Replacing Boat Floor

[Tamster0420]

Hey guys i have a 1986 19ft bayliner capri, I just wanted to know if its hard to replace the floor by myslef or should i get someone to do it? How much do this cost to do it myslef or have someone do it for me.

Thanks

[Don S]

Moving to Boat Restoration and Building.

[oops!]

HI TAMSTER

welcome to i boats!

the cost of professionaly replacing a floor is ...well.....big....ballpark $2500

if you have NO experiance with power tools/wood working and no buddies with any exp....i would not recomend it

however...if you have even minimal experiance with tools and wood...go for it.

lot of details to cover here....because beleive it or not...that is a loaded question....

if you do it yourself and it is only the floor...you might get by with $300 bucks and 50 hours....that sounds like a lot...but its not...25 days @ 2 hours each...no big deal.....and its fun

everything you want to know about floors is on this site. from how to...materials...pictures...its all here. including the advice of people that have done it lots of times
just hit search....

and keep us posted.
cheers
oops

[watermellonI]

Hi welcome to iboats,
you can do a search on replacing your deck, you ll have to decide if you wnt to do the work or not, it will require you having a good area to work and some special tools. If you re a handy/repair type person its not too bad, all the info you need is here, you just need to do a lot of reading, cost wise its pretty expensive to have done, and not many people do it, its kind of a labor of love, or hobby if you will.
Everyone here at iboats is very helpful if you decide to do it yourself.

[Tamster0420]

What would happen if i just left it like that? and dont replace the floor? what is the worst thing can happen?

[oops!]

uh ...lets see....

guys help me out if i miss any....this could be fun......be creative.


ok ...you hit a wave and your seat goes thru the floor..you loose control of the bote and die while hitting another boat or rock...

you are hauling in that big fish when you step thru the floor, break your leg and (worse) loose the fish

if the transome is rotted too, you loose the back half including your motor and the boat sinks. and you are now fish food.

you boat two seasons in ignorance and end up with a worthless pile of junk that nobody wants (cept us) and you loose all of your investment.

...in short, it aint good going out on a boat that isnt safe.....
we REALLY dont want to read about you in the stupid human tricks forum.

how soft is the floor any way?

oops

[watermellonI]

Depends on how your floor got soft or rotten to begin with, usually when the floor is bad it has leaked into the hull of the boat, causing the stringers, support beams, to rot. Most of the time this is all caused by leaving the boat in the weather.

You could cut a piece of plywood to go over the hole or softspot but I would suggest fixing it right.

[Chinewalker]

It's a 1980s era Bayliner. If the floor is rotted, you've got more problems than just the floor. VERY good chance you'll have to replace the stringers as well, and give the transom a VERY close look for any rot, too. They usually rot from the bottom up, starting at the stringers. Using it as is could cause all sorts of issues and there isn't a patch job for it.
Fix it right or junk it - don't use it as is...
- Scott

[JB]

Deck??

[tashasdaddy]

it will cost 3 times as much to have someone do it. depends on your carpentry ability, and how much you hate to get dirty. it is a messy dusty job.

also, it depends on just how much you like the 22 year old bayliner. you will not recoup the cost of replacing the deck. if you sell it. you have to write it off as deferred maintenance.

[mudmagnet63]

.....and its fun

Thats the best on I've heard in a while

[oops!]

Thats the best on I've heard in a while

didnt want to scare him off lol

[Lou C]

This is a lot of work, that is not that difficult, but potentially unhealthy, due to exposure to huge amounts of fiberglass dust and fiberglass resins, be they epoxy or polyester. So you have to get in the mind set of wearing protection, all the time if you want to take this on. I let the shop do the worst of mine, and I'm not sorry I did, I am at the age where I like to limit my exposure to toxic stuff. It cost a lot but how much is your health worth, and I did enough of it to know that this boat is way more solid than when it was new, and I'd have no qualms about selling it to someone else. You have to keep the boat and use it for a long time for it to be worth it, either talking time or money wise.

