Help me patch floor

[skeffington]

Well I ended up buying my first boat. It is a 1994 Regal Valanti 182 se. It is in really good shape for the most part. The interior looks good, a few scratches and a couple cracks in the gelcoat, but good for an 18 year old boat. Test drove it and the engine sounded really good and looks perfect. The floor feels really solid and I looked in the ski locker when I was looking it over, but I never lifted up the carpet. When i got home from buying it I pulled up the carpet in the ski locker to see the fiberglass cracked covering the whole locker. There is also water sitting the the ski locker that doesn't seem to want to drain. I can jump up and down on the area and it feels really solid, but I can see some water come out of the cracks when i step on it. What do i do know and could i have bigger problems?

The floor everywhere else seems to be in good shape. I've looked through the deck plates and the floor looks good and dry, and what I assumed are stringers ( horizontal 2x4's holding the floor up) look really good.

Thanks for the help.

 

[oops!]

Re: Bought my first boat, but have problem

Re: Bought my first boat, but have problem

hi ....welcome to iboats !

the regal is a really great boat....congrats !

ok...lets get to the water....

(he says as he dusts off his can of sugar coating) you are not the first person that this has happened to.

it is a very real possibility that the boat has big issues. but first of all...take pictures of the problem areas and let see what we are working with.

for the time being, place a big block under the trailer hitch and get the bow as high as you can....
then remove the drain plug in the rear of the boat.
in the ski locker,,,,there will be a small hole....it kinda looks like a mouse hole....stick something down that hole and try to in block that hole....so any water can drain to the bilge and out the back of the boat.....you also might want to get a big fan and throw it in the ski locker to dry up the standing water.

post the pics as soon as you can.....here are the instructions.
http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=533219

cheers
oops

 

[skeffington]

Re: Bought my first boat, but have problem

Re: Bought my first boat, but have problem

I'll get pictures up in a couple hours. I've heard Regal's have problems with the ski locker, unfortunately I didn't know that before.

 

[Friscoboater]

Re: Bought my first boat, but have problem

Re: Bought my first boat, but have problem

I have been there buddy. Post up some pictures and we will help out.

 

[skeffington]

Re: Bought my first boat, but have problem

Re: Bought my first boat, but have problem

Well i got the water drained out easily by just jacking up the trailer. Here are the pics, you can tell someone patched it at some point in towards the bow. Looks pretty bad.

 

[oops!]

Re: Bought my first boat, but have problem

Re: Bought my first boat, but have problem

well the good news is that does not look too bad....

the reason for the glass cracking like that, is that regal put plywood down for the ski locker floor....when they did, they did not treat the under side of the ski locker...

(*****note to all glassers......this is why its so important to glass the under side of your wood)

i think regal was using glass stringers at that point....so the damage is very contained.

if you wish, you can cut out the plywood....and replace it.....this is a minimal job.....will only take a day or so if you are a first timer.

if you start to read in your restoration section on how to fiberglass....you can learn very fast.

 

[skeffington]

Re: Bought my first boat, but have problem

Re: Bought my first boat, but have problem

That would be good news. I'm trying to figure out if that's the case, but can't find much about Regal's from this time.

 

[skeffington]

Re: Bought my first boat, but have problem

Re: Bought my first boat, but have problem

Well i asked Regal about it and they said that they didn't start using composite stringers and transom until 2003. Mine they said had fully encapsulated stringers and transom, so is rot still a concern. If the floor of the ski locker isn't rotten do i have to replace it, would just removing the old fiberglass and laying some new stuff in it's place work? Or would the wet wood just shrink and swell and crack it again? Also if it need replaced what do i use to cut out the area and not get into the stringers below? Thanks and sorry for all the questions

 

[foodfisher]

Re: Bought my first boat, but have problem

Re: Bought my first boat, but have problem

You sir are going to get itchy. Pour yourself a looong cool one and get into the restoration forum.

 

[skeffington]

Re: Bought my first boat, but have problem

Re: Bought my first boat, but have problem

Well i pulled up some of the fiberglass and the wood underneath is very wet and kind of soft. It's not rotten like some of the pictures on here that i've seen, but I'm going to replace it. How do i cut it out without hitting anything beneath it? Also I don't know where to start cutting and where to stop, should I cut as close to the walls as i can, and should I cut out the drain area. If i cut out the drain area how do i fix it then?

Should i take core samples of the my stringers then, or would it be pretty obvious if I have a lot of rot underneath? Sorry for all the questions, I'm pretty green, but I have done a fair amount of carpentry work so I would think that I'm ok.

