Rinker Captiva 180 redecking - newbie questions

[CJK440]

I have a 96 Rinker bowrider that needs the deck replaced. Although I'm pretty experienced with car restoration, boats are new to me. I want to replace the deck but don't want to go overboard considering I plan to only own it a couple more years. The boat has some other issues so it's not something I want to invest too much time or money in but I also don't want to do the job so it ONLY lasts a couple more years...

I have owned it for 3 years and some time prior, somebody put down a new deck over the rotted old deck and that failed too. I am unsure what resin they used but suspect it was poly since it all flaked off. Last fall I tore up all the old deck to let everything dry out over the winter and now that it is out of storage I plan to start getting materials on order and that is where my first question lies.

I plan to use 3/4" marine fir with epoxy, just coat the underside with epoxy (Rinker didn't coat the underside of the original deck). I'll attach the deck with construction adhesive on the stringers and deck screws. 1708 biaxial to tab in after filleting with a PB mixture and use 6oz cloth on top. Then I am just going to put carpet over it. This much I came up with by searching. See anything wrong here?

What is not as clear is how much material should I order. Are resin calculators accurate to estimate what I need to do this job? I took the max width (66") x length (144") of the deck (which is obviously larger than the actual tapered deck) and it said I need 1/2 gallon of resin to cover that area with 6oz cloth. So to consider, 2 layers of 6oz on top, just sealing the bare wood underside/edges plus filleting and tabbing, it seems like a 3 gallon may be all I need?

Does 3 gallons of resin seem about right to redeck an 18' boat? I'll post pictures shortly.

 

[Scott Danforth]

you cant just "redeck"

unfortunately the floor / deck is the last thing to rot and your transom and stringers have long since rotted away

so yes, I see lots of things wrong with your plan.

you need to remove all the rot prior to worrying about materials. Also, you dont need epoxy, poly would be fine. to do this job right so you dont sink your boat, or worse, injure yourself or family, you need to consider fixing it correctly.

read link 14 for a good understanding of the whole process http://forums.iboats.com/forum/boat...r/295740-how-to-s-and-other-great-information

Woodonglass and ondarvr will be along shortly to comment as well.

 

[CJK440]

Ouch. So a soft spot on the deck is a guarantee that the transom and stringers need to be cut out and replaced? The strange thing is the wood edge around the transom hole looks perfect. I imagine that area would go bad first.

I hit up link 14, its a good read. I also read up on Poly vs epoxy and understand poly would be fine for what I am doing also but is there anything wrong with installing a deck with epoxy? Other than cost of course.

 

[briangcc]

All you need to do is look through all the other restoration threads as they have a very similar theme..."I have a soft spot on my deck". They turn into full guts - floor, stringers, and transom - as exploration is done. It's what, a 21 year old boat? Chances are very good the rest of the wood is compromised.

Boats rot from the bottom up, not the top down.

As for Poly vs. Epoxy....if you're starting with Poly I personally wouldn't change over mid stream. Your boat was made out of Poly so why go with something different? Besides, Gelcoat and Epoxy don't mix.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Ouch. So a soft spot on the deck is a guarantee that the transom and stringers need to be cut out and replaced?

Pretty Much

boats rot from the bottom up, and the deck is the last thing to rot.

if your boat would only have a soft deck and no other rot, yours would be the first and only one and I would tell you to buy a lottery ticket

somewhere along the line, water got below the deck and could not get out. the flotation foam got wet and saturated. that broke the foam down, the constant moisture caused the water to find its way to the stringers where a bit of bacteria (naturally occurring) came to life and started rotting the stringer. the stringer rot hit the first bulkhead, ate that up, and hit the transom. then the rot traveled vertically until the deck became soft.

the issue is your boat, like many many others are slapped together in the factory with a design life of 15 years. the wood isnt as encapsulated as we boat owners would like. add a few screws holding down some widget and the encapsulation is breached and water has a path to where water isnt supposed to go and rot starts

 

[Woodonglass]

If the PO put a deck over a rotten deck, I'm gunna go ALL IN and say that the chances of you NOT having bad stringers is 100,000 to One. Transom...It MIGHT be good but only core samples will tell you for sure. Most people once they have the deck and stringers out, decide to go ahead and do it ALL so they can be assured that they won't ever have to do it again. Your Boat...Your Choice.

 

[CJK440]

Turns out Rinker used foam filled glass stringers on their smaller boats. Mine included. They have a trapezoidal shape to them, not boxy and have some holes on top all foam inside. Last year when the drain plug stuck and I had to remove the bung to put it in a vice to get it out, the visible transom ply in the thru hole didn't alarm me. Doesn't get any more bottom than that right?