1977 15' Monark Fibeglass deck repair

[burnrunner]

Hello Everyone! This is my first post of many so "bear" with me.

I just purchased a 1978 15' Monark Fiberglass boat from a buddy for $600.00 and the 55HP Evinrude engine runs great after a carb rebuild. Although im pretty handy with engines, I have never done any fiberglass work and need some help. The deck has soft spongy spots all around, many stress cracks and a couple of spots that produce bubbling water. I am assuming that i may have to replace the entire deck and then some! What are some tips for checking to see if I need to do a complete redo on the deck, and some good threads to hit on how to redo a glass deck. I'm pretty handy so I think I want to tackle this myself rather then dish out a couple of thousand to have someone else do it, Im I crazy or should I go for it!

I have pics too!

Thanks folks.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: 1977 15' Monark Fibeglass deck repair

Welcome to iBoats!

Yup, You'll need to cut the deck out and you're prolly gunna find she's full of totally saturated foam. The stringers and gunwales will be wet and rotted too as well as the transom. We call it a total "Gut Job"!! Lots of Itchy yucky work ahead!!!! Costs will be approx. $1,500 - $2,000. Here's some helpful links for you..

"Fabricating Decks, Stringers, and Transoms"

(Click the pic to Download and View the PDF File)

View attachment MaterialsList.pdf

Do and advanced search on the forum for Replacing the deck and stringers and you'll find plenty of examples to follow. This one has some pics that will "Show" you what you can expect to find.

http://forums.iboats.com/boat-resto...ull-transom-deck-replacement-pics-385096.html

 

[burnrunner]

Re: 1977 15' Monark Fibeglass deck repair

Thanks Woodonglass, your feedback was very useful. I'm going to begin removing the deck this weekend, just to see what it looks like underneath. I will repost my progress, with pics.

 

[burnrunner]

Re: 1977 15' Monark Fibeglass deck repair

Well, folks it has taken me a while to get back to the boat, but as stated it's a mess in there. Everything is wet, I haven't found a dry spot yet! I do have a couple of questions though. What type of boat do I have? It looks like my boat has the tri-haul design and could be Monark McFast 15, I have still been unable to identify it for sure, if someone could tell me that would be nice. I'm also a little confused on the stringers, it looks like im down at deck level and no stringers. Please take a look at my picks and tell me what you think. Thanks

 

[greenbush future]

Re: 1977 15' Monark Fibeglass deck repair

Not sure based on your pictures but it does look like the floor is supported underneath by "stringers" at least in some areas? Maybe I'm just not seeing the entire boat. The picture does "view" a bit small for me to be sure. Some boats (not many) don't use stringers, but most do. What was the floor fastened to? Maybe a shot backed away a bit would give better perspective. I'm following your thread, I like your boat and want to see the result.

 

[burnrunner]

Re: 1977 15' Monark Fibeglass deck repair

This is burnrunner back on the seen once again with some updated pics, information and questions. Well, I have finally identified my boat, it's a Monark 1978 15' Delta 5, the identification plate was behind the gear box vice behind the transom??? After doing some research on this Delta 5 it seems that this year and model was made without stringers which I guess is why I couldn't find any:embarassed: Still don't know what type of hull I have though, I think it maybe a tunnel hull??? So here are my questions: Do I need to put a stringer system in, if so how? Or do I use a very strong foam as a support system? What do I attach the deck to without a stringer system? Or is the current design of the hull good enough just to lay the ply across it and just tab all the sides in? (I will be glassing the ply throughout). Any support you can give is appreciated.

Thanks

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: 1977 15' Monark Fibeglass deck repair

I don't know but the 3 wide, long & flat things running fore & aft in this pix sure look like stringers to me:

They are under the deck (floor) and are NOT the back side of the hull, correct?

Perhaps not typical or wooden stringers, but they certainly look like stringers to me. Run fore & aft, support the deck, attached to the hull.......

 

[burnrunner]

Re: 1977 15' Monark Fibeglass deck repair

Jbcurt00, Yes there is actually 4 of them, that run fore & aft, and you right they are not wooden and they seem to be a part of the hull rather than just attached. I slightly took the grinder to one just to make sure and it seemed to be all glass. Have you seen a hull like this before? Please keep in mind I am all new to this so some of my questions maybe way off base, but I'm just trying to learn. What do you think my next step should be after I clean up:facepalm:?

Thanks

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: 1977 15' Monark Fibeglass deck repair

Unless the bottom of the hull (from under the boat) is the also raised up to match the contour of those (which I doubt) I think those are stringers, they just aren't wood filled like typical... I have similar in my '60 FireFlite. They may be hollow (mine are) or could be foam filled.

For now, it's more important to make sure you're supporting the hull so it doesn't deform while you're dismantling the support system of the boat. And taking LOTS of pix & notes w/ measurements of EVERYTHING before you dismantle it.

I take pix w/ the tape measure visible to help me keep track of where stuff goes:

1st get every loose piece of debris out of the boat so you can see what you're working on. And start taking pix & notes. Then support the hull, probably off the trailer in a cradle.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: 1977 15' Monark Fibeglass deck repair

It certainly would help to have better pics of the entire boat. Especially the front/bottom of the hull so we could see her configuration. Also it certainly does appear that she has stringers. I'd advise you to drill into them with a drill and see if you get wood shavings. If not they could be foam filled as suggested. Larger and better pics of the "Stringers" would also help.

