Fiberglass deck on a 1980 Anchor Plastics DeckBoat Sportsman Deck Boat?

[Winats2]

A fellow selling a partly restored 18.6' 1980 DeckBoat brand deck boat made by Anchor Plastics in Gatesville Texas tells me the boat's deck is made of fiberglass rather than wood. Don't know whether it is the "Lo Decker II" model or the "BoatDeck" model. He said it has "The Sportsman" on it. He said it does say "BoatDeck" on it in chrom, but I've seen pictures of several from different years and in different lengths that do too. Looks like Anchor Plastics is out of business. I've seen three threads with owners of these boats, but looks like they all did extensive repairs under the deck. I think, or hope, the fellow I'm dealing with already has.

Is it common for deck boats from that time to use fiberglass rather than wood for the floor? Or does he probably mean there was a plywood floor that was coated in fiberglass?

I wonder how the deck is secured so it could be removed to get at the stringers and foam?

He also mentioned that he glued the new carpet to the fiberglass floor. If so, how could the carpet ever be removed when it becomes worn or mouldy, assuming I wished to keep the fiberglass floor and get rid of the carpet?

Here are the other threads I referred to:

Decker has an 1984 model that seems to have had a plywood floor:

http://forums.iboats.com/boat-resto...om-deck-stringer-replacement-help-471173.html

dennywynn has a 1971 that seems to have had a plywood floor too. Or at least whatever it had rotted. Does fiberglass rot?
http://forums.iboats.com/boat-resto...storation-deck-repair-551045.html#post3786165

dboyd4k seems to have fiberglass on his plywood deck:

http://forums.iboats.com/boat-resto...formation-deck-boat-i-just-bought-354778.html

Or is fiberglassing his new wood deck:

http://forums.iboats.com/boat-restoration-building-hull-repair/decking-357703.html#post2363274

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Fiberglass deck on a 1980 Anchor Plastics DeckBoat Sportsman Deck Boat?

I Highly suspect it would be wood encased in fiberglass resin and cloth. A total Fiberglass Deck would be Extremely Heavy and very expensive and not something that boat Mfg's in the 80's would have a tendency to do unless it was a Ultra High End boat. Getting Glued down carpet off of any surface is a Real PITA!!!!

 

[Decker83]

Re: Fiberglass deck on a 1980 Anchor Plastics DeckBoat Sportsman Deck Boat?

All of the DeckBoats that I have seen had wood decks in them.. I would say WOG is spot on in his statements ^^^.

BTW welcome to i-boats..
Put up some pics for us..

 

[Winats2]

Re: Fiberglass deck on a 1980 Anchor Plastics DeckBoat Sportsman Deck Boat?

Just spoke with the seller again. I'm several hours drive from the boat. He hasn't offered photos.

He said that when he was scraping off the old carpet he saw fiberglass and there were no seams between the fiberglass deck and the sides of the boat.

So could it be that the fiberglass he saw was encasing a wood deck and the fiberglass that was encasing the wood deck was placed all the way to the vertical sides of the boat and run up the sides a bit then sanded smooth? If so, maybe that explains his not seeing any seams between the deck and the sides of the boat.

The other restorations of older boats show exposed wood decks. Could it be that the original production used fiberglass encased wood and that at some later date for some reason somebody cut out the fiberglass encased wood decks and replaced them with exposed wood decks? If so, what reasons would there be for replacing a wood deck encased in fiberglass? They must have left some of the horizontal fiberglass to have something to support the wood deck, right?

I think he may also think the fiberglass boat was made as one piece of fiberglass with a hollow area between the deck and the hull because in his restoration he didn't think he could get a look under the deck. He has to be mistaken doesn't he? I thought that even if it were a fiberglass deck, or fiberglass surrounding wood deck, with the deck seamlessly built onto the vertical sides, there would have had to have been two original molds, one for the top half of the boat and one for the bottom half, right? They could then be separated along the seam to get a look at the condition of the foam and bulkheads and stringers between the deck and the hull, right?

 

[Decker83]

Re: Fiberglass deck on a 1980 Anchor Plastics DeckBoat Sportsman Deck Boat?

On my DeckBoat the wooden deck was covered with fiberglass colth and mat.. More than likely that is the same with this boat..

Without pics its hard to tell.. From all the pics that I have looked at for DeckBoats made by Anchor Plastics they have a wooden deck that would be the same way.. Fiberglass over the wood deck..

My boat did not have any access to the foam or stringers without cutting a hole in the deck..
See if you can get the him to send you some pics..