1993 searay floor replacement Please HELP!

Hello all! This is my first post and also my first major boat project that I have undertaken. I noticed a small soft spot in the floor at the walkway to the bow. I proceeded to tear the floor up and found that the flotation foam was soaked and the was a little bit of standing water at the bottom of that compartment. I tore out the foam and removed all the water. The stringers on the left side seem to be solid bu the one on the right has some surface rot. I have torn out the rest of the floor and it seems that the rest of the stringers are in pretty good shape. My question is it ok to cut or scab a section of the stringer and re glass it if the rest of the stronger looks in good structural shape? Also when installing foam is it better to do it before the floor goes down or after and what materials are the best on the market for the price
Any advice is welcome

Thanks

Dave

Re: 1993 searay floor replacement Please HELP!

Wow bro, definately not something you want to discover at the start of spring...... the important questions are
1. How long do you plan to keep the boat
2. How long do you want to wait before hitting the water again
3. How much time do you have
You can have some success with scabbing the stringers, but while you are in there you might as well just do it right. Thats my outlook. Cut old fiberglass covering off, replace stringers, refiberglass the wood, pour foam/drop floors, and add carpet. Now when you are out on the water, or do sell the boat you can have FULL confidence in it, and get the most for/from it. I actually did some patch work from the INSIDE of the boat which is a great idea when you have access to it. Just some added security.

Re: 1993 searay floor replacement Please HELP!

Welcome to iBoats!

IF you are certain that you can remove All of the rot and leave none behind, then "Sistering" in pieces to the stringers is quite acceptable. This drawing shows one method for doing it. At each butted seam you will epoxy and Screw into place a 24" piece of 3/8" plywood (12" on either side of the joint). You then grind the stringer back to good glass 6-8" and on the hull too! Wipe it all down with acetone and Apply a layer of 1.5oz CSM and a Layer or two of 1708 biaxial cloth over it all, Cap the top off with Torn CSM and you're good to go.

Re: 1993 searay floor replacement Please HELP!

Thanks for the quick replies guys

I'm looking to keep this boat for a while four more seasons at least. So I want to do the correct job I just don't want to do anything that isn't needed.
I was also wondering if there was anyway of checking to see if the wood needs to be replaced under the engine compartment, I have tapped around to look for soft spots in the boxes and there's no sign of cracking in the glass anywhere.
I started taking the floor up from the bow (where the soft spot was) the farther I got back the drier everything was. So if I could get away with just replacing the main stringers and floor that would be a bonus please let me know what you think

Re: 1993 searay floor replacement Please HELP!

""Also when installing foam is it better to do it before the floor goes down or after and what materials are the best on the market for the price""

I just redid a floor with 2 part expanding foam. You can put the floor down and then foam thru access/ expansion holes.

Was it Woodonglass has a nice thread on this? Sorry, I forget where I read up on it.

Anyway, I planned to glass directly on top of the foam so I used a sheet of plywood screwed down to the stringers and weights along the sides to contain the foam at floor level. I was warned about working with this stuff so I planned a series of smaller pours. The first pour expanded no where near as far as I calculated evn though I used a high speed mixer to mix and had a space heater under the hull warming things up. I pulled up the plywood to sneak a peak and decided on a new plan. Since the foam did not expand enough into the sides and nooks and crannies I took a piece of thin sheet aluminum greased it up on one side then poured the foam into the area I was working on, layed the aluminum over the area and weighted it down with lots of bricks. Wait 15 minutes pull it up and move forward to the next section. Any spaces not filled I just poured a little of the next batch into and cover with a small piece of metal and a brick.

When finished, every thing was filled with foam and little waste. Then using an old saw blade I scratched back and forth across the foam, which had a slight bulge up until the bade touched the center stringer on one side and the outer edge of the hull on the side leaving me a very flat abraded surface to begin laying up glass.

Re: 1993 searay floor replacement Please HELP!

Pontoon24 said:

I took a piece of thin sheet aluminum greased it up on one side then poured the foam into the area I was working on

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This is brilliant!

Re: 1993 searay floor replacement Please HELP!

Great thanks My boat is 19 foot long how much foam do you think this will take

Re: 1993 searay floor replacement Please HELP!

How tall are the stingers?? You just need to calculate cubic ft and apply it to the Foam's info.

Re: 1993 searay floor replacement Please HELP!

hi.......

it is common for decks to go soft in the walk thru areas.
as far as the back around the motorcage.......you will need to take core samples of the wood.
you are currently looking for cracked glass.......this is incorrect.
if the glass cracks, the wood was gone a long time ago......you want to core sample the wood under the glass.

here is a link to glassing the deck and foaming the hull.

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=522237&highlight=fiberglass+deck+foam+hull

the metal sheet idea is a good one......but the trick is to fill the void fully so it expands out the top of the deck foam over fill holes.

you dont want to be sanding or cutting the foam if you can help it at all.
this will break apart the air bubbles in the foam, and those compromised bubbles will tend to hold moisture like a sponge. .

in the supplied link......there is a way to foam a hull with out ever having to worry about water intrusion.

Re: 1993 searay floor replacement Please HELP!

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread....deck+foam+hull

YES, that's the thread I read. Sorry Oops for not remembering.

Great reading.

Re: 1993 searay floor replacement Please HELP!

sutor623 said:

This is brilliant!

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If your serious, I disagree. Brilliant would be if I could calculate and do the entire pour the right way. I'm just doing my best with my limitations.

And if your being sarcastic, stop teasing me!

Re: 1993 searay floor replacement Please HELP!

Thanks for all the great advise guys the last question that I have. Do I have to use marine grade plywood or can I just use a really good quality ply and resin and glass both sides and edges?

Re: 1993 searay floor replacement Please HELP!

You don't need marine grade ply... Acro ply or underlayment ply coated with poly and glass..... My resto thread has a bunch of info on what your doing....spliced stringers etc. I also used sheets of closed cell Dow insulation boards instead of pour in.....worked out fine for me and it was found on a jobsite for free

Re: 1993 searay floor replacement Please HELP!

I think RR meant Arauco Plywood from Lowe's or Home Depot!!!

Re: 1993 searay floor replacement Please HELP!

Woodonglass said:

I think RR meant Arauco Plywood from Lowe's or Home Depot!!!

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Yeah what he^^ said