Soft floor. any quick fix to get me through the season?

Hey folks, After a long winter here in Mass. I have a bit of a soft spot on my 1990 Bayliner Capri floor. I dont want to take the whole thing apart because im hoping to upgrade to a better boat the end of the year or next year. Have you ever heard of anyone putting new plywood over the old plywood to get by for a little while. Any suggestions would help.

Thanks Jeremy

Re: Soft floor. any quick fix to get me through the season?

i cant help with your question but i had a similar issue. a year later my foot went through the floor...i cut out the floor which was 80% rotted from underneath and the stringers were like paper mache. i have since stripped out the rot and am close to replacing stringers and floor. luckily the transom was intact. my only advice is proceed with caution! motors are expensive and it may be a long swim back to the ramp. i'm not trying to scare you but my soft spot turned out to be the entire structure holding my boat together.

Re: Soft floor. any quick fix to get me through the season?

Greetings!

You won't like my suggestion which is to get out a saw and find out how bad things are immediately. My guess is you will find something akin to what Scott C and myself found, which is that your boat, like most older boats, has rotted from the bottom up leaving it's structural integrity dubious at best.

Sure, you could put a piece of plywood over the soft spot like the previous owner of my boat and it will go away for the season, maybe even two or three. Maybe your structural components are not too far gone and will hold out or maybe they won't. You can see where I am going with this. Is it really worth the risk? When the season is done will you pull up the plywood and fix it right or just offhandedly mention the soft spot to the first oblivious buyer that comes along knowing what very likely lays beneath? What happens if that person tries to stretch a season out of it with his family? This is a slippery slope heading the wrong direction in my opinion.

I can sure understand what its like to see/feel the edge of what is probably a very serious problem with your boat (oh boy can I). Do the right thing and don't hide your eyes from it.

Respectfully,
-T

Re: Soft floor. any quick fix to get me through the season?

Well the answers have already been given, but let me add, that no one here on iboats will recommend a "patch" for a deck or stringers since both are a structual parts of the boat. We value your saftey very much here and will never recommend a patch unless we know exactly the extent of the rotten wood, and in this case we don't.

There are a few rare cases where the rot is localized and a patch repair can be made, but these are very rare and far between.

Note: installing new plywood over rotten plywood is the worst thing you can do....you're giving the new buyer (you said you were going to upgrade) a false sense of safety and deck intregrity.

Re: Soft floor. any quick fix to get me through the season?

I had the same plan on a boat this spring (not my boat) I inquired with a fiberglass expert he told me not to. I ended up cutting out a section and making sub stringers to hold it and the new pcs of plywood and glassing it all in. I did find the one stringer that was close to that area was pretty much gone however the fiberglass matt they used was thick and holding the bottom to the floor well. The team wanted five years out of the boat will see. In my opinion I would cut first and look at what you have but be prepared for a shock.

Re: Soft floor. any quick fix to get me through the season?

Jeremy90bay said:

I have a bit of a soft spot on my 1990 Bayliner Capri floor. I dont want to take the whole thing apart

Click to expand...

We can be fairly sure that you have more than just a soft spot ( not absolutely sure because we dont know the history of the boat ).

What does " a bit of a soft spot " mean ?? like a small 6"x6" spot next to a seat base ? or is like the whole floor spongy ??

Expect the worse .. but hope for the best .

There have been cases ( yes even with bayliners ) that a soft spot was just that and localized with no other issues.

More info and a pic or 3 would greatly help Jeremy..

YD.

Re: Soft floor. any quick fix to get me through the season?

I am with YD. We need some pictures. Soft spots do not usually end well.

Re: Soft floor. any quick fix to get me through the season?

Mine started with a very small soft spot, which became a major restore. On a Capri, I would worry more about the transom than the deck. I tried to put my bad transom off till next season and almost sunk my boat.

Re: Soft floor. any quick fix to get me through the season?

Read my signature line....

Re: Soft floor. any quick fix to get me through the season?

the 90 capris had glass stringers...so they will be ok.....but im guessing that your foam is wet as well.

depending on where the soft spot is....you might be ok. the capris generally got soft just before the doghouse and in front of the two jumpers....this is due to poor drainage tp the bilge from the main deck.

the fix isnt that hard to do....it will take less than a weekend if the foam isnt wet.



but if you are selling the boat and really dont want to fix it, you can throw a another chunk of plywood over the area but you will have to cut a piece for the whole deck including forward in the bow, or you will have a height mismatch that you are constantly stubbing your toe over.
then you get to re carpet the whole thing.
keep in mind, that if you do this the old wood underneath will rot faster and the boat will be condemend in 2 seasons.

so with all that extra cutting, re carpeting and killing the boat.....isnt it just as easy to replace that section of floor with one piece of ply ?

Re: Soft floor. any quick fix to get me through the season?

The spot on the floor is about 6"x6" Its in between the 2 seats, just before the walkthru to the bow. I think I will cut a hole and take some pics if possible. Is there a wat to check the transom thru the bilge area in the back. Its all open for gas tanks with a little area where the bilge pump is.

And for your information I would never hide a soft spot to sell the boat. I would b upfront with the buyer and then refer them to you fine folks to answer any questions. That would be very skechy to sell a boat with out diclosing all the info on it you have.

Re: Soft floor. any quick fix to get me through the season?

Jeremy90bay said:

The spot on the floor is about 6"x6" Its in between the 2 seats, just before the walkthru to the bow.

Click to expand...

Hmm..Do you have Kicker boards screwed in to the Main deck/floor ?

Ill bet screws from the passenger and/or drivers "pod" units are screwed down..and water has rotted out your deck in that location. .. Meaning you Might have have a larger area where your going to have to disassemble stephanie to get to the outskirts of the bad floor.

This could just be a floor thing .. Could ..

Pics please.

YD.

Re: Soft floor. any quick fix to get me through the season?

Yes - as has been stated - you need to check the overall damage. I recently had a soft spot around my ski locker (1994 Sea Ray 200BR) and feared for the worst. However, after pulling the carpet and inspecting well - I found that the problem was only about 6 inches all around the locker. Turned out the edges of the deck had not been sealed in well in the factory, so water seeped into the wood there. I just fixed that area, and all is well now.

Good luck!

Re: Soft floor. any quick fix to get me through the season?

Do nothing now and make note not to step there, then do it correctly when the time permits. Or sell it saying it needs to have a new floor layed in properly. Do not patch in a new section, it rots faster.