Fiberglass Moulded Floor Soft Spot

[thormx11]

So in my boat I have a 1 piece molded floor (the white textured type stuff, no carpet). I guess the upper half of the hull is all one piece. I have a soft spot about 1 square foot under the edge of where my back to back lounge seat mounts. I am looking into options to repair/reinforce the spot.

I was thinking about drilling a small hole (maybe 1'') with a hole saw, and pouring some expanding foam under the floor in that area, then placing the round piece I drilled back in place and sealing it up with silicone. I was thinking about drilling the hole right under the base of lounge seat, so it wouldn't be visible and there also wouldn't be any pressure on the spot I drilled.

The spot is only just starting to get soft, but I do not want the fiberglass to crack when it flexes in that spot, then I will have major issues!

That is about the only way I can think to reinforce the spot. Maybe someone has more experience with something like this?

 

[chevymaher]

It is probably wood with glass over it. The wood is rotted. I probably has foam under there already.

Just got to open it up and see what the damage is. As they say they usually rot from the bottom up. So you may find a mess in there.

 

[thormx11]

I know the base layer is wood, but I cannot just pull it up as easily as my other boats. The top of the hull is all one piece, the edge of the floor curves up and goes all the way up the side of the boat. Ive added a picture of a similar style flooring, mine does not have the compartments though. If you look closely you can see how it is all one piece (the floor & sides). The only way to pull it up would be to cut the entire floor out, or split two halves of the hull.

The best I can tell from looking under from the engine compartment, there is about a 2 inch gap between the floor and the bottom half of the hull, which is all fiberglass. I don't think I could get a hose in the right spot to pour the foam compound inbetween the two, so drilling a small hole then resealing it was my next guess.

 

[chevymaher]

What kind of boat is it? make it easier to look up see what is actually under there.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Fire up the saws, you have a full rebuild ahead of you

 

[thormx11]

The boat is a 1995 Century Arabian 24. Its kind of hard to find much info/pics of the boats online.

 

[chevymaher]

Here is a picture Zool posted of what is underneath. Wood/stringers foam and blocks to hold that part of the deck up.

 

[Scott Danforth]

you can cut the floor like zool, or you can try to separate the halves. cutting the floor is the easiest

however the floor being rotten also means stringers, bulkheads and transom are toast.