Would you put aluminum in to reinforce?

[wildmaninal]

Hey

Well I got the idea to put an aluminum sheet down for my deck to reinforce it. I did seem to have a little weak spot toward the corner where the live well and storage compartment meet. I currently have my boat down at my uncle's upholstery shop to have the bottom of the boat patched (for a few bare spots I'm worried about), and I am going to have carpet installed (I know some of you are frowning about the carpet ). I feel the boat is going to be gone for a while because his shop is busy. I was originally going to have snaps installed on the carpet so I could remove it but my uncle said the carpet will stretch over time and may cause tripping hazards and it will look horrible. Well he talked me into glueing the carpet down. I plan on having the boat covered when not in use anyway, I know the carpet can get wet while out on the water though. My thinking led me to say if the wood rots out from under the aluminum (hopefully years later) I would just half to take the aluminum up and clean out the rotted wood. Here is my website to get an idea of the boat I am talking about.
(this website works good so far compared to the other I built)


My questions are:
What thickness aluminum sheet should I go with?
If I get a flimsy enough sheet I should be able to install it without separating the hull even if I half to cut the sheet in two right?
Would I need to seal it? If so what with and when during install or after install?
Should I just give up the idea of reinforcing it?
Would a graded material (like they use on some utility trailers) work just as well to save on the price of the aluminum sheet?
Would you go with snaps on the carpet over glueing?

I can use some ideas here .

Thanks guys

 

[Robj]

Re: Would you put aluminum in to reinforce?

Putting aluminum over a soft spot on the floor is no repair, and will have minimal affect in stiffining up the floor. Aluminum sheet is quite flimsy. That soft spot is because the floor is rotten. You need to fix the problem by cutting out the affected area and replacing it with new. Unfortunately once you start that, you will probably find more rott. When you are in there, check the transom and stringers as well. You may be in for more than you bargained for. Unfortunately with older boats rott is very common.

Have a great day,

Rob.

 

[wildmaninal]

Re: Would you put aluminum in to reinforce?

The transom thus far seems to be sturdy, I checked this out while installing the motor on the boat through the mount holes also while anchoring the depth finder sensor nothing stripped out while tightening it down and while removing the screw (on the transom) to anchor the sensor wire down everything tightened down no problem and had no wood on the screws or signs of wetness. I have walked all over the deck quiet a few time without a problem and seen my father walking in that one spot and he pointed the give in the floor out as it had little give to it. No cracking sounds or anything like that, this area I mentioned is a low traffic area. I was thinking that it could be a corner because the storage and live well go deeper then the deck and right were those to compartments meet is were the corner of the floor should be correct? Depending on the thickness of the plywood if the boat was assembled with thin enough plywood it would have some kind of give to it anyway especially in a corner. Do I have rot or not?

 

[Mark42]

Re: Would you put aluminum in to reinforce?

Rot does not make noise when you step on it.

The simple thing to do is take a circular saw and set it to 1/2" cutting depth and cut out a 1ft square in that area. If everything is fine, just epoxy the floor back in place.

I am sure you will find its damp with spongy wood underneath judging from your description of the condition.

 

[wildmaninal]

Re: Would you put aluminum in to reinforce?

Take a look at the Challenger and see if you think the bottom part of this other hull leaning against the tree would make a good spare, unfortunately it doesn't have flake paint on it. The bottom hull leaning against the tree is for a 1978Thunder Craft ski boat, the Challenger is a 1977 both seem to be the same size and style, I'll half to double check the measurements when I get the Challenger back. Would that make a good spare if I was to fix the floor in the hull against the tree and save it for the Challenger. If I put any floor in it will be aluminum on the Challenger. I'm going to use it till the floor falls through, and I bet this will take a while, well if I don't let any of the big family members get in it but my dads one of them. But if you agree the one bottom will match the Challenger I'll start fixing it up. Mark42 I wished it would be that simple to just cut out the spot I'm talking about but unfortunately it goes under the drivers seat and to were ever it meats the storage compartment. and live well. You still didn't say yeah or nay on aluminum. If that wood is wet (witch I know wood can hold water) but sense we haven't seen rain in a pretty good while, I believe my boat's deck is dry and I have't had it in the water. If nothing else I could use the boat and keep my eyes open for another challenger the same year and size for parts. I know laying aluminum over the floor isn't a cure for any rot but it would be a heck of a reinforcement.

