rebuilding inside floor of my boat.

psdnakita

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Jul 2, 2013
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i'm thinking in a few weeks when it starts cooling down a lot more to start tearing up my floor on my 17' 1975 boat. I got this boat a year and half ago and finally just got it up and running a few days ago due to find a lot of motor problems. well when i finally got it out on the water a few days ago I knew there was few small soft spots in the floor only to find out you can put your foot tho these two small spots lol. my floor is totally wood. I'm going to be buying marine grade plywood sadly it's $80.00 each and has to be shipped into my lumber yard with 3 week wait because of being in Sheridan Wy. at that cost being on the income i'm on i want to make sure i do this right. Will be cleaning the floor up and taking everything out here soon as our boating season is almost ended then buy wood next spring. do I need to stain the wood before I glue the carpet down or do I just leave the wood be like it is? if I stain the wood what should I use for staining it? thanks for any help. and yes that's a 1973 Evinrude motor 115hp lol
 

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Woodonglass

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You don't have to go to the expense of buying Marine Grade plywood and having it shipped to you. Most of the rebuilders here on the forum don't. We use regular Ext. Grade Plywood that you can Get at Lowe's The key is to Seal it well with Fiberglass resin. I think you're going to find that once you get the floor ripped up that the stringers and bulkheads that support the floor will also be rotten and need to be replaced as well. You'll prolly need to check your transom while you're at it. Most boats of your vintage need to have all of these components replaced. Once you tear into her, we'll be able to help guide you to a successful restoration.;)
 

Rickmerrill

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Mar 13, 2014
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A few quick comments. If your floor has soft spots there are better than even odds that you'll find more rot below deck. If you are on a budget properly protected exterior ply is a perfectly good choice. Once you decide to "go for it" the forum can help with anything you run up against.
 

psdnakita

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Jul 2, 2013
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my main worries is no garage and living in Wyoming gives very limit time before and after boating season to do this. really hope this doesn't turn into too much more then tearing up floor and replacing. just spent over $600.00 into motor problems over the past year would hate to get too much into the floor cost :(
 

Rickmerrill

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Mar 13, 2014
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Yeah, you would think that the floor rotted from the top but usually boats rot from the bottom up and back to front. Unless you want to quit while you are ahead and just sell it the first step is to start pulling up the deck and see what's going on beneath. Once the deck is up you will need to remove any foam, if there is any, and then start drilling test holes in the stringers and bulkheads and into the transom but not all the way thru. If you find some wet or rot it needs to be replaced before you can cover it back up with the deck. Hope for the best but expect the worst!
 
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my main worries is no garage and living in Wyoming gives very limit time before and after boating season to do this. really hope this doesn't turn into too much more then tearing up floor and replacing. just spent over $600.00 into motor problems over the past year would hate to get too much into the floor cost :(



Hate to say it but you might be better off parting out the boat and finding one without so many issues. You can pretty much be assured that once you get the deck off you'll find wet foam which needs to come out, rotted stringers, and more than likely a rotted transom along with whatever other structural parts there are (knees etc.). Not having a garage to work in will make completing such a project all the more difficult, a project like that could very likely take 6 months or so if you have a garage to work in.

As for using exterior grade plywood, IMO it's fine for the deck but for anything structural (ESPECIALLY the transom) I'd stick with marine grade. Marine grade plywood has no voids, whereas any building grade plywood will have voids in it. Voids are weak spots, you don't need to be taking a risk like that with the transom and other structural parts of a boat. Also, most of the time you only need one (or two at most) sheets of 3/4" marine plywood for a boat project.
 
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JASinIL2006

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Feb 10, 2012
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Another option is Arauco plywood, available at many big box home improvement stores. It has exterior-rated glue between plies, more plies than standard plywood (e.g., 7 plies instead of 5 for the same thickness board) and few/no voids. Many of us have used it on our builds, and if you can find it locally, it's considerably cheaper than marine plywood. A 4x8 sheet of 1/2" Arauco runs about $33 where I live.
 

