Soft deck... Need advice.

[Stephenmoore009]

Recently purchased a 1989 Astroglass 152 bass boat. The very bottom deck where console is, is soft. Took carpet up and the wood is moist and the fiberglass resin covering it is cracked. No mat visible just resin coated wood.
Got to looking and it's all molded into the sides and console is all molded together. I know the absolute best way to repair this is to remove the deck and fix it that way.
My problem is I don't have the space to do such a repair, and I darn sure don't have the money to pay someone because I know it's going to be expensive.
Is there an acceptable solution to ( I know you guys won't like this but it's an awesome 1500 dollar boat.! ) is there an acceptable patch/repair I can do to just get maybe 4-5 more years out of this boat..? From what I can get to and see the stringers and transome are all in real good shape, it was just a crappy design to not put woven mat over the floor for extra support.
Any and all input and suggestions are welcome, (even a fair amount of criticism)...lol

 

[Scott Danforth]

welcome aboard

to answer your question, no, there is no half-arsed patch job that anyone can recommend in good faith. your floor is the last thing to rot, the stringers and transom most likely went years ago. boats rot starting at the keel, and to date, there has only been one thread on Iboats that I know of where the floor itself was the only soft spot, so either you are extremely lucky and have the second boat to actually have good stringers and transom with a rotten deck (and if that is the case buy a lottery ticket), or you did not perform a series of test drills.

I do suggest you start by reading link 14 in its entirety http://forums.iboats.com/forum/boat...r/295740-how-to-s-and-other-great-information

 

[Stephenmoore009]

Thanks for the quick response, and seriously the stringers and transom look and sound solid tapping with a hammer, but your right I didn't do a drill test because I didn't want to expose any wood incase they are good.
If I do a drill test am I looking for wet wood shavings to come out..?
Like I said it's just a 1500 hundred dollar boat, so if it lasts just a few more years I'll be happy.
But I really like it so I just need to decide on what to do.
I'll go read the post you linked and if I have anymore questions I'll post them here.

 

[Stephenmoore009]

Man what a detailed write up..! Only thing that's different is that my floor is molded into the deck not the hull. But that is a TON of useful information..! Looks like I need to do a bit of drilling and testing, and hope for the best but expect the worst... Lol.
If anyone knows of a thread of someone fixing a floor like mine and can point me in the right direction I would really appreciate it...!!!