First Time Tri Hull Restoration

[sgrantham]

Hello everyone. I got this old 156 Sport-A-Bout tri hull from my dad and am wanting to fix it back up. Not really sure on the year model. The hull and transom is good and the motor runs great but the floor needs replacing. My dad knew it was weak but it had carpet in it and he thought it was just plywood under the carpet and maybe just a few week spots that could be patched. i have torn the carpet out and found fiberglass under the carpet and noticed the floor is spongy. I've been doing some searching and reading in the forums here trying to learn as this is my first time doing any work on a boat. Is there plywood under the fiberglass and what is the best way to start cutting the floor out?

 

[NAT1VE]

I used a skil saw, set to the lowest depth and cut out the floor and removed the foam. Be very careful toward the edges of the hull, because you can accidentally cut through it. The floor has fiberglass mat over the wood. There is loads of information here, just search. From my understanding, When the floor is spongy, the foam is probably water-logged, and will work its way back to the Transom. Which too is probably dry-rotten, drill holes and do some core samples on the transom.

The veterans will let you know exactly what you should do.

 

[kcassells]

I ended up using a sawsall. Cut out nice and slow pcs. in squares and remove. Then that will allow you to look in and see what mechanicals or types of cuts you need to make as you move along. Short wood blade. Figure the floor to be @ 3/4" thick all said and done.
I would suspect that since the floor is soggy that you will end up having to replace the stringers, bulheads and possibly the stringers. Wet floors usually start from the bottom up. Take lots of pics and Welcome to DryDock Iboats forums.

 

[kcassells]

If you drill out 4 3/4" holes first then you can connect the dots with the sawzall and remove pcs at a time. Oh yea...make sure you have the proper PPE. Glass is nasty.

 

[gm280]

:welcome: aboard sgrantham. Nice to have you join us...

Okay another tri-hull project. I like tri-hull projects being how I am presently doing one myself. First thing you really need to do is take tons of pictures from every angle you can because down the road you will absolutely go back to them to see how things were initially placed. Secondly, post more pictures of your project. We love pictures on here and would love to see the entire boat from different angles as well. Others will chime in with suggestions to get you started. Take the time to read other boat projects on these forums and you will get an idea what is in rebuilding your boat... :thumb: