What did my wife get me into?

[flamron]

New purchase - 2005 Glastron GX 205 I/O 5.0L Penta 220HP

Price is right for what it is (I think anyways).

Anywho, here is the only real hangup for me -

The chair is wiggly, and the floor has a bit of give about 6" behind the chair. Everywhere else in the floor is absolutely solid (I weigh plenty to verify this).

What kind of effort and cost am I looking at to fix this? My guess is that when PO was pulling carpet off of the snaps, they pulled the screws out as well. Giving water a chance to get down into the hull.

I'm thinking this boat is using the VEC technology - does that mean there is no wood down there? If so, what do I do to fix this?

I'm pretty handy with tools, and can either borrow or buy what I don't have. We "stole" the boat so to say (in my wife's opinion, and that is the one that counts), so I have plenty of wiggle room to fix it up.

After I repair, what is a good way to fix the snaps that have come up? We have talked about going carpetless, but don't know if it would be too slick.

Thoughts? Ideas? Am I crazy(er)? :facepalm:

Here is a shot of her from the front:

 

[superpop]

Re: What did my wife get me into?

Hard to say, could be that whole underside is rotted or it could be a very small area, the space around the seat should be reinforced from underneath to support the stress of a pedestal chair. Snaps don't come out from pulling the carpet up unless the material they are screwed into is rotted. Really hard to say though without cutting into the floor which looks like the next step.

 

[Tail_Gunner]

Re: What did my wife get me into?

That pic is very suspect for a 2005...You need to find a independt surveyor and get a pro evaluation. Wet wood at 5 yrs would demostrate very poor care. And i doubt it has a composite floor.

 

[flamron]

Re: What did my wife get me into?

That pic is very suspect for a 2005...You need to find a independt surveyor and get a pro evaluation. Wet wood at 5 yrs would demostrate very poor care. And i doubt it has a composite floor.

I don't disagree about the level of care for sure.

As to the wood, I believe Glastron used VEC on this model year, and this is from their site:
"Thanks to VEC?, Glastron boats was able to reduce the number of structural components. Everything is completely integrated on the hull, including the stringer system; there are no wooden stringers to rot, no joints or seams to separate. With our Glastron boats wne?re able to achieve the same level of structural integrity with our unitized deck, which is also fabricated as a single fiberglass component. Beyond the aesthetics of the clean, seamless look, the unitized deck delivers a more stable and quieter ride."

I'm not sure, so don't quote me on it. If the boat is built with VEC technology, is the repair going to be easier, harder? If it isn't, then I'm guessing I'm just working with some plywood that is coated with some glass. Is the floor included in the VEC process? When they say deck, I am assuming it means floor (not familiar with some terms like that).

If all else fails, I know there are some very helpful and great folks on here that can walk me through this process and get this boat to 110%.

 

[j_martin]

Re: What did my wife get me into?

Well, you start out by cutting out a little rotten spot. Then you something else. Long story short, eventually you get out to the bare hull and you can build up what you want from there.

Just kidding.
Vec isn't a layup technique, but the engineering technique to design the boat. It would design the precise placement of material and components, and predict their strength and performance in a virtual (computer design) setting. It would also lend itself to automatic tooling and manufacturing operations, directly from the computer model.

That said, what you have there is some wet wood. If you have a boat full of wet foam, you have a real project. If it's localized, and a deck spot repair fixes it, you could be floating in a couple of days.

On the carpet. I',m going to have to get into deck repair on mine eventually. When I'm done, the floor finish will be the same as the liner in my pickumup truck. Carpets are a pain to maintain, and trap a lot of water for long periods of time. fill in any litany of bad things about that you desire.

Good luck.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: What did my wife get me into?

Deep breath....... you need to excise (cut ) that area out.

Cut at a sharp 45 degree angle and not a large section...... do not cut too deep........just enough to cut the deck only.

Cut out a small section (rectangular shape or square) and this will give you two things.....
Rotted area cut away AND access to see below the deck. This will give you direction to the next step.

It appears that the snap and possibly the pedestal base were never sealed up properly. I would build up under the pedestal area with thicker wood so this will not happen again.

So.... a circular saw, some exterior plywood, some epoxy or fiberglass resin, some cloth (not chopped strand) and get to it!

 

[flamron]

Re: What did my wife get me into?

Thanks Bob & j_martin!

Bob - How thick do you thick I'm looking at? 3/4" or so? I have no problems building that up - I am a bit of an overbuilder, so it will probably be pretty sturdy once I get done with it.

We are considering pulling the snap carpet out and going bare bottom. We feel the same way that carpet just traps moisture, and moisture and boat floors don't mix.

I am picking up the boat on Thursday, so either Thursday night or this weekend I'll cut away and put some pics up.

I've read where some people use starboard or cutting board - would this work in a situation like this or would wood be the way to go?

 

[veritas honus]

Re: What did my wife get me into?

Thanks Bob & j_martin!

