Part way through floor replace, have some ?'s

[PatJ]

Hi.<br /><br />I am replacing the floor, foam, and stringers (at least) on my 77 Fiberform Runabout 18'. I have the old floors, foam, and stringers out now and have run into a couple of questions. I am a total beginner with this kind of thing.<br /><br />1. On the outside of the boat the front comes to a fairly sharp point at the bottom, but once we got the floors and foam from out of there, we aren't seeing that sharp point in the fiberglass in the inside. Is there something under there? A false floor? Another piece of wood (that would likely be rotted?) Is the fiberglass just really thick up there?<br /><br />2. We have the boat sitting on the trailer. As I have removed the floor and made the boat weaker I have a concern that there will be too much weight on the rollers of the trailer. Can this either crack the floor of the boat while I work in there or cause it to slightly change shape as I add the new stringers and floor? Is this a concern? Is there a trick to this?<br /><br />3. The transom has some pretty serious rot in the bildge and what was below the floor level. A few test holes in what was above floor level show solid wood. Is there a way to replace just part of the transom? I would really like to leave that part that holds the outdrive in the transom if I can, and the wood around it looks solid. It is only bad below floor level even though it was encased in fiberglass. The transom looks like it could turn out being a real pain. How should I attack the transom?<br /><br />I can provide pictures of anything if that would help. Thanks so much for your help.<br /><br />Pat

 

[quantumleap]

Re: Part way through floor replace, have some ?'s

1. The keel was probably built up on the inside with glass from the factory.<br /><br />2.It won't crack the boat, but that is why you should have replaced the stringers one at a time, to maintain the shape. I would shore up the upper hull across the beam with some 2x's to maintain the shape while you glass in the stringers. Take some measurements from the top to make sure it's straight.<br /><br />3.You could probably just replace part, but it will take just as much time as replacing the whole thing in the long run and won't be as strong. Scabbing the stringers is o.k., but I personally would want a solid transom.<br /><br />Have you done a search on this site using the icon above for 'wood rot' or 'transom repair'. There is a ton of reading with quite a few good pictures. Good luck.

 

[JasonJ]

Re: Part way through floor replace, have some ?'s

It won't hurt to walk around on the shell with everything out, I did and my 200 lbs didn't hurt it. I had gutted mine to the bare shell and layed all the stringers in and affixed them to each other with the cross braces. Once satisfied that all fit as it should, I glassed the sringers one at a time. I made sure to sight along the bottom to make sure there was no odd shaping going on. By the time I was done, all was well. Click my link below for my how-I-did-it. You also want to replace the entire transom as a whole. You are doing a serious rebuild, don't skimp on the most important part of the structure. The peace of mind is well worth the extra work. Good luck...

 

[PatJ]

Re: Part way through floor replace, have some ?'s

Thank you very much for your help. I have been reading old threads in my free time, looks like the whole transom needs to go.<br /><br />JasonJ thank you for your website, your site is one of the reasons I decided I could do this when I started on it the other day.<br /><br />Thanks again for the help.

 

[crab bait]

Re: Part way through floor replace, have some ?'s

lay a good 2x4 athortships ( across ) at midship ( middle ) of boat... i.e. across the gunales/shears.. <br /><br />stand back an 'eyeball' the air gap between the top of transom an 2x4 for a twist/rack in the hull.. jackup acordinly to remove any rack that may be..<br /><br />your eyeball can/will pick up slight twists..