Boat Floor - Specific question about sizing

[boedekerj]

Hello all! Last year I purchased a project boat. As with many, I thought it was a steal until I got home. Fast forward a long, hot summer full of itching, fibreglass, more fibreglass and SeaCast, and I now have a rebuilt hull, stringers, and transom. HARD AS HECK. However, I now have several issues I'm hoping this crew might help with. It's a 1989 Bayliner 1650 open bow. (I know, that is not necessarily a good purchase. I certainly learned alot from this purchase.)

1. I created a new floor, unfortunately, it's not perfectly sized. There are places where it's tight to the hull, then others where I just wasn't good enough to get it tight. Towards the end of the summer, I kinda started to lose steam, and approached the floor with a "good enough" attitude. (Perhaps some can relate.) The floor is fairly snug side to side from the stern all the way up to the front 1.5' of the bow, where there is a 1" gap between the hull and the nose.
Question: Must the floor be perfectly fitted, or can I put triple/quad runs of 1708 b/w the floor and the hull?

2. In the spirit of "losing steam" towards the end of summer, when I put the fuel tank in it was snug. Really snug. As in, snug enough that I had to use a rubber mallet and a block of wood to get 'er in. (I went a little overboard re-glassing in the stringers.
Question: Of course, once I put the floors in, there's no going back. Should I be afraid of "too tight a fit" in fears that the aluminum tank might crack? I leak test prior to fitting (Good.) I plan to leak test it in place, but perhaps I need to rip it, and grind down to a more "graceful" fit. Or, am I overthinking?

3. Holes in the hull. There were several holes in the hull that I SUPER patched from the inside (since I was there). But the outside is still in need of some work. to bring up to surface.
Question: Since I did a great job of reinforcing the cracks/holes from the inside, must I go 1708-CSM-1708 to fill these, or may I be able to build to the surface with just CSM and/or 1708, as I really don't think I need anything other than surface hardness since the underlying has been SUPER beefed up.
Question 2: I bought faring compound for a "final surface" build-up. Must I leave this a little shallow to allow for gel coat depth, or is that "over thinking" as well?

4. Seating fixtures. Most of the seating was glassed into the hull. I'm wondering if perhaps I can simply put in a tougher floor, with seating on stands. Of course this is simple to do, but I worry if the glassed in seating and fixtures added to t hull rigidity.

Sorry to dump. I'm just trying to get energized and line up a plan for this project come spring thaw.

Thanks in advance!
Jason (LeClaire, Iowa)

 

[devildogae]

1- So the floor. You don't want the floor to touch the hull. It's best to have a gap all the way around. Then you create a joint with thickened resin for a deck to hull joint. Then you tab it in with your 1708 all the way around. I used foam strips to keep the deck of the sides of the hull.

2 - The tank snug side to side, front to back? How about underneath the tank? Did you put anything under the tank or lay it on the fiberglass? You want air to be able to circulate around the gas tank so it doesn't corrode. I have no idea about how tight is to tight.

3- Can you post us some pics of these holes?

4- You would not need to glass the seating bases to the deck. But instead glass in the seating mounts, I'm always in favor of less screws/holes in the deck.

 

[boedekerj]

Thanks for the feedback!

Sounds like I was worried for nothing on the floor. I'll follow your advice of assuring the hull has some gap.

The tank; It's snug front back and side to side. I'd say that the gaps are not water tight, but it definitely makes contact with the fiberglass. As for putting anything down, nope. The shape of the tank is such that the bottom of the tank is flat, whereas the keel is, of course triangular, so there is no direct contact with the keel, so there's plenty of room for water through the bilge.

Unfortunately, it's currently tarped up for the winter, but I will send pics of the hull when it's out.

This boat is so small, and rated for so few people, I think I'll use glassed in seats/posts. There was enough seating before for 10, but it realistically can only handle the weight of 3-4 adults, or 2 adults and a few kids. I'd almost rather have clean layout and extra deck space than ample but unusable seating. Jury's still out on the seating, though.

Thanks!
-jb