Floor and general Restoration 87 Mach 1 16'

[Mrrgsx]

Last summer I bought my first boat, a 87 Mach 1 Corvair 165 with a Suzuki DT75. The interior was showing some wear and the floor had a soft spot in front of each seat under the dash and infront of the bilge well. I ran the boat as was and hand a great time with it and decided to fix it up this spring.

Finding the soft spots I decided to cut away the floor from console to the transom. which is where my first question is.
The stringers look like they were cut out to fit a in floor gas tank. So question one is was the outboard version of this boat stock with a floor tank or was this done at the shop for the original owner. There are 4 stringers from the front the 2 outside ones contunie all the way to the back. The two inside stop at the front corners of the tank and at that point a wider hollow (4") stringer of Roven cloth starts at the outside of the tank and continues back. None of the four make a tight seal to the transom and the larger ones seem to have no wood other then a nailing strip at the top.

Best I can tell the boat was fine this this way for it's first 22 years and by having hollow stringers I guess they can't rot.

Can anyone confirm this set up or of this is something I should be alarmed at.

I plan to put 2-3 resin coats on CDX ply and 3x tape the floor and sides together ASAP if noone finds major issue with what I found.


Then its off to upolstry and inside sides/shelves etc.


Thanks for any hints you can give this rookie.
Mike

 

[bzajdek]

Re: Floor and general Restoration 87 Mach 1 16'

I just finished the deck on my 1986 Mach 1 Eclipse, I believe the boat has the original 86 Mariner 90HP on her, The stringers are hollow or honeycomb fiberglass, I removed the deck from the console to the transom seats a jamb saw underneath the seating 3 1/2" blade. I removed the foam between the stringers, but I left in the shallow foam at the edges(less than 3" deep). I removed and cleaned the aluminum 24 gallon tank with a date of 1985 but pitting on the underside made me change my mind to salvage it. I ordered an 18 gallon aluminum belly tank. I ran new 3/8 fuel line and made new braces to connect the stringers. I used 3-1 epoxy resin and coated 1/2 bc exterior grade plywood, 2 coats, then ran beads of pl premium along all anchor points and screwed it with coated deckmate screws from home depot. I then applied 1708 biax cloth 50" wide over the plywood and up the sides of the boat 6". I plan to leave the deck semi open as I will be doing alot of saltwater fishing. Let me know if you need anymore info.

 

[Mrrgsx]

Re: Floor and general Restoration 87 Mach 1 16'

Thanks for the confirmation. Being the entire thing is hand laid, I wasn't sure if I was seeing it correctly or if some one had done suspect work in the past. I guess the real question left is do I need to to mat/cloth over the entire deck. I know its better that way, but I don't really see me owning this boat for more then a few years and the value of it not being worth the addition unless its a structural or safety concern..

Thanks again.

 

[bzajdek]

Re: Floor and general Restoration 87 Mach 1 16'

depending on how hard you use the boat, you may not need to cover and overlap over the flooring, I use my boat in salt water and need the strength that the floor gives to the sides and gunwhales to keep the boat from flexing and cracking. Its not much more work and money but may be fine in fresh water not hitting wakes and the sort.