 

[62 ROYAL SCOTT]

Re: Bought my first boat, but have problem

Re: Bought my first boat, but have problem

HELLO and WOW sorry about your boat i know you can fix it with the iboats guru's but i sure would go back and give the last owner a peice of my mind or aleast ask for refund or some of the money back or suck it up, you know it really is a shame that he or she did not show you that. they knew SORRY BUYER BEWARE

 

[skeffington]

Re: Bought my first boat, but have problem

Re: Bought my first boat, but have problem

As long as the stringers and transom are alright i'm not too upset. This isn't a big deal I just don't really know how to start. Truthfully i was so sick of the guy I bought the boat from I don't want to talk to him ever again.

 

[62 ROYAL SCOTT]

Re: Bought my first boat, but have problem

Re: Bought my first boat, but have problem

As long as the stringers and transom are alright i'm not too upset. This isn't a big deal I just don't really know how to start. Truthfully i was so sick of the guy I bought the boat from I don't want to talk to him ever again.

well i hope everything works out for you and you enjoy your boat live and learn

 

[skeffington]

Help me patch floor

I had a thread asking for help in the general boat discussion forum but wasn't getting much help so I thought I'd post it here. My ski locker is all cracked out on my 1994 Regal Valanti 182 se, I'm brand new to boating and need help to fix it. The wood underneath is very wet and somewhat soft so I need to cut it out and patch in a new piece. What do you use to cut out the patch and avoid cutting to deep into the stringers or hull? Do i just use a circular saw, also it is very tight working area, the patch will probably have to be several pieces. What all supplies do i need, what resin, fiberglass, what plywood works best?

I have searched and read up on a lot of restoration projects, but not many where they just need to patch an area. Everything else appears to be in good shap, the rest of the floor feels really solid, I'm hoping that the stringers and transom are ok? Should I take samples of them or if they look good when I cut out the area I should be ok? I also don't know if i should cut out the hole area all the way to the sides, and if so how do i fix the drain area?

Sorry for all the questions, I just bought my first boat and was very disappointing when I found the ski locker after driving home. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[DustinJean]

Re: Help me patch floor

How do the stringers feel? because depending on how the locker was built it might have started to rot the stringers also, and how far up does the bottom piece go towards the bow?

You might have to pull up some of the floor to reach the entire locker bottom but get some more pictures of the inside of the locker looking up towards the bow etc. so we can help you out on the easiest way to approach it. and check out the stringers etc.

 

[Friscoboater]

Re: Help me patch floor

If it is like my boat, there is some foam under that. You are not going to like the comments you are going to get. Many of us have been there, and yours will probably have rot in other places. When you can see signs of rot, that means underneath is much worse.

 

[skeffington]

Re: Help me patch floor

Are there stringers underneath the ski locker, or would the sides and back be stringers?

 

[oops!]

Re: Help me patch floor

hi skeff...

i merged your two threads.

the sides of the ski locker are the stringers and the back is a bulkhead.
if the wood is wet on the bulkhead, and not rotten,,,,it can be dried out....however, this takes a while. after its dried,,,it needs to be fully coated with antifreeze, then re dryed.

it will be easier to replace the bulkhead.
use a circ saw or a sawzall......dont cut into the hull.

for wood, use exterior grade plywood...1/2 inch.

for resin......standard unwaxed poly resin.
use 1,5 csm, and if you wish, 1708 bi axe.

cut out the wet areas, then cut a chunk of plywood to fit the cut out area.
bed new wood to hull with a thickened resin....(click the link in my sig for peanut butter.)

glass the new wood with a minimum of 2 layers of 1.5 csm. if you wish, you can add 1708 as well.

keep drain holes clear.

for the cut out area of the deck,, use the cut outs as a template.
glass the under side of the new pieces.....
use pl preimum and screw down the new deck area.
use the thickened resin to fill the cut gap.
glass over the new deck area, with a minimum of 8 oz material or one csm and one 1708.
let cure ....sand smooth,,,,,re gellcoat ....re carpet.

these mare the basic instructions......do some reading in this forum to expand on this process.
if you are stuck on any of these processes, the guys here can help you.

cheers bud.
oops

 

[oops!]

Re: Help me patch floor

here is a link to a full deck replacement.

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=522237&highlight=hull+deck+foam

pay patucular attention the the part about glassing wood for the first time.

even though you are not replacing the full deck....the job is the same.....the procedures are the same...

 

[skeffington]

Re: Help me patch floor

Thanks oops, sorry for the two threads. To tell if the bulkhead is wet should I just drill into it? My only other question is there is also a crack in the area near the bulkhead where it is lower to help drain the water. I don't know how I would replace that, do i just make it smooth and remove the low spot while keeping the drain holes? (The middle picture shows what I"m talking about)