Bought my first boat to cut, gut and rebuild from bow to stern, including engine. Killed my back and suffered the wrath of the fiberglass demons

TripleJGraffis

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jan 18, 2024
Messages
415
Nothing wrong with it in a pleasure boat, I wouldn't want it in a fishing boat. My Searay has snapin carpet, it's comfortable on bare feet.
I definitely want something slip resistant but not sure yet about carpet. Did not like how the carpet that I tore out looked.
 

Lou C

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Nov 10, 2002
Messages
12,681
I had mine gelcoated in non skid gelcoat. I will not have carpet in an open boat, plywood cored deck, in a coastal region, with constant moisture in the air. That, and the non-sealing of screw holes, is what kills decks and boat structure. All the rot in my original deck started right under the carpet where the screw holes for the seat mounting holes were.
That deck was replaced, in 2006/2007. It is still solid now, 17 years later. When it rotted the boat was only about 10-12 years old. So no carpet, sealed screw holes, will give you a much longer lasting deck at least in a damp climate.
 

TripleJGraffis

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jan 18, 2024
Messages
415
I had mine gelcoated in non skid gelcoat. I will not have carpet in an open boat, plywood cored deck, in a coastal region, with constant moisture in the air. That, and the non-sealing of screw holes, is what kills decks and boat structure. All the rot in my original deck started right under the carpet where the screw holes for the seat mounting holes were.
That deck was replaced, in 2006/2007. It is still solid now, 17 years later. When it rotted the boat was only about 10-12 years old. So no carpet, sealed screw holes, will give you a much longer lasting deck at least in a damp climate.
This was the option I was thinking on going with. I live in Wisconsin. Both hot and cold temps. Nothing too coastal....But we do get humidity during Summer.
 

briangcc

Commander
Joined
Jul 10, 2012
Messages
2,360
The FourWinns had snap in carpeting and was very easy to take out and clean. Boat was 12 years old and looked pretty much showroom condition on the inside when I traded it - outside got a long deep gouge thanks to a teenager at the wheel but that's someone else's problem now.

The Chap has snap in carpeting which looks brand new despite the age, blood, guts, etc that it's seen thus far. If it needs a cleaning, just lay it out in the driveway and hose/clean as needed. Reinstall once dry. Easy, peasy.

Personally, having been on boats at boat shows with vinyl floors, I wouldn't own one as they're slippery as all get out. Carpet for my family. For the amount of hooks that have gotten to the carpet - I can count the times on one hand over 7 years of ownership - its not as big of a issue as its being made out to be. That's with 3 boys learning to cast on their own. Now if we're discussing anchor line, that has a greater tendency to be hooked than the carpet.

Really wanna go all out? Get Seadek installed instead. It's easily 20 degrees cooler than vinyl or carpet out in the blazing sun. Grippy too even when wet.
 

TripleJGraffis

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jan 18, 2024
Messages
415
The FourWinns had snap in carpeting and was very easy to take out and clean. Boat was 12 years old and looked pretty much showroom condition on the inside when I traded it - outside got a long deep gouge thanks to a teenager at the wheel but that's someone else's problem now.

The Chap has snap in carpeting which looks brand new despite the age, blood, guts, etc that it's seen thus far. If it needs a cleaning, just lay it out in the driveway and hose/clean as needed. Reinstall once dry. Easy, peasy.

Personally, having been on boats at boat shows with vinyl floors, I wouldn't own one as they're slippery as all get out. Carpet for my family. For the amount of hooks that have gotten to the carpet - I can count the times on one hand over 7 years of ownership - its not as big of a issue as its being made out to be. That's with 3 boys learning to cast on their own. Now if we're discussing anchor line, that has a greater tendency to be hooked than the carpet.

Really wanna go all out? Get Seadek installed instead. It's easily 20 degrees cooler than vinyl or carpet out in the blazing sun. Grippy too even when wet.
Love this post! Bookmarking it for future reference! Thanks!
 

TripleJGraffis

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jan 18, 2024
Messages
415
Take your time there is so many options out there now. Just put in da Wood!
I'm going at it hard tomorrow and Thursday hopefully. I believe I am a matter of a single digit number of hours before the rebuild happens! Last bits of cutting and sanding is all that's left.
 

TripleJGraffis

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jan 18, 2024
Messages
415

I got out there today and hit it hard. Spent 6 hours cutting the remaining pieces out along with cutting the floor to expose old stringer remnants from a past restoration that were glassed over. I am hurting and hungry...... but I am also done with demolition!!! It's taken damn near 3 months but I'm finally done!!!! sure there are some pieces here and there that I might have missed.... but the the bs is out! So happy about that!

Next up........ sanding! Will go at it for another 4 hours or so tomorrow! Got my ryobi grinder and 4 boxes (40 total) of 40 grit sanding disks on standby
 

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TripleJGraffis

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jan 18, 2024
Messages
415
3 hours Sanding today. Everything... myself included.... looks like a Bakery exploded and flour got everywhere lol. I got the entire bow sanded. Accidentally sanded through the hull early on.... oh well..add that to the list of holes to patch. One strange thing I found.... and I wonder if anyone can answer this......I found 6 stringer remnants total while grinding down....I realize that They run the entire length of the boat and were all glassed over except the 2 that I cut out... Is this boat supposed to have 6 stringers? I really don't want to have to put more than needed back in it......I also really don't want to cut them out........ I'm kinda done with the boat for the week. I got my kids next week and really can't get myself this dirty when little ones are around. So the boat will have to wait for another 2 weeks. I need to get more ppe suits. I zinged my finger with the grinder. That hurt......I would say I have another 3 to 5 hours to go and then I'll be ready to clean it up and start rebuilding!
 

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todhunter

Canoeist
Joined
Sep 15, 2020
Messages
1,311
Looks good! I don't miss those grinding days though, lol. Not sure about the stringer remnants. I touched the forbidden spinning wheel while grinding my boat too - unfortunately it was on the pad of my finger and was a lot deeper. It healed back with no finger print in that area.
 
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