 

[salty87]

Re: Would you put aluminum in to reinforce?

the weak spot is under the driver's seat....rot. that's the most used seat in the house. if the plywood were thin and flexed, it's now opened up the grain and started soaking in moisture. if the plywood wasn't thin, then you've got rot. so, either way, it has rotted or will rot...take your pic.

why not just take the off season and fix it right? whatever you do now won't last if everything is rotting down below.

the aluminum won't reinforce anything. you'll just have an experiment growing under it.

 

[wildmaninal]

Re: Would you put aluminum in to reinforce?

Well I can't say these Challengers bass boats come a dime a dozen, but if I can get my hands on another parts boat to fix the deck in it or get this Thunder Craft to work under the top part of the Challenger. Then I might have it made. This way after getting the deck finished on the downer boat and when I get ready for it take the top part off of the Challerger or gut it if the other boat is in better shape. Besides cutting the spot out, what other test could I do, drill a hole in it for example to see might be happening, and if it's good put in a drain in that spot? I wished I had the boat on hand to take a picture of the spot I'm talking about, it isn't all under the driver's seat it's getting harder for me to explain lol. I know I would half to worry about the transom on the downer boat also. The chimes seem to be different between the Thunder Craft and the Challenger.

 

[ondarvr]

Re: Would you put aluminum in to reinforce?

Maybe I didn't read everything correctly, but I am a little confused. Whats the donor boat for, there's nothing you can really use from the second one, at least when it come to changing decks or floors, as they will both normally be bad. So if you need to fix either one, don't bother with having two. Deck and hulls from different brands don't typicaly fit each other unless one company ripped off the other one by splashing a mold.

Your problem is not the soft spot in the floor, it's the wet foam and rotten stringers under it. If you know the floor is the only current problem ( and you won't until you dig deeper), then any type of temporary fix will work, plywood aluminum or whatever, but rotten floors usually lead to bigger and more involved repairs.

It may last for several more years with no problems, or the stringers and transom may be so bad they won't last through the next trip, so for safety reasons check them before you do a patch job on the floor.

 

[wildmaninal]

Re: Would you put aluminum in to reinforce?

If you know the floor is the only current problem ( and you won't until you dig deeper), then any type of temporary fix will work, plywood aluminum or whatever, but rotten floors usually lead to bigger and more involved repairs.
transom may be so bad they won't last through the next trip, so for safety reasons check them before you do a patch job on the floor.

Knock on wood (knock knock) the transom is good so far. You answered my question though, I was looking into putting something (something being aluminum or a stainless steal sheet) down to fix the problem temporally and when I need to replace the floor I would like to use an aluminum sheet instead of plywood heck I would use aluminum 2x3 tubbing for the stringer if I could. The idea of a donor boat was brought up because of my paint job mainly but also for spare rub rails and more parts for later use as mine are in nice shape so far. If I had the chance I would use my boat in the mean time while fixing the deck or whatever is needed if needed on the donor boat (another Challenger) and if my deck finally gives out I'll take the top off of it and put it on the donor bottom. Honestly the idea came from a neighbor whom was getting tired of replacing the floor in his pontoon so he said the next time he was going to use an aluminum sheet instead of plywood. Yeah I know a little about replacing the deck, transom and stringers because I was in the middle of replacing the deck in my 13ft fishing boat when I moved to a different project, I only got 3/4 or so of the new stringers fiberglassed on the 13ft when I postponed the project.