Lowlysubaruguy
Chief Petty Officer
- Joined
- Dec 3, 2012
- Messages
- 514
I am renewing the flooring, carpet and basically 80% of my 1996 Spectrums interior. Its semi intense. This is my first post on this forum however I have read through it many times in the past.
My boats got a ton of carpet glued over aluminum and wood from decking doors storage etc its going to be a fairly long winter project. Im up to the task but ive got questions and from what ive read there are a lot of does and donts that just arent clear to me.
First the flooring and all other plywood, Im planning on using marine plywood its rivited into aluminum bracing and I will most likely use rivits to resecure the new wood. Its got 5/8" plywood in now I dont think going to 3/4" will add to much weight but I also dont know. What your take on that. Then how to seal it some say not to use fiberglass as it may prevent the wood from drying out when it does get wet. So if thats the case seal it with epoxy or other and what types. Ive also read about drilling holes and sealing them before installing thepanels how important is that to some degree this usually becomes an issue because the holes may never line up. I have ideas about how to do this by drilling a couple of main holes and sealing them then working outwards from there drilling and sealing them as I go i can take a week or so to do this part, but Ive assembled a lot of things and its pretty hard to drill say 80 holes that wont be held in place until after those have been sealed I would expect most of them to be out of postition when i go together. Also should I leave any gaps between for expansion or but them tight or just flush. I do plan to fit them as well as possible before anchoring them.
Then on to carpet man are there a lot of choices thickness what weight backing to use the carpet makes folds over edges every where I read about a lot of carpet either not making the fold well and bonding being and issue if the carpets to stiff or thick and if its to thin then the backing shows through. What weight and is there a brand youd recomend. By a lot of corners and edges i mean a lot of edges and folds there are three edges that run the entire length of the boat another dozen on high traffic areas then every single door and cubby.
Also if it matters i live in the Northwest on the columbia river my boat sees hard rain and moisture 9 months a year its covered with a canvas cover but lives outside. Snow and ice three months of the year and blistering heat two months of the year. We also are big bulky fishermen that wear heavy shoes so a carpet that will hold up to that is a must. Then when its not fishing its dragging skiiers in swimsuits and bare feet so comfy is just about as important.
And to dive a little deeper into this which might need to go into engine repairs. The exhaust manifolds look like a simple task to remove and inspect for possible issues with the transom covers removed should i remove them while its apart or is it best to just leave them alone. One of my buddies 5.7 had a failure here and its now looking like an engine repalcement. However my boats seen salt water three times and within 24 hours it was ran in fresh water long enough to have flushed it farily well. Im in this boat for the long haul its basically perfect for my needs I have owned it since it was 5 months old and plan to keep it alive until mercruiser parts are no longer available for it. i wont say money is no object but its less of an object fixing this than say buying a $25,000 to $30,000 boat to replace it. Im also a fairly creative individual so none of this is going to overwhelm me. But I want to make sure i make the right descisions.
Its now partially dismantled in the garage drying out this is the first time my boats been out of commision for more than 5 days i already feel naked. LOL. my starter went out this summer took 5 days to get the right one. Funny i remember that. And i wont tell you this thing is my life its just a tool to make living through these dark wet winters worth it. LOL. Any way i have until the last week in March to be assembled and ready for salmon.
Thanks for your time and tips.
My boats got a ton of carpet glued over aluminum and wood from decking doors storage etc its going to be a fairly long winter project. Im up to the task but ive got questions and from what ive read there are a lot of does and donts that just arent clear to me.
First the flooring and all other plywood, Im planning on using marine plywood its rivited into aluminum bracing and I will most likely use rivits to resecure the new wood. Its got 5/8" plywood in now I dont think going to 3/4" will add to much weight but I also dont know. What your take on that. Then how to seal it some say not to use fiberglass as it may prevent the wood from drying out when it does get wet. So if thats the case seal it with epoxy or other and what types. Ive also read about drilling holes and sealing them before installing thepanels how important is that to some degree this usually becomes an issue because the holes may never line up. I have ideas about how to do this by drilling a couple of main holes and sealing them then working outwards from there drilling and sealing them as I go i can take a week or so to do this part, but Ive assembled a lot of things and its pretty hard to drill say 80 holes that wont be held in place until after those have been sealed I would expect most of them to be out of postition when i go together. Also should I leave any gaps between for expansion or but them tight or just flush. I do plan to fit them as well as possible before anchoring them.
Then on to carpet man are there a lot of choices thickness what weight backing to use the carpet makes folds over edges every where I read about a lot of carpet either not making the fold well and bonding being and issue if the carpets to stiff or thick and if its to thin then the backing shows through. What weight and is there a brand youd recomend. By a lot of corners and edges i mean a lot of edges and folds there are three edges that run the entire length of the boat another dozen on high traffic areas then every single door and cubby.
Also if it matters i live in the Northwest on the columbia river my boat sees hard rain and moisture 9 months a year its covered with a canvas cover but lives outside. Snow and ice three months of the year and blistering heat two months of the year. We also are big bulky fishermen that wear heavy shoes so a carpet that will hold up to that is a must. Then when its not fishing its dragging skiiers in swimsuits and bare feet so comfy is just about as important.
And to dive a little deeper into this which might need to go into engine repairs. The exhaust manifolds look like a simple task to remove and inspect for possible issues with the transom covers removed should i remove them while its apart or is it best to just leave them alone. One of my buddies 5.7 had a failure here and its now looking like an engine repalcement. However my boats seen salt water three times and within 24 hours it was ran in fresh water long enough to have flushed it farily well. Im in this boat for the long haul its basically perfect for my needs I have owned it since it was 5 months old and plan to keep it alive until mercruiser parts are no longer available for it. i wont say money is no object but its less of an object fixing this than say buying a $25,000 to $30,000 boat to replace it. Im also a fairly creative individual so none of this is going to overwhelm me. But I want to make sure i make the right descisions.
Its now partially dismantled in the garage drying out this is the first time my boats been out of commision for more than 5 days i already feel naked. LOL. my starter went out this summer took 5 days to get the right one. Funny i remember that. And i wont tell you this thing is my life its just a tool to make living through these dark wet winters worth it. LOL. Any way i have until the last week in March to be assembled and ready for salmon.
Thanks for your time and tips.
