I live on the Puget Sound (salt water) and keep a boat on a mooring buoy in front of my house from June to August. Mission profile; crabs, salmon, waterfront restaurants, evening ?wine sip? shore cruising. We had a Lund ProSport, but it was too fancy, and took too much work to fend off Mother Nature?s hands; dining mammals, salt corrosion. I decided to search C-list for a basic, generic fiberglass closed bow fixer; no enclosed storage areas, all vinyl interior. Here it is -- a real nice 1972 Fiberform 16? Columbia that has been in storage for 16 years. The hull has never been beached, so the keel doesn?t have a single scratch. Everything is original. The original outboard motor was seized up, so the executor of the estate bolted on an old 25hp for sales appeal - (gave it to a friend). Dreaming about a new Yamaha F70, but reality is a nice 1984 Johnson 70hp already waiting on a stand in my shop.
I?m going to raise the transom and replace the vinyl interior because it is falling off, and has shrunk. Otherwise, the boat is pretty ship-shape ? well, until a snow storm dumped a foot, and caved in the tarp, and filled it with water. I was lax about draining it out and re-securing the tarp, so the aft 4 feet of the floor got wet. I pulled out the vinyl last night (came out easily) and realized the ?? plywood floor was wet/moist below the fiberglass mat top coat, but only in the stern. The factory fiberglass mat was already cracked and lifting in a few spots so I peeled sections of it up.
Question 1 ? The floor has a pronounced crown (see photo of 4? carpenter?s level). I?m wondering if this is a design characteristic, or signs of hull deformation from sitting on the trailer or (?). The executor said the boat spent most of its life on a dolly in a local boathouse. Let me know if you have similar in your boat. I?m wondering about how difficult it will be to replace the stern floor section, given the crown. Read on?
Question 2 ? The douglas fir plywood has a few black stains from fasteners (fuel tank and battery hold downs), otherwise it is very sound, but pronounced red/pink in color. I have seen other floor replacement Iboat post photos showing rotten ply that is very red. I had the heat lamps and fan going all night and I can?t find a soft spot or delamination anywhere. I removed two of the putty plugs where the OEM squirted in the sub-floor floatation foam, but find no water inside. Comments on color; die, preservative, rot, other?
Coments? ? I?m now thinking of carefully cutting around the edges of the fiberglass mat with a die grander cut-off wheel, and then peeling it up for moisture evacuation, then replace with mat or fabric (epoxy or resin). Going this far? thoughts on replacing the rear floor section? The floor is in two sections; definite splice visible in the middle (perpendicular to centerline). I hate the thought if installing $300 worth of nautolex vinyl if the floor is a question.
I?m trying to make this little runabout weather tight, and it will have a canvas mooring cover made for it to shed water and discourage the otters (a serious boat mess making mammal here).
Sorry for the long post, thanks for reading.
Sincerely, Brian, Bainbridge Island, WA
I?m going to raise the transom and replace the vinyl interior because it is falling off, and has shrunk. Otherwise, the boat is pretty ship-shape ? well, until a snow storm dumped a foot, and caved in the tarp, and filled it with water. I was lax about draining it out and re-securing the tarp, so the aft 4 feet of the floor got wet. I pulled out the vinyl last night (came out easily) and realized the ?? plywood floor was wet/moist below the fiberglass mat top coat, but only in the stern. The factory fiberglass mat was already cracked and lifting in a few spots so I peeled sections of it up.
Question 1 ? The floor has a pronounced crown (see photo of 4? carpenter?s level). I?m wondering if this is a design characteristic, or signs of hull deformation from sitting on the trailer or (?). The executor said the boat spent most of its life on a dolly in a local boathouse. Let me know if you have similar in your boat. I?m wondering about how difficult it will be to replace the stern floor section, given the crown. Read on?
Question 2 ? The douglas fir plywood has a few black stains from fasteners (fuel tank and battery hold downs), otherwise it is very sound, but pronounced red/pink in color. I have seen other floor replacement Iboat post photos showing rotten ply that is very red. I had the heat lamps and fan going all night and I can?t find a soft spot or delamination anywhere. I removed two of the putty plugs where the OEM squirted in the sub-floor floatation foam, but find no water inside. Comments on color; die, preservative, rot, other?
Coments? ? I?m now thinking of carefully cutting around the edges of the fiberglass mat with a die grander cut-off wheel, and then peeling it up for moisture evacuation, then replace with mat or fabric (epoxy or resin). Going this far? thoughts on replacing the rear floor section? The floor is in two sections; definite splice visible in the middle (perpendicular to centerline). I hate the thought if installing $300 worth of nautolex vinyl if the floor is a question.
I?m trying to make this little runabout weather tight, and it will have a canvas mooring cover made for it to shed water and discourage the otters (a serious boat mess making mammal here).
Sorry for the long post, thanks for reading.
Sincerely, Brian, Bainbridge Island, WA
