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.

On Wed, 31 Mar 2004 12:58:56 GMT, "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?

A sort of damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. In any
case, you will have to remove the floor to see what's underneath it.
That could be problematic - you may find that the stringers are rotten
needing replacement which you probably wouldn't have wanted to know
about. :)

However, the good news is it's not that old, so the stringers may be
in good shape - it might be the plywood on top of the stringers that
is bad and in need of replacement.

Sadly, the only way to determine what the extent of the problem is is
to remove the floor and find out. Can't do anything more than that
unless you know somebody with xray vision. :)

Good luck.

Later,

Tom
S. Woodstock, CT
-----------
"Angling may be said to be so
like the mathematics that it
can never be fully learnt..."

Izaak Walton "The Compleat Angler", 1653

Hello, I had the same problem with my boat except mine is from 1977. You
have water under your floor so you need to remove the floor. I think there
are stringers under your floor wich could be bad also. But your boat is not
that old but the only way to find it out is to remove the floor. Then there
can be foam under the floor wich can be filled with water. If your foam is
wet you should remove your foam also and place new foam because this will be
a lot of weight in your boat.

I'm sorry for the terrible english. I'm from Holland and don't use english
that much.

Danny
"Scott Shirley" schreef in bericht
news:kgzac.150664$po.892443@attbi_s52...
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.

On Wed, 31 Mar 2004 18:13:18 +0200, "Danny"
wrote:

Hello, I had the same problem with my boat except mine is from 1977. You
have water under your floor so you need to remove the floor. I think there
are stringers under your floor wich could be bad also. But your boat is not
that old but the only way to find it out is to remove the floor. Then there
can be foam under the floor wich can be filled with water. If your foam is
wet you should remove your foam also and place new foam because this will be
a lot of weight in your boat.

I'm sorry for the terrible english. I'm from Holland and don't use english
that much.

Danny

Please don't apologize for your English. It is much better than that
of some of the regular posters here who are American!



John H

On the 'Poco Loco' out of Deale, MD
on the beautiful Chesapeake Bay!

Your english is great! It's your accent you need to work on. :-)
LD

"Danny" wrote in message
i.nl...
Hello, I had the same problem with my boat except mine is from 1977. You
have water under your floor so you need to remove the floor. I think there
are stringers under your floor wich could be bad also. But your boat is
not
that old but the only way to find it out is to remove the floor. Then
there
can be foam under the floor wich can be filled with water. If your foam is
wet you should remove your foam also and place new foam because this will
be
a lot of weight in your boat.

I'm sorry for the terrible english. I'm from Holland and don't use english
that much.

Danny
"Scott Shirley" schreef in bericht
news:kgzac.150664$po.892443@attbi_s52...
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.

Likely it is stapled to the stringers and glassed over with fabric and
polyester resin. Make a couple test holes to determine the floor thickness
and then you can cut with a circular saw and not have to worry about going
too deep. A cutoff wheel in a grinder is the best way to do the edges. If
you look closely you should be able to figure out where the edge of the
floor ply is. Cut the fiberglass on the top at the edge. Cutting into
small pieces with the curcular saw will let you pull it up in sections.
There will be foam under it. The whole thing is a real choir so expect it
to be a long, tedious, and messy job. Start at the bad spots and that will
let you figure out how much floor to remove. When you put it back together,
personally I like epoxy instead of polyster resin, check out US composites
for good epoxy at a reasonable price.


"Scott Shirley" wrote in message
news:kgzac.150664$po.892443@attbi_s52...
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.

"Danny" wrote in message
i.nl...
Hello, I had the same problem with my boat except mine is from 1977. You
have water under your floor so you need to remove the floor. I think there
are stringers under your floor wich could be bad also. But your boat is
not
that old but the only way to find it out is to remove the floor. Then
there
can be foam under the floor wich can be filled with water. If your foam is
wet you should remove your foam also and place new foam because this will
be
a lot of weight in your boat.

I'm sorry for the terrible english. I'm from Holland and don't use english
that much.

Danny
"Scott Shirley" schreef in bericht
news:kgzac.150664$po.892443@attbi_s52...
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.





Depending on how much support under the floor, do not need marine ply. My
1991 boat uses pressure treated with a vinyl flooring over it. But it is an
aluminum boat with lots of supports for the floor. Measure the width of the
boat at various points and would also be good to make some supports to hold
the sides in position when the floor is cut out. The floor helps keep the
shape of the boat and the sides will move out when the floor is removed.
Learned this the hard way on a friends boat. Sawzall or an angle grinder
will remove the flooring.

After you brace the sides of the hull and remove the old deck, check the
stringers and transom for rot. Be ruthless, remove all affected wood, else all
your work will be wasted since the damage will continue. Remove all
questionable foam. Even foam advertised not to absorb water will to some
extent and hold it against the wood. ALSO! If the gas tank is aluminum remove
it and check the bottom carefully for pinhole corrosion etc. Typically the
alloy tanks are foamed in place which sets the stage for trapped moisture
corrosion. Any doubts at all, replace it with a plastic composite tank. A fire
on a boat is ugly as it moves faster than you can imagine AND there's no place
to run. Tab in the new "wood" carefully to match the orig. structure, leave no
area open to new moisture penitration and allow for ventilation if at all
possible!
As you have guessed, I have been down this road before.
Best wishes
Mike

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.