professional opinion needed

[jasonorlando]

Ok, well the system decided to delete my first attempt....
First I would like to say thank you to the entire forum, every time I have had a question. I do a Google search, and it brings me right to the answer, and it is always from the iboat forum.


Now on to the issue at hand,
I am in the process of replacing rotten floors and stringers on my 94 sunbird corsair, under the ski locker there was a piece of ply glassed horizontally across the V, is this structural? Or just a panel, to make the bottom of the ski locker pretty?

This piece trapped leaves, and dirt under it constantly, and I'm thinking about skipping it, but then started wondering, if it was structural.
I will post pics of this area in question, just want to get this posted first,
Thank you in advance to all who can help answer this....

 

[jasonorlando]

Re: professional opinion needed

Attemting to attach pics here....

 

[jasonorlando]

Re: professional opinion needed

And please forgive the mess I am making with the resin and glass,
as I am still on the learning curve, and trying to figure out which resin glass combo works and doesnt break the bank...

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: professional opinion needed

nah, that's just a floor to make the ski locker look neat and clean, and keep your ski rope out of bilge water. you could ditch it or make it just lay loose so you could remove to clean

 

[oops!]

Re: professional opinion needed

hi.....im a pro....smoke has it right..the above is correct.....its a floor for the ski locker.

it keeps any bilge water flowing, out of the ropes and life jackets.

the v in the fiberglass is very structural....very very structural....

as smoke said......some people use a wood framed expanded metal mesh with carpet over it....

the wood frame will not allow the sharp corners of the metal to hurt the hull......and the frame allows the whole section to be pulled up.

the carpet over the metal, will allow the water from the skis to drip thru to the bilge.

 

[jasonorlando]

Re: professional opinion needed

Thanks guys, my buddy and i thought it was cosmetic, then i started second guessing, and didnt want to screw things up, or end up sinking my own boat with the family aboard.

 

[kfa4303]

Re: professional opinion needed

yeah, just cosmetic so you'd have a nice flat floor in the bottom of the ski locker. water is probably still able to drain beneath it to the bilge too. you'll see lots of tin boat guys do similar jobs out of aluminum angle and plywood, so that they have flat floors in the boat rather than the natural v of the hull. It just kind of makes standing and moving around easier.