Woodonglass

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Dec 29, 2009
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Yup this ^^^ is good stuff and Floor Underlayment is another good option as it too has few voids and uses 100%waterproof glue. Lots of options that are less expensive than the Marine grade plywood. No Garage IS a problem cuz as others have stated I'm very sure you're gunna find a lot more problems once the deck is removed. boats of tht vintage with soft decks almost ALWAYS have Stringer and Transom issues.
 

52FordF2

Petty Officer 1st Class
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May 31, 2013
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If you have the yard room you could buy a portable garage





I was able to get the frame section then I had to find tarps.
It you do buy one there are different styles. I know of one that after the sides and end panels are installed you can add wings for storage area "like car ports added to garages".

Some turn their boat into a garage or tent "see Frisco boater SeaRay rebuild and a few others :rolleyes: on the forum.
 

pckeen

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Jun 20, 2012
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All good advice above. If you really love this boat, then a complete stringer, transom, floor replacement plus finishing would be worthwhile, but this is a very large job. If your motor, steering and controls are in good shape, then another option would be to use it as a donor boat. Find a better quality hull in better shape, then transfer the motor, steering and controls across to the 'new' boat. Lots of tin fans here have used fiberglass boats as donor boats.
 

psdnakita

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Jul 2, 2013
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just got a new idea from someone yesterday. would like to know what some of you think. someone gave me the idea of using just normal plywood with restore paint. this would cut my cost from 500-600 dollars with marine plywood and carpet to only about 100.00 in parts. i checked out a deck yesterday with restore 10x and really liked it.
 

Woodonglass

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Just my opinion, but...my experience tells me that the Restore 10x product is NOT suitable for a boat deck restoration. And you have a lot more issues with your boat than just replacing the deck.
 

psdnakita

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Jul 2, 2013
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ok I know been long time since I have posted on here. I'm finally getting around to getting to stuff. What I have come up with is some high grade exterior plywood in a trade it doesn't have any knots at all. What I was just told to do is paint both sides of plywood with exterior Rust-Oleum Marine Coatings 1-qt. Oil-Base Semi-Gloss White Topside paint to seal it well. My question is will Roberts 6700 carpet glue stick to the paint? and for everyone above that said I will have more problems after having the floor off I made plans with local boat shop to have that all inspected after the floor is off. thank you
 

jbcurt00

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Fiberglass boat, correct? IMO, you've gotten bad advice about painting the deck.

The advice you got about 'just' painting the deck is the absolute bare minimum, LEAST I'd do on the plywood deck for an ALUMINUM boat and NOT a choice I'd even consider on a fiberglass boat. The deck needs to be tied to the hull on both sides (left/right~port/starboard), the stringers and transom. It's part of the support system of the boat.

You will likely price yourself out of this project if you have a shop look at it to possibly do the repairs. Few will do that w/ out charging for the inspection, and will probably be cost prohibitive to have them do any work on the boat. Many know it and refuse to do major reno work on boats.
 

jigngrub

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Mar 19, 2011
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and for everyone above that said I will have more problems after having the floor off I made plans with local boat shop to have that all inspected after the floor is off. thank you

There's no need for that, you'll be able to plainly see the rot for yourself when you remove the decking. When you see how rotten the decking is upon removal and then see the rotten stringers you won't even have to guess how rotten your transom is, it'll be the same as the deck and stringers. You'll also see how sopping wet your floatation foam is when you remove it, it'll be dripping wet and very heavy.

You spent $600 on your motor, well that's just a drop in the bucket compared to what you'll be spending to fix your boat properly to make it safe and seaworthy. Probably $1500 if you do the work yourself, much more if you have someone else do it. Boats are expensive toys and it costs a lot of money to fix an old rotten boat, but that's just a small fraction of what a brand new boat costs.

If you want a good boat you can have fun with, you need to spend the money to fix it properly. If you try to cheap out and just half way fix it you'll have nothing but problems and you could hurt yourself or someone else when you use it.
 

jigngrub

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Are the people at the shop the same ones that told you all you have to do is put one coat of marine topside paint on the decking?
 
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