In article kgzac.150664$po.892443@attbi_s52, "Scott Shirley" wrote:

I have 1996 18; runabout that is starting to show some neglect from a
previous owner who left it uncovered. The flooring in the rear of the boat
and around the ski locker is getting pretty soft. What's the best way to
replace the flooring? Rip out the old carpet and flooring and replace with
marine grade plywood? Will there be a support structure left for me to place
the new plywood on? Is the old flooring tied in to the Hull somehow? Should
I just take the easy way out and lay a new sheet of plywood over the top of
the old flooring?


Thanks.

I had an old boat like that once. They alway rot around the stupid ski
lockers.

I used a circular saw (set the depth gauge) and cut out a large section that
encompassed all the wicked/wet and rooting wood (and then some).

Be CAREFUL if you have a gasoline tank under the deck when using any
kind of saw. Remember that an empty or near empty tank is much
more explosive than a full one.

Then I inspected the stringers and repaired and replaced damaged wood down
below. I also put in more support where the old ski-locker was.

Then did away with the ski locker thingie entirely. I did however put an
round access hatch (pre-made). in.

I just used pressure-treated plywood. I cut it to fit the hole and then
I fiberglassed the new section on one-side on sawhorses.and left
about a 1/2" overlap of the cloth. Then I put the new section in place.
and fiberglassed it too.

Some new marine carpeting and voila!

Some may argue about using Marine grade plywood. I couldn't find
any when I wanted to get started and my repair was a lot better than
the factory OEM job which lasted ten years so I didn't worry about it.

The factory just glassed over one-side of regular cheapo plywood.

I also put in some drain ports to allow water to get out of the deck
area at the rear.

The repair wasn't that hard and it was fun to do (at least for me).

I had bed-liner sprayed on the deck though instead of carpet (grey).

The worst part was getting all that old carpet out.

I wouldn't use a sawzall for this job because it would be too easy
to damage stringers underneath (gas tank??).

Worked for me.