Soft floor with plywood help!

[Mylo5765]

We just bought our first boat, a 1994 stingray 18 ft bow rider. Used it a few times and I noticed a soft spot so I tore back the carpeting and found two pieces of plywood running from the back by the engine cover up under the seats. Looks like someone tried to fix it themselves. The wood is rotting and the screws are rusted. Is this boat safe to use at all? We know nothing about boats. Will be taking it to a local marina next week. Just sick about it. Paid $3000. Would it be worth fixing? Can I even use the boat safely? I checked the floor of the rest of the boat and it is original and solid. Will post pics later today.

 

[Grub54891]

Re: Soft floor with plywood help!

Yup pics would help!

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Soft floor with plywood help!

Sounds as if someone covered up a soft spot with plywood.......which actually makes it worse.

Here is my prediction - the marina is probably going to try and sell you a different boat. If you bought the boat initially from the marina then I am surprised they tried to sneak that through.

The key is to investigate deeper .......... do the marina thing and let us know. Yes it is repairable but could cost a great deal of money

 

[CYerdon]

Re: Soft floor with plywood help!

To the OP,
We bought our first power boat back in early May of this year while my other half had a price range she wanted to stay in we were limited. One day we came accross this 1990 18ft Cheetah bow rider with a 4.3 Merc. and while the boat looked great for the year with no oil leaks etc..we decided to purchase it. On the fifth time out we noticed the smell of rubber burning then all of a sudden the boat seemed to come out of gear.Turns out the stringers were so rotted the motor dropped forward enough to disengage the drive shaft from the coupler.We got the boat home and I tore the floor up and the hell that presented itself under the deck had me in disbelief. A couple boat shops quoted approx $4000.00 to do the job and for what we paid for this polished turd I wasn't going to sink anymore good cash into it.
Instead we cut our losses and purchased a much better boat and have the other one up for sale just for the value of the engine and outdrive.
We got bit once and when it comes to any boat now I take nothing for granted.
Good luck with your boat and hopefuly yours isn't as bad.

 

[Bamaman1]

Re: Soft floor with plywood help!

If the plywood is rotting and the screws rusted, you know the repairs were done by a "jack leg." And the repairs might have been made a number of years ago if the plywood's rotting.

I'm sorry you didn't do your due diligence when you purchased the boat and checked it out closely. Only marine plywood and brass or stainless screws should be used on a boat, and the method of your repairs is unacceptable anyway.

And if you pull up the plywood, you'll probably find many soft spots in the fiberglass. You'll have to cut a hole in a soft spot of the fiberglass to see what amount of rot you have. Unfortunately, soft spots are like cancer and damage is often worse than originally thought.

Labor to pull up the floor and fix stringers? 140 hours is normal.

You may want to pull up the plywood and see what's under it. You can always put the engine and outdrive on EBayMotors.com and sell the trailer outright to recover your purchase price. You'd be surprised what trailers and outdrives pull used.

 

[bakerjw]

Re: Soft floor with plywood help!

Sad to say, there are countless stories like yours. Most people are here in the dry dock area because we've been there and are doing that.

When faced with a rot monster, there are a few questions that need to be asked.

Can I part out the boat, motor and trailer and recoup most of my loss?

Do I really love this boat?

If you go the rebuild route, you will put more time and money into it, but then you will also have a craft that exceeds what came from the factory. You will never get your time and money back out of the boat, but you will also have something solid to hand down to your kids.