Proper way to remove deck in ranger 2 bass boat

CreekCruiser

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I picked up this boat for next to nothing knowing that it needed some work. The first thing I want to tackle is replacing the floors as there are a few soft spots around the drains. I know from removing one of the drains that the floor is a thin layer of fiberglass. Is it possible to cut this out and do the repairs or do I need to pull the whole top cap? Also what exactly is supporting the floor? I am not familiar with fiberglass boat construction and I think that my particular boat is kind of obscure so I wanted to ask before I started cutting.
 

Rickmerrill

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#2 Welcome to the "dry dock" Cruiser. Anyone not familiar with your boat is going to need some pictures. Do you have a free photobucket acct? Upload to PB then copy the IMG link from there and just paste it into your text. Normally the deck is made of ply with fiberglass over it. Under the deck there are wood stringers and bulkheads glassed into the hull supporting it and normally a rotten deck means what's supporting it has rot so hope for the best but... Pulling the cap will depend on how accessible the areas you need to work on are.
 
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that thin sheet of fiberglass use to be a piece of ply wood with a layer of fiberglass on top of it. If you pull out your drains and stick a camera in the hole and take a few pics you are going to see a lot of black pieces that use to be wood. The floor goes under the seating and the front deck so there's no way to repair the floor (correctly) unless you remove the cap. Now you have to realize that most boats were built with the floor touching the stringers and the stringers touching the transom so its possible that the water in the floor has got to the stringers which leads to the transom. Rangers were normally over powered so cracks at the top of the transom running downwards and cracks in the fiberglass behind the drivers seat running sideways are a bad sign. Im afraid this is common on boats that have carpet,

pulling the cap on a bass boat is not a easy job pulling it on a ranger is even harder but once done they are a hell of a nice boat.
 

Woodonglass

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What year is it? The early models are easier to work on than the newer ones.
 

CreekCruiser

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It's a '76 ranger 2. Very small bass boat, about the same size as my 14' jon boat. I hope to take some more detailed pictures tomorrow when I start ripping up the old carpet but for now I will post a few pics I already have. Here is an overall shot of the interior, although it's not a great angle
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I don't know anything about fiberglass boat construction but my dad and I have done a couple fiberglass projects before non boat related so small repairs don't really scare me. Ideally I would like to repair the floor as best as practical so I can fish out of the boat the rest of the summer and then in the fall maybe tackle taking the top cap off if that is necessary. I live in florida so it should be warm enough to work fiberglass up until mid to late October or so. Because this boat is so small, is it possible to remove the deck, repair the stringers if needed, inspect and replace the old foam and then glass a new floor back in without removing the top cap? Could I just cut the floor out and work it from the top?
 

Woodonglass

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Because this boat is so small, is it possible to remove the deck, repair the stringers if needed, inspect and replace the old foam and then glass a new floor back in without removing the top cap? Could I just cut the floor out and work it from the top?

Short answer "Yes" But...You really need to check the transom from the inside once the deck is out to ensure it's solid. If it's not there's really no good way to replace it without decapitating the boat AND it needs to be replaced BEFORE the stringers are put back in.



 

kjsAZ

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I have replaced the transom in my last boat without taking the cap off and it had worse access than this one. However, it's a lot of work. I made the new transom in 3 thinner plywood layers and each layer was cut into 3 pieces. First layer was cut vertical with a larger center piece and 2 narrower side pieces (PB to the outer shell), then a layer of biaxial glass and some PB and the second layer with horizontal cuts. Another biaxial and PB and teh last vertical cut layer with a smaller center piece and wider outer ones.Has to be done with the slowest cure Epoxy to give you enough time (I used 60min hardener). In all cut lines I had Epoxy PB to fill all voids. Then everything was clamped together with bolts and 2x4's. After it had cured for 2 days I added a last layer of tri-axial glass to the inside. Gave the boat 8 years ago to friends and it still is in perfect shape. Little trick: wet the bolts holding it together while curing with PVA and you have a chance to get them out again. Needs some convincing but they come out.
The deck was inserted in a similar way (after the stringers were replaced) with plywood going to the centers of the stringers to get them under the cap.
I had tried to get the cap off in that boat but the only way would have been to cut it off as they had laminated it together.
 

CreekCruiser

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Thanks for the responses! So if I cut the deck out, is it better to cut it right in the point where the deck meets the walls? Or should I cut on the actual deck itself?
 

Woodonglass

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Use a circular saw and set the depth to the thickness of the deck. Use the narrow edge and cut around the edge. You can grind off the lip later.
Sawzall works great on the boxes and vertical pieces.
 
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kjsAZ

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+1! Keep the lip intact as long as you can. I'd bet that you will have to replace some stringers and that's much easier if you can use the lip as a fix point to determine their height.
 

CreekCruiser

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Well I guess the sagging floor should have been a big clue. I cut out the deck and this is what I found:
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Not really what I was hoping.
 
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kjsAZ

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Sorry that you dug into a money pit but that's why everyone here tends to err on the negative side when questions like yours come up. I have yet to see a boat where the deck had soft spots and the stringers were in good shape. I would bet that your transom looks equally bad.
I would dig out all the crap in the boat and then make a decision whether you want to invest the time and money to fix her up again or sell all good parts and try again with another boat. Be aware that your bottom line cost most likely will exceed the price you could sell the boat for. Only makes sense when you intend to use the boat for quite some time.
 

