saving a soft floor

[phatmanmike]

hi, mods, i thought this would be better here than the first post i did, thanks!<br /><br />hi all. me again. i know <br /><br />i have a 1986 bonito 16.5 foot center console with a few soft spots on the floor . mostly around the console, but also in the very front. now this is my "redneck boat" to say the least. it aint pretty, but it works, and it was cheep.<br /><br />i was thinking of laying down some epoxy and either mat of cloth (which one should i use)over the existing floor to "stiffen" it up and maybe give me another 2 years or so out of the boat. i didnt pay much for it and id like to use it for a lil bit longer before i send it to boat heaven. i know this is not the "propper" way to fix soft spots, i just wanna stretch the life span a smidgen without braking the bank. i can get the fiberglassing materials locally for much less than west marine.<br /><br />any thoughts, come on, i know you "ugly but usable" boat owners are out there?

 

[Bass Runner]

Re: saving a soft floor

If you are going to do that I would lay some 3/8" plywood down first then glass it, but you are going to add a lot of weight doing that. Hope the stringers arn't rotted out if they are you are looking at breaking it in half.

 

[snapperbait]

Re: saving a soft floor

Drill a bunch of good size holes in the rotted areas of the floor and pump the rotted wood full of epoxy... That'll only work if the underside of the wood was glassed in/over, otherwise all the epoxy will go down in the bilge..... Wood has to be absolutely dry...<br /><br />Best bet.. Cut out the bad floor and fix it right...

 

[quantumleap]

Re: saving a soft floor

Lay a new floor of 3/8" and coat it on all sides and edges with some CPES from rot doctor. Much less weight than glassing it and it'll probably outlast the rest of the boat.