Deck soft spot?

[Texas Parrothead]

I have a 1993 20' open bow Chaparral SL2000. I have been noticing a soft spot in my deck back by the rear seats and am a little perplexed as I understood Chaparral made this boat with marine grade plywood with fiberglass cloth and paint on top.

Not sure if anyone could provide any insight as to whether it is likely I am starting to get floor rot. The carpet is in great condition and i really don't want to have to tear up the carpeting to find out.

Any other Chaparral owners out there that can comment?

Thanks!

 

[MTribe08]

Re: Deck soft spot?

I have a 1993 20' open bow Chaparral SL2000. I have been noticing a soft spot in my deck back by the rear seats and am a little perplexed as I understood Chaparral made this boat with marine grade plywood with fiberglass cloth and paint on top.

Not sure if anyone could provide any insight as to whether it is likely I am starting to get floor rot. The carpet is in great condition and i really don't want to have to tear up the carpeting to find out.

Any other Chaparral owners out there that can comment?

Thanks!

If the deck feels "spongy" that spells trouble. I had some spongy spots under my rear jumpseats..when I ripped things up to have a look....oh boy

Unfortunately, if its bothering you, the thing you need to do, is peel back the carpet and do some exploratory drilling with an 1/8"-1/4" bit. If you don't end up tearing out that wood, make sure you re-fill those holes with some 3m-5200.

If you post this in the restoration forum with some pictures, you'll get all the help you need. You can also click on the link at the bottom of my post..it will take you through my entire project. From discovering the "soft" spots to replacing stringers and deck. Good luck.

 

[Texas Parrothead]

Re: Deck soft spot?

Thanks MTribe!

Looks like you did a great job on your boat. That actually scares the heck out of me as I don't have the time to be able to complete a project like that.

I talked to a guy locally who says as a rough estimate he could replace my deck for about $1200 but that does not include putting carpet back in.

 

[oops!]

Re: Deck soft spot?

deck soft spot means only one thing......rot.

forget the fact that chap uses marine ply....actually in a deck circumstance...marine ply does nothing to prevent rot.

the actual repair you are talking about could be just a localized area....and a total of only 5 hrs work.

if the entire deck must come out.....(and i doubt that it does) 1200 is cheap.....especially if it include the instillation of new carpet.

if that is labor only....its expensive.

cheers
oops

 

[oops!]

Re: Deck soft spot?

btw.......welcome to iboats !

 

[a70eliminator]

Re: Deck soft spot?

My 2000sl deck had a couple soft spots, one at that round access door in front of the engine cover, bare wood around that hatch was never sealed, the other spot was the starboard side of the ski locker was a liitle wet, I eneded up taking out a section from the ski locker back to the engine cover and between the stringers wide, it was just one lenght of 3/4 cut to fit and glassed over, re-beded the tank while i had it out.

 

[metriccrescentwrench]

Re: Deck soft spot?

I've rebuilt/restored 2 boats now, so I have a bit of experience with "soft spots" in the deck etc.

First off, it's a common misperception that marine plywood is in any way, shape, or form waterproof. Sure, they use moisture resistant glue, but that does nothing as far as waterproofing the wood. The biggest difference in marine plywood is that the plies are void free and hence stronger than standard plywood.

First off, look for any logical way that water got to the wood in that area. Screws that weren't properly sealed are a common culprit. The other possibility is that water got to the deck from underneath. Is there foam under the deck in that area? If so then you probably have a bunch of waterlogged foam to deal with, and possibly some bad stringers as well.

Do yourself a favor and educate yourself as much as possible about what's going on and how the water got there before handing over a bunch of money for someone else to fix it. Pull the carpet up and cut a few holes through the deck to see what's down there. You don't want to pay to have just the deck repaired only to later find out that you've also got bad stringers and wet foam.

 

[geeco1]

Re: Deck soft spot?

So this brings up a good question..... on NEW boats, does the manufacturer seal the plywood in epoxy, etc. How about when they drill holes to mount seats, engine compartment hinges, etc, do they seal them with anything?

I could be wrong, but my guess is that they do not. If that is the case, then I can see why a new boat that is exposed to a lot of water can develop rot and soft floors rather quickly.

 

[Texas Parrothead]

Re: Deck soft spot?

Thanks to all for your input!!

a70eliminator - Did you have foam underneath your flooring between the stringers?
I am going to try to make the floor last for the rest of the season and then pull up the carpeting in offseason, inspect what is going on and then get some bids for the work.

Thanks again!

 

[a70eliminator]

Re: Deck soft spot?

The soft spots on mine were more in the center rear deck and just behind the ski locker, I went through the access hatch for the tank and inserted my tape measure till it hit the stringers, I marked the locations, took my circular saw with depth set about 5/8" and cut out a section from the bilge bulkhead up to the ski locker bulkhead.
There was no foam between the stringers just fuel tank and hollow space.
Unfortunately there is foam on the outboard sides of the stringers, I know because I drilled out some core samples on each side, in this photo you'll see a blue expansion plug temporarily plugging the hole.

 

[metriccrescentwrench]

Re: Deck soft spot?

on NEW boats, does the manufacturer seal the plywood in epoxy, etc. How about when they drill holes to mount seats, engine compartment hinges, etc, do they seal them with anything?

If they don't they should. On my rebuild projects I coated the underside of the deck with epoxy, and any screws into the deck were sealed with 3M 5200. But I'm with you, I'd be surprised if all boat manufacturers went to that trouble.

 

[Stachi]

Re: Deck soft spot?

The soft spots on mine were more in the center rear deck and just behind the ski locker, I went through the access hatch for the tank and inserted my tape measure till it hit the stringers, I marked the locations, took my circular saw with depth set about 5/8" and cut out a section from the bilge bulkhead up to the ski locker bulkhead.
There was no foam between the stringers just fuel tank and hollow space.
Unfortunately there is foam on the outboard sides of the stringers, I know because I drilled out some core samples on each side, in this photo you'll see a blue expansion plug temporarily plugging the hole.

I sure hope your foam isn't blue...lol... I'm re-decking mine now... ALL of the foam 'flotation' was water logged in mine...and it rotted every piece of plywood it was up against...ya might think of selling it as is, with explanation of whats wrong and what it needs.....it doesn't sound like you have the time to do this kind of repair...just my 2 cents

 

[a70eliminator]

Re: Deck soft spot?

I looked at this one boat sitting on a trailer, the seller jumped in and bounced on the deck and said, "this deck is still good and solid", just then something caught my eye and I said, "wait a minute do that again", there was a screw size hole right behind the rear seat and water would gurgle up out everytime he pushed down in that area, the guy said it was because of all the rain we've been having, the guy had no clue and I think he honestly believed it.
So anyhow, where exactly is this soft spot, I know my chaparral plywood was (is) fiberglassed on both sides from the factory, the only rot i had was due to the hatches being cut and the edges not properly sealed.

 

[Texas Parrothead]

Re: Deck soft spot?

My soft spot is in the same location as yours a70eliminator. It is actually from the tank access cap to about 14 inches to the starbord. Based on this I have hoping most of my decking is still good.

a70 did you replace all the carpeting in your boat after the fix or were you able to match the color and only do a portion of the rear?

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Deck soft spot?

Instead of trying to match the carpet (and end up being off) I'd go with a coordinating different color like burgundy and beige or blue and gray.