What's under the deck of my boat?

[PNW Driver]

My 1969 19' Reinell runabout has a soft spot in the floor. It's where the starboard back to back seat is and just behind it. The P.O. stored oil and such under there and it was a mess when I got it. The three years uncovered and 2 inches of pine needles did not help either. It holds but flexes under weight. When I installed new seats the screws kept just pulling out of the plywood under the fiberglass. The rest of the flooring is rock solid and I want to cut out the bad stuff and patch in some new material. What can I expect to find? Is it framed under there or just two parallel stringers running the length? How about foam?

 

[chrishayes]

Re: What's under the deck of my boat?

Hopefully not this! Really, you never know until you tear it up. Hopefully you will be lucky and find that the rot is quarintined to one small area that allows it all to be removed, but I doubt it. Really, there is a reason that the car industry calls rust cancer. Rot is the cancer of our craft! Hard to stop it once it shows up. Let us know what you find. Hopefully you get lucky and there isnt any pour foam in there. That only compounds an already crappy situation.

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: What's under the deck of my boat?

Welcome to iboats Driver..

The first thing I would do is find out how far your rot goes..

Start by drilling 1/4" holes from know rot working outwards till you hit good wood. Determine your repair area. Hit good wood on four sides and see if you can make a good square cut to scab in a new piece of ply.

Take some pics and post what you find. May not be a big deal.. or It could you will know b4 we do

YD.

 

[PNW Driver]

Re: What's under the deck of my boat?

I have kinda done that. Just by running screws thru trying to get it to hold down. I have walked, crawled and layed down on everyin of the floor over this spring. The rest of the floor is solid. I just need to know is there a frame network to patch in a good peice of ply to? Oh well, I guess I will do wome exploring this fall.

 

[chrishayes]

Re: What's under the deck of my boat?

Yeah bud, the question you ask is hard to answer. I am sure that not many people on here have the same boat and even if they did, they arent likely to know what the stringer structure is due to either never tearing up the floor or the factory may have used different layouts. From what I understand boats of our era were not typically "engineered" they were just over built to a point that previous trial and error had taught them. I wonder if you could just use a common stud finder? Only problem I see is if you do find a stringer you might not like what you find. If you have drilled screw holes that grabbed nothing in the exact spot where the old screws were attached, that would lead me to believe that you really have no stingers left. At least solid ones...no harm meant just reality. Shes an old girl, cant blame her for the effects of age and gravity.

 

[rucaradio]

Re: What's under the deck of my boat?

As much as you'd like to think the rot is quarantined to a small area chances are you'll need to come to the realization that the rest of us have - rot is like a cancer. Once it shows up it spreads. My guess is that in addition to the deck, you'll also need to be repairing some stringers and possibly the transom. As Yacht Dr. advised, get out your drill and take core samples EVERYWHERE. Any dark colored wood is rotten, any wet wood is going to be rotten soon.

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: What's under the deck of my boat?

Hello again Driver..

erm..this might not be bad at all..

The frame for the floor is typically the stringers and a chine..

Does not mean you have to find a stringer to rest your new scab of wood onto..In fact it has little to do with it m8..

You need to find the perimeter of the repair first..depth of your floor ( so you dont cut into the stringer when cutting )

You can put "cleats" under your existing floor to tie your scab in..

It rather simple to do a section of floor really. 2 days if you can save the carpet. ( and have the right tools ).

YD.