 

[burnrunner]

Re: 1977 15' Monark Fibeglass deck repair

Thank you both! I will be back on the boat first thing in the morning and will have the boat cleaned up to provide better pics and results of the stringer test. Thanks again.

 

[burnrunner]

Re: 1977 15' Monark Fibeglass deck repair

I just wanted to put up a quick post after todays labors of love on my boat. Gentleman I must say you were right on point with your assessment of the boat, those are definitely stringers and they are full of saturated foam and water. They are made of fiberglass and are about a 1/4 inch thick, 2 are 11' long by 7 1/2' wide, the other 2 are 11' long by 9' wide again 4 all together. Now the questions is how to replace them, it looks like they where molded to form and then glassed into the hull and filled with foam. By the way the bottom outside of the hull did not have the form of these structures therefore again you gents were correct by identifying these as stringers and not a part of the hull. I will have pics at my next post to show you my progress, its been a long day, started at 7am and just finished up at 10pm. Thanks again.

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: 1977 15' Monark Fibeglass deck repair

Take VERY good pix & measurements. You might try to carefully cut the stringers loose from the hull, and remove them from the boat intact. Being 1/4" thick they should be strong enough to remain whole.

You don't want to be cutting them out or free w/out fully supporting the hull.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: 1977 15' Monark Fibeglass deck repair

Uhmmm, Get her all cleaned up and take some good pics of the stringers and how they're attached You May not have to do to much to them. Being 1/4" thick if they're still glassed to the hull really well then you'll prolly be good to go with a few minor things to do. To internal Foam was basically used as a mold to form the glass around and serves no useful purpose. we can drill a few holes to drain the water out of the interior and assess how much added Weight might be added to the hull by leaving the saturated foam inside and whether or not we want to leave it in there. If not we might just de capitate them remove the foam then tab the tops back on. Either way, You're in Luck cuz I don't think you're gunna have much of a stringer job and it's gunna save you a lotta bucks on your restore job as long as they're still attached tot he hull in a good way. Let's pray that they are. Get'r all cleaned up and we can tell what's going on.

 

[burnrunner]

Re: 1977 15' Monark Fibeglass deck repair

Thank you, I will do just that. One more question, I truly don't want to remove the cap if I don't have too, because of supporting the hull also. How much trouble do you think I will get into by removing or not removing the cap?

 

[burnrunner]

Re: 1977 15' Monark Fibeglass deck repair

Should have waited a bit for the second post. GREAT advice from you both. I sure hope we are in luck with these stringers being in tack all the way around, so far they look good. I still have a lot of clean up to do to really know for sure. I can't wait to get on this in the morning!!! Thanks again. One other note to mention, I notice some drill holes on the top of this stringers where it seem someone had tried to attach chairs to the deck not knowing the ply was completely rotted. I figured this is how most of the water got into these stringers. Thanks again.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: 1977 15' Monark Fibeglass deck repair

Getting to the transom with the Cap on the boat is, in most cases, problematic. It's not Impossible, but not really easy in most cases. Once you get the deck completely out and you can get some pics back under the splashwell so we can see what it looks like we can give you better advice as to whether or not you'll be able to get it done with the cap on. You can also cut the splashwell off at the gunwales and then patch the glass later. This is fairly easy especially if you'll be painting instead of Gelcoating.

 

[burnrunner]

Re: 1977 15' Monark Fibeglass deck repair

Can anyone tell me more a
About cutting the cap around the splash well ?

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: 1977 15' Monark Fibeglass deck repair

Remove the handrail on both sides of the boat. Then just forward of the rear handrail upright, cut thru the gunwale on both sides of the boat, only down to the bottom of the cap (behind the rubrail). NOT down into the lower hull (below the rubrail). Similar to this:

That ^^^ location is mostly flat surfaces that should re-align w/ a plywood cleat beneath the cut to screw each side to and get the pieces to fit together really well. Being flat surfaces it will be a bit easier to smooth & fair the repairs. Doing it near that handrail upright also allows you to secure the post to the cap thru the plywood backer, making it a more substantial mount.

Measure & layout painters tape at the proposed cut location if you have questions about exactly where to cut. Then measure & mark each side w/ cut lines on the tape. Thru cut w/ the cutting tool of your choice.

MAKE SURE TO CHECK BEHIND THE PROPOSED CUT LOCATIONS AND CONFIRM YOU ARE NOT CUTTING THRU CABLES, WIRES ETC BEFORE MAKING YOUR FINAL CUT LOCATION.

The cuts don't both have to be the same distance from the back of the boat if you need to adjust cuts to avoid cables & etc

I'd just want to avoid cutting too close to the inside corner at the front of the splashwell. Having to fill & fair a corner, IMO, makes it more complicated to re-work when you put it back together.

 

[burnrunner]

Re: 1977 15' Monark Fibeglass deck repair

Thank you very much, I will get started tomorrow.