should i replace the floor..????
Printed From: CorrectCraftFan.com
Category: Repairs and Maintenance
Forum Name: Boat Maintenance
Forum Discription: Discuss maintenance of your Correct Craft
URL: http://www.CorrectCraftFan.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=31446
Printed Date: November-18-2024 at 1:36am
Topic: should i replace the floor..????
Posted By: jwebb
Subject: should i replace the floor..????
Date Posted: September-04-2013 at 7:00pm
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i purchased an 1989 sport nautique in march. this boat is in overall great condition. the motor has 520 original hrs and runs great. hull/fiberglass/gelcoat are in great condition. upholstery is faded but only has one small rip. recently i have noticed a soft spot around drivers seat...!! it isn't too bad but i can see floor move when i push on it with my foot. now i notice this every time i take the boat out.. i have walked every inch of the boat and this is the only spot that moves. carpet looks great and like i said.. boat is is a three owner boat and looks to be well kept. i plan on having upholstery redone this winter. should i redo the floor before i do upholstery.? any suggestions would help... |
Replies:
Posted By: dwouncmd
Date Posted: September-04-2013 at 7:13pm
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The concern is that the soft floor could be the most superficial sign of a much deeper problem. When you pull up carpet and take up the floor, you may very well find rotten stringers to go with the rotten floor. There are those who would say you should just bite the bullet, and plan to restore the stringers with the whole floor; if you have the money to re-do the upholstery, that is about what it would take to do the stringers and floor, and a sound boat is more important than nice looking vinyl. There are others who would say fix the soft spot, drive the boat as long as you can. If you decide to tear into the floor and find rotten stringers, there is plenty of help here to get you through. ------------- http://www.correctcraftfan.com/diaries/details.asp?ID=6535&sort=&pagenum=2" rel="nofollow - 89 SN <a href="http://www.correctcraftfan.com/diaries/details.asp?ID=6567&sort=&pagenum=1" rel="nofollow">7 |
Posted By: jwebb
Date Posted: September-04-2013 at 8:19pm
| i see no other signs of rot.. I inspected the boat well before I bought it. it sits high in the water. there are no signs that hull is being tweaked..ie stringers bad. and engine bolts do not spin in place. do you guys really think I could have a stringer issue.?? is it possible to remove the seat and that section of floor... check the area and go from their.? |
Posted By: TRBenj
Date Posted: September-04-2013 at 8:52pm
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I recommend searching the forum and looking at pictures and discussion of some stringer jobs. That will give you a better understanding of how these boats are built and why that "small springy spot" in the floor is just the tip of a very large iceberg. To answer your question, NO, it is not possible to simply remove the seat and "take a peak" at what is going on. If you are not fully prepared for a complete stringer job, from both a logistical and monetary standpoint, then DO NOT even begin to do any invasive tests or poking around. If the bolts that hold the cradle down are tight, and the floor has not come detached from the hull, not much damage will come from running it as-is. Just be aware that it *should* be addressed eventually. |
Posted By: rapok4
Date Posted: September-04-2013 at 10:44pm
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My floor was "mushy" under the drivers seat and behind the doghouse only. This is what I found when I pulled the floor. Almost no wood left anywhere. The foam is what was supporting the floor. Only fiberglass from around the stringers supporting the engine. The problem is there is no true cure once the rot starts. The spores find their way into good wood and you chase the problem until it ends up like mine. http://s481.photobucket.com/user/rapok4/media/DSCN3819.jpg.html" rel="nofollow">  [/IMG]
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Posted By: jwebb
Date Posted: September-04-2013 at 11:31pm
| so what I'm hearing is go ahead and pull the floor up and replace stringers. not too bummed... my brother is extremely good at that sort of thing. in fact he has been pushing me to do it. I would like to throw some ballast under there anyway. could someone point me in the direction of a good thread on the subject. |
Posted By: Gary S
Date Posted: September-04-2013 at 11:49pm
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I don't remember a sport being redone but I think the whole cap has to come off. I'm sure someone here knows for sure. ------------- http://www.correctcraftfan.com/diaries/details.asp?ID=1711&sort=&pagenum=1&yrstart=1966&yrend=1970" rel="nofollow - 69 Mustang HM SS 95 Nautique Super Sport |
Posted By: 74Wind
Date Posted: September-05-2013 at 12:17am
+1 on TRBenj above, and he is one of The Real Experts. Unless you are truly mechanically and financially prepared for a complete re-do, don't start, on what (to me anyway) is a fairly new boat. There's lotsa stringer-mania on this site; my boats are both close to 40 years old and so far holding strong; the day I've gotta do a complete stringer/teardown/rebuild is the day you'll see 'em in the For Sale Section.. ------------- 1974 Southwind 18 1975 Century Mark II |
