Replacing floor in 86 Four Winns
 

I have decided to replace the old floor in my 1986 Four Winns, as it
is start to get spongy and there is some rot in the hold compartment
underneath. My question is what method do any of you suggest to cut
out and remove the old floor. I would like to remove it in as few
pieces as poosible to have them as a templete. I am planning to use
good quality plywood and coat it with either epoxy or fiberglass.

Here's 2 owners sites fyi http://frankwbell.no-ip.info/Boat/floor.html and
http://hometown.aol.com/btu205/myhomepage/index.html

"Mark" wrote in message
...
I have decided to replace the old floor in my 1986 Four Winns, as it
is start to get spongy and there is some rot in the hold compartment
underneath. My question is what method do any of you suggest to cut
out and remove the old floor. I would like to remove it in as few
pieces as poosible to have them as a templete. I am planning to use
good quality plywood and coat it with either epoxy or fiberglass.

I did mine. It is nasty work. I used a cutoff wheel to get the edges and a
cicular saw set at 5/8" to cut it into sections. I did not try to get it
out in big pieces to use as templates. Mine was very well attached and
would have been a lot harder to get out had I not taken it out in smaller
pieces. I did not leave any of the old floor. The cutoff wheel allowed me
to get right to the edge. I cleaned up the remaining fiberglass with a hand
electric disk grinder. I replaced some of the stringers using composite
deck material. I soaked the rest of the stringers in a lot of thinned
epoxy. You can pay a lot for "special" penetrating epoxy or you can just
thin regular epoxy with alcohol after you mix it. All that special
penetrating epoxy is is thinned regular epoxy that you pay a lot for.
Alcohol is cheap. I found US Epoxy was a good source for epoxy. Epoxy is
about 10 times better that polyester resin. I did not coat the bottom of
the plywood. There are two schools of thought of sealing the wood. If you
seal it and water does get through it will never dry. If you leave the
underside unsealed it can dry when it gets wet. I did not replace the foam.
The foam is why I had rot in the first place. It trapped water all over the
place. I did not use pressure treated plywood. For what it's worth I have
heard it delaminates easily. I did use fir plywood instead of pine. I
screwed the plywood to the stringers with stainless steel deck screws. I
did use fiberglass cloth and epoxy resin to cover the top of the plywood
after I put it in. I put drain holes through all the stringers at the
transom. I also put plastic inspection covers in the rear of the floor so I
could look under the floor when I wanted to.


"Mark" wrote in message
...
I have decided to replace the old floor in my 1986 Four Winns, as it
is start to get spongy and there is some rot in the hold compartment
underneath. My question is what method do any of you suggest to cut
out and remove the old floor. I would like to remove it in as few
pieces as poosible to have them as a templete. I am planning to use
good quality plywood and coat it with either epoxy or fiberglass.

When we did my buddy's, we used a sawzall to remove the floor. We did only
the back half. Take measurements at known places of the width of the boat,
before any cutting. When the floor is removed the sides will bow out from
the lack of support. We used long pipe clamps to pull it in when we
restored the flooring.
Bill

"Mark" wrote in message
...
I have decided to replace the old floor in my 1986 Four Winns, as it
is start to get spongy and there is some rot in the hold compartment
underneath. My question is what method do any of you suggest to cut
out and remove the old floor. I would like to remove it in as few
pieces as poosible to have them as a templete. I am planning to use
good quality plywood and coat it with either epoxy or fiberglass.

You gotz a big job ahead of you.

Curious to know why people dont use marine plywood.
Pressure treated and standard are completely different.

To cut most of it a circular saw, set to the right depth (about half
inch)
and a good dust mask to prevent some years being taken off your
life is where i'd start. Taking measurements is really where you
should start off with, from there you can go to town on the demo work.

Why Marine Ply? It also rots. Same wood, same glue, just no interior voids
for more strength. And most floors do not have a strength problem.

wrote in message
ups.com...
You gotz a big job ahead of you.

Curious to know why people dont use marine plywood.
Pressure treated and standard are completely different.

To cut most of it a circular saw, set to the right depth (about half
inch)
and a good dust mask to prevent some years being taken off your
life is where i'd start. Taking measurements is really where you
should start off with, from there you can go to town on the demo work.