fiberglass sole/deck

[fgardinier]

I am restoring the sole/deck (deck) on my 91 Chris Craft. The original deck lasted almost 20 years befor I got the boat. The original owners did little in the way of care for the boat in the last 3-5 years of ownership due to injuries. I have no way of knowing how much of this lack of care contributed to the deck sagging. I do know that there was a major water leak down the windhield into the cuddy that rusted a ss hinge and certainly rotted the head walls and deck in the cuddy. I have removed this rotten wood and also most of the back section of deck, which was also rotted. I cut untill there was no more rot and met a seam. The original wood was 1/2 marine plywood, looks like it may have been mahogany wood. but no were did the OEM coat the underside of the deck. The top layer had resin and probably 6 oz glass which was capped with a carpet. But underneath there was no coating just bare wood. The water did infiltrate from the stern of the boat thru the plywood laminatinons. My original plan was to use oops recommendation for replacing decks. CSM the bottom, 6 oz e glass sandwiched between a layer of CSM and finishing with gelcoat. But I am wondering if this is overboard. I am thinking of a coat of paint on the bottom with a layer of 6 oz e glass on top and gelcoat. Paying particular attention to the edges of the plywood.
Looking for your thoughts. I know oops way would be better but would the other suffice for another 20-25 years.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: fiberglass sole/deck

A sealed deck will sweat due to condensation. Paint will somewhat seal the wood but Poly resin and CSM will do a better job. If you decide to just paint it and if you properly maintain the boat and keep her dry and covered at all times, I would expect you to get a lot of years out of her using the methods you are suggesting. It would cost you approx. $50-75 dollars more to Put resin and glass on the bottom of the deck wood as opposed to just painting it.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: fiberglass sole/deck

I'd just use epoxy resin on the bottom of the deck and no cloth, 2 or 3 coats and you're good to go.

I'm always amused when people say the OEM lasted 20 or 30 years, but when they cut the boat open it was full of rot. That rot didn't happen overnight, that boat has been rotting for years and the OEM didn't last 20 or 30 years.:facepalm:

 

[fgardinier]

Re: fiberglass sole/deck

Well I decided to spend the money and use csm on the underside of the sole. It all went on great after the first flub. Actually it was not that bad but much worse than the others, which were perfect. I had never used csm before and was using the wrong technique to put the resin on/into the csm. I used a spreader, which after a bit started to raise the csm. I was able to get it covered but not like I wanted. I called the place I got my resin from and they informed me that I needed to use the 1/2" bubble buster and a chip brush more. The next csm that I laid went great. The rest of the underside also was super. My first top of the sole, 2 layers of csm and one of 6 oz woven went fairly well. I was shocked at how little resin I used on the 6 oz woven. I used almost 800 Ml on the each layer of the csm but less than 200 on the 6 oz. It looks great but I will definitely do a better job next time and it should be much easier. My problem was I was not ready for the woven to stick to the csm and be almost unable to move it. I will have, to have help to lay the woven exactly where I want it to lay. With the csm the second layer was easy to lay down and easy to nudge just a little to get it in place. I will let you know how it goes.

 

[fgardinier]

It has been some time since my last post on this project. I think I am 2 weeks from putting the boat in the water. Here is an update on the sole work. I did cover the sole pieces that I replaced which was the vast majority of the area. I followed opps advise and covered the top and bottom of each piece. Bottom with csm and top with 2 layers of csm followed by 6 oz woven roven. Everything was done wet on wet. I then followed with 2 coats of white gell coat the last with wax added. Where I joined my new sole to the old was at an original seam and over a bulkhead. I tied the new sole which were approx 29” wide to the old with 2 ea 7”x 10” pieces of 1/2” plywood glued and screwed to both the old sole and the new. This was how the original was connected. I did not replace the front part of the main sole, under the captain and mates seats, because the rotted wood ended at least 10” to 12” from the seams. The rot started at the aft of the boat and ran along between the layers of plywood, but ended well before the front section as described above. Using information from several other restoration posts I was able to do all the work with confidence in my job. My first fiberglass job was in the late 60's early 70's when
I made my first 10' surfboard in California. But my previous work with fiberglass was an ultralight airplane that I built in the late 80's. Surfoard I used lots but the ultralight was sold after high speed taxi's. Just did not think I was safe up in the air with the plane. Another part of this project was reglassing my engine mounts. I used 2 layers of 1708 on each and they look great. 1708 really lays nice and makes 90 bends with ease. To insure a tight fit of the glass to the wood mount I used c clamps to squeeze the glass to the wood. I used a plywood form and placed a heavy rubber pad between the form and the fiberglass. I used wax paper to keep everything from sticking together. I removed the forms after 6-8 hrs. The wax paper worked great as a release agent. The rubber pad, actually an old foam like kitchen rug, really held everything in great and acted almost like a vacuum bag. The rot started in a section at the aft end where drain holes had been placed in the stringers and engine mounts to allow water to run to the bilge. However none of these openings were water tight. So I have epoxied them with 1/4” csm and left a 3/8” hose thru the mounts and stringers. Prior to the epoxy setting I pulled the hose out and that left a nice path for water drainage. Not as big as the 1 inch holes in the stringers which I gell coated the insides of, to keep water tight.
The sole that I replaced came out so good that I layed 6 oz woven roven to the section under the captain and mates seat. I then put two layers of gell coat over that. Now the entire sole of the boat is glass covered and has 2 layers of white gell coat on it and up the gunwales for 3-5”. It looks like a bath tub. I may cover part, all, or none of the sole with carpet. If I do put carpet down it will be removable and not glued down.

 

[tpenfield]

Pictures ???