Floor Repair

We just recently purchased a 88 Nauti 2001. The boat runs like a champ. The only problem is that the floor under the drivers seat and passenger seats is rotted out. It gives when you walk over it and the bolts that hold the drivers seat have stripped out. How can I go about spot repairing this area? The rest of the boat floor is solid.

wakeboarderdave,

Are you shure the rest of the floor is solid, how are the stringers? Did you check them for rot?

Dave,

The boat has a section of plywood in the fllor from the motor box forward about three feet. It is under a layer of fiberglass, but it is common for the the plywood to rot in that section. I'm not positive why they put ply in that section, but the common theory is the it is so the seats can be screwed down more securely. Over time, water gets in through the screw holes and elsewhere. If you remove the seats and peel up the carpets, you should be able to tell where the ply section is.

Once that ply section starts rotting, it is likely that the stringers have begun to rot as well, particularly on a 20 years old boat. You may get lucky.

One way of determining if you have bad stringers is to put a wrench to the lag bolts which hold the aluminum motor bracket to the two main stringers. If they spin freely, then you know you have a problem. If not, you
may still have a problem below the spungy section of floor. On my boat, I could look under the front section of floor from the bilge and see that the stringers had rotted around the cooler area.

If you do a search on "SkiBum", you will see two threads that Bill "SkiBum" started regarding stringer repair and gel coat repair. These are great threads because Bill has posted about 100 progress pictures. From Bill's photos, you get a great visual of how your boat is put together.

Hope this helps.

BKH

I know a guy in TN who will do floor and stringers for $2500. $3100 after tax.