Bayliner 1600 rotten floor

zheka

Cadet
Joined
Jul 27, 2020
Messages
25
The other day, I noticed soft spot on the back floor. Then as I was cleaning under the left side seat, I noticed there was a crack in the floor, and it was muddy. As I cut open the fiberglass floor, the wood was just wet all throughout. I've been running dehumidifier for couple days now, but I don't know how I should proceed.

What should I be cutting off? How should I be restoring? I'm sure it will be very expensive to restore it professionally, which would probably cost me more than the value of the boat, so I would want to somehow get this fixed myself.
 

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Scott Danforth

Grumpy Vintage Moderator still playing with boats
Staff member
Joined
Jul 23, 2011
Messages
49,540
the floor will never dry out and you are looking at a full restoration.

yes, paying someone the $7500-$10k to do the work will exceed the value of the boat

you can do the work yourself for about $2000-$2500 with about 6 months of your time. look at the DIY sticky at the top of the forum (4th one down).

look at links 14, 15, 18, 2, 3, 4a, and 4b. go thru them in their entirety, look at every video, etc. all the answers you need on how to do a restoration will be there. we can help after that. Note, with the forum change some of the links point to odd things, the Mods are working on correcting the issues.
 

zheka

Cadet
Joined
Jul 27, 2020
Messages
25
the floor will never dry out and you are looking at a full restoration.

yes, paying someone the $7500-$10k to do the work will exceed the value of the boat

you can do the work yourself for about $2000-$2500 with about 6 months of your time. look at the DIY sticky at the top of the forum (4th one down).

look at links 14, 15, 18, 2, 3, 4a, and 4b. go thru them in their entirety, look at every video, etc. all the answers you need on how to do a restoration will be there. we can help after that. Note, with the forum change some of the links point to odd things, the Mods are working on correcting the issues.

Thank you, but I only managed to open link 18, the rest are pointing to completely different threads.
 

tpenfield

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 18, 2011
Messages
18,040
The other day, I noticed soft spot on the back floor. Then as I was cleaning under the left side seat, I noticed there was a crack in the floor, and it was muddy. As I cut open the fiberglass floor, the wood was just wet all throughout. I've been running dehumidifier for couple days now, but I don't know how I should proceed.

Sounds like you are going to be doing the 'cut & gut'. You should proceed with a sawzall 😳. You'll most likely find that everything below the floor is in rough shape as well, and you'll be cutting it out and rebuilding from the hull up.

Lots of threads about doing the same on the restoration forum, so have at it with some reading and learning from those who have come before you.
 

Scott Danforth

Grumpy Vintage Moderator still playing with boats
Staff member
Joined
Jul 23, 2011
Messages
49,540
Thank you, but I only managed to open link 18, the rest are pointing to completely different threads.
Mods have been notified. Link 14 is also on Friscoboaters youtube channel
 

sms986

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Sep 18, 2017
Messages
334
I am a little under $7k deep in my restoration. Complete gut and restore, Including the transom. I'm just about done, looking at about another $1k for some more glass, foam, and tuff coat for the deck (foam is expensive). Mine is a 21' cabin cruiser with a Merc alpha one 350.

If you are worried about getting in over your head, you are. We all are our first time. But, it's not very hard, it just takes a lot of attention to detail, persistence, and the occasional do over. The people on here are also a great help. I'm ok with the money put into this boat because I'm young and plan on having it for the rest of my life. I also like big projects, and this one has been very rewarding.
 

Baylinerchuck

Commander
Joined
Jul 29, 2016
Messages
2,726
+1 on the total restoration. It just takes time and the space to do it properly. The satisfaction in a job well done trumps the time it took to do it. I had my 20’ bow rider Chaparral complete in about 8 months.
 
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