures, the more the merrier...helps us see what you see...get a free photobucket account, load 'em there then click on the "IMG code Tag" and post 'em here...
Next question is going to be...has the boat been stored properly under cover for the last 27 years, or has it sat uncovered in the elements through any bad weather, has it been stored always bow high and has water ever been left to stand in it?
These questions will be a very good indicator if the boat is rotting or not...
Cracks, usually indicate something structural underneath is giving out...usually...
Soft spots in the decking are pretty good indicators of wood that is already rotten...how far and how bad is hard to tell with out some serious investigating of the wooden substructure...which means actually taking core samples of the underlying wooden structure...not something that is always easily done, but is the only sure way to know...
If there is rot and it has started from the usual places, meaning low and in the back of the boat, some deck repairs are not going to prevent issues further down the road...
If the rot is totally localized to areas that may have had a screw run into it without being properly sealed, you may be OK with some superficial repairs...
The truth is more than likely, if the boat has NOT been kept out of the elements throughout it's existence, that your issues go much further than just some soft spots in your deck...
Hopefully you have hit the proverbial "boat Lottery" and you have a simple fix...but don't hold your breath...
Best of luck!
GT1M

 

[Procraft Patrick]

Re: soft spots

I thought it was a soft spot but when I removed some carpet it seems the only two places that were soft were a crack. I tried to look under but couldn't find any evidence of rot. I will post some pictures but sitting at work at the moment so just browsing through the forums since we don't have many patients . From what I can gather the boat has always been under a cover. I have kept it under a custom cover and the other two previous owners had it under tarps as well.

 

[Procraft Patrick]

Re: soft spots

Plus the only soft spot is those two near the center of the boat.. No soft spots are near the transom, so does that mean that it's a good thing that they arent close? Have a friend that works at a body shop and was thinking maybe could get him to just re fiberglass everything down by my console

 

[Procraft Patrick]

Re: soft spots

 

[jigngrub]

Re: soft spots

Denial is the first stage of finding out you have boat rot.

Since you're in the medical profession you should consider exploraty surgery on this patient, cut out a 1'x1' square at each soft spot and examine the plywood and the foam and stringers below. If everything is good it won't be hard to patch back, but I'm pretty sure you'll find some bad stuff.

... or you can try reglassing and see if the cancer grows.

Fiberglass boats rot from the inside out and the bottom up, by the time the rot has made it to the decking there is 10x more below deck.

 

[GT1000000]

Re: soft spots

Yep, that's excellent news that the boat has been kept under wraps and that you even know the previous history of it...huge plus!
I am actually glad to hear it, since most of us here on this forum, rarely get to hear good news like that...
In that case it sounds like what may have happened, is one of the previous owners installed something in the deck with some hardware that wasn't sealed up properly and allowed water to get in there and begin the rot process in just those areas...
And, then again, it could just be a spot where for whatever reason the wood was prone to some rot just by the luck of the draw...
If that's what's up, then a repair to the area should be a fairly simple fix...
Find the extreme outer edges of the bad wood and using a circular saw set at a 45? angle, cut the bad stuff out, cut a new piece to fit the hole...coat the underside of the patch with a layer of resin and CSM{1.5 oz. chopped strand mat}, mix up a bit of thickened resin using some of the CSM cut up as fine as possible with scissors and mix it with the resin to make a paste and use it like a glue all around the edges and to fill any gaps between the original deck and the patch, then finally smooth and seal the top using a couple of layers of CSM and resin overlapping into the original afew inches all around to make the patch solid, then lay some new carpet down...
One tip I would suggest is when you cut out the bad sections, try and take a good look underneath...if there is floatation foam under there, you could take a core sample of it to be sure it isn't waterlogged, or just inspect whatever you can see under there for your peace of mind...
Try and post up some pics of the actual damaged areas, before, during and after the repairs.
Also if you have any questions or something isn't clear, give us a holler back and the really knowledgeable guys will pop in and give you some ideas...

 

[Procraft Patrick]

Re: soft spots

Thanks guys I am going to take a look at it when I get home. Jign I'm not in denial I do realize this may be the problem and didn't know anything when I first started on this boat journey. I actually decided to check it all out through browsing this website and reading. I have very little knowledge of boating repair but I have been trying to do reading to make sense of it all. I enjoy learning and have no problem trying to learn since it can be a good feeling of accomplishment to do things for yourself. I am very happy to be here and am determined to restore this baby to her days of former beauty.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: soft spots

You've come to the right place for learning and knowledge, read as many fiberglass restoration threads as you can and you'll get a very good education before you even start work on your boat.

There are some excellent craftsmen on this site, and others that may not be as crafty... but they try really hard, and there's one or 2 basket cases from time to time but you can learn from them on what not to do.

Restoring a boat to it's former glory is always a wonderful thing, you get a practically brand new boat for a small fraction of the cost of a new one off the showroom floor... and it'll be stronger and last longer because it was built by someone that cares.