Replace deck

IDBooch

IDBooch

New member
I just ripped out the floor on my 1986 wellcraft 192 American. It had soft spots most of the ply was good but instead of doing a patch job I felt better doing the whole thing as the glass resin was delaminating from the wood and it looked wet. It looks like they used 3/4" CDX plywood that was nailed down to the stringers. The stringers are all good along with the foam, the gas tank under the floor is plastic so that should be OK. What I need to find out is what is the best plywood to use or can I get some thing else to use as most boats are wood free now days? Also what fiberglass resin should be used polyester or epoxy and should it be covered with 6oz cloth. This is a runabout my everything boat and will have marine carpet over the floor. Now as the weather is starting to be cool should I wait till spring to do the glass work, any help would be appreciated. Pictures will be coming as soon I can figure out how to attach them to this site. Dennis
 
I did the floor in a friends 18' Lason bowrider several years back. I used 3/4" plywood underlayment and epoxy. Three coats of epoxy on the wood, hit the edges when doing each side so they get sealed six times. Plywood tabbed to sides with 6" tape and epoxy thickned with fumed silica. Joints filled with thickend epoxy and taped. Got everything except the plywood from Raka epoxy. 2 to 1 ratio and the 1-1/2 gallon kit did everything < $100. Call Raka and tell him what you are doing he will tell you exactly what you need.

You could go with fancier materials but keep the the cost of materials / boat value in mind. The original floor lasted this long. If you seal everything carefully your new floor should last longer, probably longer than the boat and you won't lose money if you decide to sell.
 
Another update, after probing and banging on the stringers guess what I found, rotten stringers. I started to dig out one its not plywood looks like its 3/4X8" pine, hard to tell what type of wood as what was left was wet and dark. Anyway I have a lot more work in store for me than planned. I don't know how much I can do as winter is almost here. I may shrink wrap it and try to work under the wrap. Dennis
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Well its cold in NY now and repairs of the stringers will have to wait till early spring. I did my first shrink wrap job yesterday, just to let you all know its not very hard to do. It was a windy day so my son had to help me, it took about 3 hours to do. Now for the price of a do it yourself job, for $160.00 I got a roll 14' X 128' of white wrap, roll of tape, 1500' roll of binding, 6 plastic vents and 4 gas vent caps. I was going to order it off the web but shipping was to high. I found a place that sold the materials close to me and picked it up myself. As for the heat torch I ordered one from Harbor Frieght for $28.00 a weed burner and it work great the hose is only 6' long and the wand from handle to torch is about 2' but it worked well enought for us. There are 3 of us with boats to wrap so the price will be split. Dennis

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Man, I hate to hear that about your stringers, I had to replace some of mine also. I used juniper and cypress boards that I had stored away. After talking to some boat builders at Carolina Classic I kinda wished I'd used Douglas Fir. It seems to be a good choice for wood core projects. I used 3/4 marine plywood for my new transom and transom cap. I encased it all in polyester resin and glass and its holding up very well! Good luck with yours!!
 
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