Fiberglass jon boat floor repair

[jethro1007]

I am in the middle of a deck replacement on a 15 ft fiberglass jon boat. This boat is a hand me down and the previous owner left it in his yard partially covered. I have removed the deck to find it has no stringers(not rotten stringers). It appears the floor was supported by the rotten plywood and flotation foam along with the tubular structure running the length of the boat. I am seeking suggestions for installing a stringer system to support the deck. Or would it be better to replace the deck and put in new foam like it was? This boat will not have an outboard and will only be used with a bow mounted troll wing motor and used on a 15 acre lake in my neighborhood. Any guidance you guys can provide will be hugely appreciated. I fully expected to open the floor to find rotten stringers that needed to be replaced. Also I’m new to this forum as well as boat repair so please be gentle

 

[GA_Boater]

Welcome aboard.

Back in the day, boat builders used sealed tubes like that for flotation. The Coast Guard stepped up rules on working flotation.

Is the tube in good shape? Some used glassed paper tubes as stringer and flotation.

I would put a new deck in with expanding flotation foam

 

[jethro1007]

Welcome aboard.

Back in the day, boat builders used sealed tubes like that for flotation. The Coast Guard stepped up rules on working flotation.

Is the tube in good shape? Some used glassed paper tubes as stringer and flotation.

I would put a new deck in with expanding flotation foam

The tube is solid. The foam that came out was completely soaked. Like I could squeeze the water out of it. It’s prob a money pit but the boat floats nice even as it was holding a lot of water.