CreekCruiser

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aef9d53ae57e91b5ec7b7151c0838998_zps8d9beb6e.jpg
Is there anyway to fix this without removing the top cap? I don't want to rebuild the entire boat because it is just a small fishing boat and I just want to take it in some small creeks.
 
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kjsAZ

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As I wrote above I did it but you have to really plan on how you lay the plywood to retain it's strength. Same applies on how you do the glassing. Taking the cap off would also be my last resort as it isn't easy to keep the bottom hull in exact shape.
No matter how you will tackle it you have to completely gut the interior and get all the wood out of the boat. Your task is actually a bit easier than mine was as there aren't any compartments (in fiberglass) which would make access to the areas something for a 50# acrobat. I had to get my transom wood in through a slot where I could just get my head through and the transom was 3ft further back.
 
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Woodonglass

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Here's the bottom line. The Stringers and Transom are the Critical structural elements of the hull. They're kinda like the skeletal and muscular system and hull is the skin. So if the Bones and muscles are weak the skin's not gunna stand up to well. If you want to ensure that you are safe on the water you need to repair the Bones and Muscles of your boat. Now if you weren't gunna hang an outboard on her and weren't gunna be on water that could develop waves and wakes then we could talk a different build possibly but, streams and rivers Can get rough at times and an outboard motor puts stresses on a transom and stringers that necessitates proper restoration procedures. What this all means is...If you drill into those stringers and the transom and they are wet and rotting, then if you want to use that boat safely then IMHO you need to restore it properly.
 
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im not going to say anything but I will tell you a story. A guy bought a cheapo bass boat and like you discovered the floor was a little worse then he expected. so like you he cut out the section then fiberglassed in a piece of wood he cut to the same shape. The boat looked great and the first 2 fishing trips went with out a hitch. On the third trip he noticed a sound like someone peeing in the back of the boat. 2 miles away from home in shallow water is still 2 miles of walking in 2' deep water with plenty of friendly gators. No choose but to run for the dock he was lucky and made it back before the boat sank. Later looking at the problem he noticed that the outboard had punched a nice hole in the transom and the pocket where the transom was meant to be wood was infact a empty hole with black mush in it. The same guy then screwed up and bought another bass boat thinking it was solid just to find out it was infested with wet wood termites. At that point he joined iboats and got to talk to interesting people like woodonglass.
 

kjsAZ

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As I read it CreekCruiser agrees that this is a complete gut-job but doesn't want to take the cap off if it isn't required. With the way his boat is made, a very narrow cap all the way to the bow there is a good chance that it can be done with appropriate planning but the final decision can only be made once all the wood is carved out.
Taking the cap off is a lot of work but doing it with the cap on doesn't save labor either and may make the work a lot more challenging. The biggest advantage of not taking the cap off is that the chance that the hull twists is lower.

I had the same thing with my last boat where taking off the cap was no option at all as they glassed them together. It was a disaster to do the transom as there was close to no space to work in there but I got it done.

My recommendation would be to dig all the stuff out and see what you have to deal with. As I wrote above, that's the point where you can decide to take the cap off or do it with the cap on or abandon the project.
 

CreekCruiser

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I really appreciate you guys taking the time to check out my project boat and give me advice. As it stands now, I can get to the entire stringer system except for about the last 4' near the transom. I think i may be able to cut the floor out of my battery/fuel tank compartment to get to that last little bit. Hopefully after I repair the stringers in that area i can just glass the bottom of that compartment back in. I have alot more reading to do on that subject and any advice is welcome.

As far as the transom goes, I have seen where people have removed their outboard and cut the top edge of fiberglass on thier transom out to gain access to the wood underneath and then they basically worked it from the top. That is what i have in mind. Like I said, I have alot of research to do but if I am missing anything obvious please let me know!
 

kjsAZ

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As far as the transom goes, I have seen where people have removed their outboard and cut the top edge of fiberglass on thier transom out to gain access to the wood underneath and then they basically worked it from the top. That is what i have in mind. Like I said, I have alot of research to do but if I am missing anything obvious please let me know!

I would try to avoid that as you will have a hard time to feather in new layers to make it as strong as it was and to get a nice and smooth surface. I thought about that too when I did my resto but the better way was to use "overlapping split panels" with biaxial fiberglass in between. I would wait with the final decision until you have dug out everything. Only when you see what you have to do you can make the best call......
This is how I did mine:
 

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Woodonglass

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The configuration of your splashwell is going to make it necessary for you to either cut the gunwales in front of the splashwell to gain adequate access to it or remove the cap. Removing the cap on this boat is NOT that difficult unless it has been glassed (tabbed) to the sides of the hull. another member is doing the exact same boat in another thread and de-capitated the boat with no issues whatsoever. I've seen it go both ways. The hulls of these older rangers being somewhat of a tri-hull design are fairly stable and using some nylon straps to hold their shape you can keep them from going squirrley on you. I know kjsAZ is wanting to ensure a successful build but I'm certain you can do this with very little worries. You can do a 3 layer layup in the boat but theres no need to do so unless you really want to. Lots of successful decapitation transom installs and put backs here on the forum. It's all in knowing how to do it and what precautions to take during the process. We can and will show you how to accomplish it successfully.
 
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