TRBenj wrote:Posted By: PeteM
Date Posted: September-05-2013 at 12:35am
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I don't disagree at all with the previous posts, but just to play devil's advocate......when my '83 was a little over a year old and never been wet inside apart from a damp skier, I developed a spongy floor panel just aft of the motor cover. I replaced it with a piece of treated plywood and the same carpet and its been fine for 29 years. Back in the day, treated lumber was not a perfected product. Problem is, if you are the third owner and don't know the boat's prior care and feeding then it might be worth a further look. Best, Pete ------------- pm |
Posted By: boardersdad
Date Posted: September-05-2013 at 1:20am
OK, that right there is a gem of good advice, and was worth repeating. I do want to ask, though, given you said "not much damage"... what small amount of damage would occur due to running with rotten front stringers? Steve |
Posted By: boardersdad
Date Posted: September-05-2013 at 1:25am
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Something I've been thinking about for a while now, and this is as good a place as any to bring it up. Rex's picture above is a good reference. The stringer video shows how to check the stringers aft of the towing pylon. Is there some way to check the stringers forward of the pylon? Some options I've read in other threads: -- Look for gelcoat cracks, especially at the height where the floor meets the hull (ok, I have no such cracking, but I do have some spider cracks around the outside windshield corners and a little bit on the top sides, maybe about even with the engine...) -- Drill some holes through the floor and into the stringer fronts to see if the wood is rotten, fill with some special resin stuff (I don't think that is for me... I am not a fiberglass guy whatsoever...) There *must* be a way, right? Even some non-medical ultrasound thing... or hanging the hull by the lifting hooks and measuring the deformed shape of the vee bottom (would depend on weight, obviously, i.e. water in the foam)... or knocking on the floor right above the stringers and knowing how they should sound... or ??? It just bugs me to not know the condition of the stringers up front.  Steve |
Posted By: gun-driver
Date Posted: September-05-2013 at 10:08am
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Steve unfortunately there is really no way to inspect forward of the pylon which is where most of the rot starts. I feel one of the reasons that area is such a problem spot is exactly the same reason you can’t inspect in there, it’s completely sealed up. Without some sort of ventilation it’s going to hold moisture and then eventually rot. That’s one reason I never did like the video on how to check for rotten stringers. Though Foot did a great job on it, you can only check 2/3rds of the boat and as mentioned above the place where the rot starts is up front where you can’t inspect. I would venture to say that if someone is seeing signs of rot aft of the pylon that you could bet that the forward section is already completely junk. As for the OP’s question I think yes he could pull up the wooden section in front of the pylon and replace it. That would prolong the inevitable another year or so, but I think he is not going to like what he sees under there. |
Posted By: TRBenj
Date Posted: September-05-2013 at 10:32am
Pete, good point. I thought it went without saying that the removable wooden panel aft of the motorbox was not what we were discussing, but rather the glass covered permanent floor. Yes, that removable wooden panel is easily replaced. That is not the case for the rest. In regards to checking stringer forward of the pylon, on some boats, there is enough room to get your arm past the engine and reach forward into the bilge to tap around and listen for rot. That, combined with checking the floor up front in the area of the seats (the section from the motorbox to the batt box is the only wood in the floor on most flat bottom CC's) should give you a pretty decent indication of how rotten a boat is. It is also very possible to cut out the glass and replace the ply in the floor up in that area, then glass it back over. I have done this- however, I would not recommend it. There really isnt much of a point, after all- that wood in the floor is there to span the bilge and provide a place for the seat frames to screw down. So long as the wood (and glass that is on top of it) are still doing their job, no need to start digging. Replacing even just that section of the floor is an incredibly messy and time consuming job- and a full stringer job isnt all that much more invasive. Once the floor is up, you'll most likely find wet foam and rotten stringers underneath, at which point it doesnt make much sense to seal it up as-is. So, like I said, be prepared to do the stringers if you want to open it up at all. Personally, I'd probably opt to leave it alone for a while! |
Posted By: rapok4
Date Posted: September-05-2013 at 11:00am