Bob - How thick do you thick I'm looking at? 3/4" or so? I have no problems building that up - I am a bit of an overbuilder, so it will probably be pretty sturdy once I get done with it.

We are considering pulling the snap carpet out and going bare bottom. We feel the same way that carpet just traps moisture, and moisture and boat floors don't mix.

I am picking up the boat on Thursday, so either Thursday night or this weekend I'll cut away and put some pics up.

I've read where some people use starboard or cutting board - would this work in a situation like this or would wood be the way to go?

I'll be doing a similar repair before Spring. When I first joined the forum, I got some terrific advice. Back the plywood with heavy gauge sheet metal. I'm going to use aluminum diamond plate. I'll laminate it to the plywood and pre-drill it for the Garelick stainless steel togglers I got from iboats to hold the pedestle. Set the circular saw blade at 45 degrees and the piece you cut won't drop in to the hull. I've got an aluminum diamond plate compartment door from an old scrapped engine from a fire department I used to work for. You can buy aluminum diamond plate from Lowe's pretty inexpensively. I think the pieces are 18"X18" and larger. Good luck, and post some pics of your work. I'll be doing that too; but I won't be getting to mine for about a month or so.

 

[BoatingCop]

Re: What did my wife get me into?

I had a '03 Glastron 185 bought brand new. It had the same exact thing happen to it around the seat pedestal, with cracking and everything. Luckily it was under warranty and was fixed. Never had an issue with it after that. I think it cracked a year or two after buying it. We kept it all the way til this past year and it never re-occurred. We used the hell out of that boat too. BTW: I stuck my head everywhere I could in that boat and never saw any wood. I don't believe there is any. Thats not to say I'm not wrong though. Good luck

 

[flamron]

Re: What did my wife get me into?

Thanks Eric. I wonder if this is just a structural weakness for the Glastrons? Would be curious to see how many other similar year boats experienced these same problems.

 

[tschmidty]

Re: What did my wife get me into?

Starboard would be a good choice for backer board for that pedestal. And no carpet is a good thing just be careful about the floor being slick of course. Also harder to hide repairs like the one you are going to have to do

 

[flamron]

Re: What did my wife get me into?

So when you say backer board, that would mean under the patched wood?

How do I attach the starboard underneath?

What are some other ways to reinforce that area?

 

[flamron]

Re: What did my wife get me into?

What is the best blade for circular saw?

Would rhino liner work, and does it come in a light color?

I've also got a textured floor, any way to replicate that if I don't cover it?

 

[flamron]

Re: What did my wife get me into?

Ok - picked the boat up yesterday - finally!

On to the fun stuff! I pulled the passenger chair up, and started pulling some old wood up off the deck. The fiberglass on the top was loose from the wet/rotted wood (delaminated the term? or something else?)

I have a few questions now that I'm into this up to my elbows.

The wood doesn't look like plywood to me. It is probably 1/2" stuff, with fiberglass on both sides. Pretty rotted - badly!

First question: What is the wood? I don't think it is plywood, but I'm not familiar with it at all.

 

[flamron]

Re: What did my wife get me into?

My next question: When I was trying to cut an exploratory hole into the deck, I hit metal. It freaked me out quite a bit at first, as I thought it was the gas tank. But then I saw that the screws for the base of the chair went through it. So I have this metal plate (possibly sheet metal) under the deck. What is this for? Does it run the whole deck, or is it support for the chair? I have a saws all, so I can go through it pretty quickly, but I don't want to hit anything important.

So here is where I'm at. I'm curious about the metal mostly. And the wood. I've gone back far enough to find unrotted wood, but it is really wet, so I'm going to keep going unless you guys tell me to stop until I find dry wood.

Any help would be appreciated at this point. I'm in over my head at this point, but have faith that iboats will pull me through this and get this baby out on the water where it belongs by the start of the season.

I have priced 3/4" marine grade plywood at $90 a sheet. With this being only 1/2" (I think), I will call again and see what that size will run.

That step is a ways out, though. I need to find good wood or get the whole deck up so I can replace it.

At least it runs good!

Thanks a million guys!

 

[WastinGas]

Re: What did my wife get me into?

I've heard of people useing standard plywood and incapsulating it in fiberglass to prevent water from getting in. What is marine grade plywood (I've never heard of it) I cant imagine it being to far from treated wood? Good luck

 

[Cadwelder]

Re: What did my wife get me into?

What is marine grade plywood (I've never heard of it) I cant imagine it being to far from treated wood? Good luck

Wow, haven't been on this forum long huh?

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=459828

 

[flamron]

Re: What did my wife get me into?

Any ideas on my previous posts? I'm holding off until I hear from you guys/gals.

 

[rickryder]

Re: What did my wife get me into?

I'm hoping some of the veteran boat builders catches this and replys on that metal under the wood..... got me curious now.

 

[Cadwelder]

Re: What did my wife get me into?

I would remove all the old wood and start over.....take plenty of pictures during the tear out for reference as well as measurements.