[jcsercsa]

I agree its not that hard !!! it is very dirty and make sure you have a good mask for when you do the grinding , and I am looking at 300 to 350 , and thats foam , fiberglass , exposy, plywood, I didnt get a quote to get it done but from what i have read on here , it would have been 2000 to 3500 to get it done , and I that when I do it I know it will be done right !!! and I like doing it so far , its not that hard , so far !!! lol so if you can use a saw,and a angle grinder, and can mix the resin and roll out the glass you can do this !! do some research on here, and dont be afraid to ask if you have any problem !!! You can do it !!! have fun John

[vandy21]

I am in the process of replacing the deck on my 1986 18' Bayliner right now. I definitely would not have the deck replaced professionally. I am not done with the project yet, but it's going pretty smoothly, I'm just busy/lazy. It's my first boat, and I have decent, but not carpentry level tool skills, so the project is definitely do-able. It all just depends on how badly you want to be on the water. Plus, all the help you'll need can be found on the forum pretty much. You may also want to check out these similar projects;

http://www.shareaproject.com/pages/projectThumbs,p,8,00.html/'

http://www.shareaproject.com/pages/imageDetail,p,179,i,2499,00.html'

Good luck if you choose to accept this project!
~Vandy

[xmofok]

Hello all.
I own Xtreme Marine of Oklahoma and have just recently finished redoing the floor in my 25' baja. Of course we had a shop with alot of open area to work and sand. The floor had one soft spot under the pass side seat. We decided to pull the floor and replace it completely. After pulling the floor we ended up having to replace all the wet foam, and all the stringers from the front to the back. It took about 3 hours a day, 5 days a week for a month to complete this job. Fortunately i didn't have to seperate the top and bottom half. With all that said i spent about $1000 in material and would STRONGLY, advise a full face breather from 3M! I truely believe i would be dead if i hadn't had one in the shop.
Wes Thompson
xmofok@yahoo.com

[croSSed]

I agree with everything that is said here.
If your floor is rotten, you've probably got rot elsewhere.
Technically speaking, it is very easy; the amount of work can be daunting, and, for me, the "dirtiness" of the job of replacing floor/stringers/transom was THE most miserable job I have ever done, BUT,,, I'm very glad I did it. I was able to restore the old boat I wanted, and I had the opportunity to improve on the original manufacture. Suffice it to say, I over-rebuilt my boat; I will be long gone before any rot shows up in the wood pieces I put in it. Check out this:

http://s110.photobucket.com/albums/n103/tadpoleig/

TG

[babaz64]

Had the same problem.....I ignored it and it got worse!Went fishing one day and the boat filled with water.It may seem a little intimidating but once you get into it you'll become more confident and you'll know that you resolved a safety issue.

[klauberi]

Hi there...I am new to this forum (about 5 min) and was looking into it because I just replaced the floor on a 77 cajun Mach III. I did the work myself and it only took about half a day...The only flooring I replaced was the very bottom deck. Took 1 piece of treated plywood and then I sealed it. I used silicon for all the seals and so far it is doing well. I plan on redoing the floor after the season and taking more time but as you know it is warming up fast here and I couldn't wait any longer. I got lucky and the only rot I had was about a foot circle in the middle of the floor. All the studs are in good shape. Let us know how it goes. Good luck and happy boating!

[Robert4Winns]

Hi there...I am new to this forum (about 5 min) and was looking into it because I just replaced the floor on a 77 cajun Mach III. I did the work myself and it only took about half a day...The only flooring I replaced was the very bottom deck. Took 1 piece of treated plywood and then I sealed it. I used silicon for all the seals and so far it is doing well. I plan on redoing the floor after the season and taking more time but as you know it is warming up fast here and I couldn't wait any longer. I got lucky and the only rot I had was about a foot circle in the middle of the floor. All the studs are in good shape. Let us know how it goes. Good luck and happy boating!

This thread is over 2 years old. I wouldn't expect an update from Tamster0420.