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Thank god for this site. Before I bought my boat I had reviewed the stringer inspection video and went through almost all the threads on replacing stringers. The PO had done a patch on the aft portion of the secondary stringers. In knew I was buying a project. When I pulled the deck other than discoloration I was surprised that the 3/4" ply that runs abeam from driver's side to observer's side was absent. It had completely deteriorated. I could feel the "slimy" remnants of wood through my inspection port forward. The second point was how sturdy the pylon, engine, transmission sat bolted to nothing. The shaft turned like it had been freshly aligned!! My point is I have no stringers as templates. That has resulted in tracing templates using the remaining fiberglass and lots of planing and sanding. It certainly would have been easier to cut out partially rotten stringers, use them as templates, and properly CPES and glass them in. I will say this job is extremely messy and nasty. So far the actual $$ has been reasonable. If however, I charged for the labor I have put in it would be outrageous. I easily have 60 actual hours in disassembly and removal of the deck, foam, and remaining transom wood. As well as mock up for the new. That being said "don't poke" unless you are ready for the "opening a can of worms" !!! |
Posted By: Morfoot
Date Posted: September-05-2013 at 11:05am
Ouch, that hurts Paul!  The purpose of the inspection video was to give the viewer a idea of what to look for when buying a used boat. Some here aren't afraid of buying a boat at a steal knowing the stringers are gone but for the newcomer who knows NOTHING about wood stringers he now has some basic knowledge in what you are looking for in buying that first used old CC. Knowing what you got upfront can be used to talk the seller down or in some cases walk away from the boat from because you KNOW it's rotten and you don't want to restring it for whatever reason. KNOWLEDGE IS POWER! I've seen a few boats whose stringers looked sound and sturdy but a tap test revealed otherwise. Disbonds the whole length of what you could reach. TRUE that you can't reach all the way up front to inspect but at least by watching it you aren't going in totally blind and get surprised when the engine sinks into the stringers months down the road from a rough day on the water or it bouncing on the trailer towing it. ------------- "Morfoot; He can ski. He can wakeboard.He can cook chicken.He can create his own self-named beverage, & can also apparently fly. A man of many talents."72 Mustang "Kermit",88 SN Miss Scarlett, 99 SN "Sherman" |
Posted By: gun-driver
Date Posted: September-05-2013 at 11:28am
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Tim I certainly didn’t mean that the video wasn’t informative or well done and I know I and many others appreciate you putting in the time and effort to make and post it. I was just trying to point out that the main problem area on these boats seems to start in the front area beneath the floor where you can’t get at very well. Someone not understanding the way these boats are put together could presumably look at the video think their boat is rot free and later find the front all rotten which was the case with my ’85(stringers good aft of the pylon, front area rotten and soaked) Again I was not attacking your video I was just trying to explain that people’s statements of my bolts are tight so my stringers must be solid or my stringers are solid but the floor up front is soft doesn’t add up. My apologies if anyone took it any other way. |
Posted By: Morfoot
Date Posted: September-05-2013 at 12:04pm
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None taken, we're good my friend!... shoulda followed it with a winky. ------------- "Morfoot; He can ski. He can wakeboard.He can cook chicken.He can create his own self-named beverage, & can also apparently fly. A man of many talents."72 Mustang "Kermit",88 SN Miss Scarlett, 99 SN "Sherman" |
Posted By: jwebb
Date Posted: September-05-2013 at 12:41pm
ok this thread has gotten off topic... JUST KIDDING..  . you all are very helpful. thank goodness for this site. I did review what to inspect on older nautiques. I did all of those things before I bought the boat. like I mentioned earlier.. all signs where good.. motor bolts are tight. no signs of cracking of gel coat in front. no oil spots.. boat drove great... (still does).. carpet and vinyl look almost new.. I did walk the floor and it seemed ok. I should have explained that I really have to press hard with my foot to see floor move around driver seat at all. had it not been for this site I probably would have thought nothing of it.. bc it doesn't really move with regular use. after all the post I've seen I have decided to ride the boat for another couple summers as is. not open that "can of worms"...!! I always planned this as a first boat and wanted to upgrade to an air or super air. I'll sell to next guy as a project boat.. letting him know full well that it will need a stringer job in near future.
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Posted By: gun-driver
Date Posted: September-05-2013 at 4:51pm
good plan 
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