Soft spot in floor

[ggundersen3]

19' 1987 Sea Ray bowrider has a soft spot in the floor on the passenger side next to the ski locker. Otherwise the rest of the floor seems ok. Is there a fix for this? Can I just somehow repair that spot and not have to replace the entire floor? help?

 

[ggundersen3]

Your duplicate topics have been merged, That where the comments came from. GA_B, Moderator

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19' 1987 Sea Ray bowrider has a soft spot in the floor on the passenger side next to the ski locker. Otherwise the rest of the floor seems ok. Is there a fix for this? Can I just somehow repair that spot and not have to replace the entire floor? help?

 

[Augoose]

Do some searching in the restoration thread section and you'll find a wealth of good information as the answer to your question is not really simple nor straightforward. When dealing with rot, there are no rules and no "norms". You could have just that one soft spot but likely the rot is spreading and that is just the area showing signs now. As you will read, a solid floor is not something just to walk on but its also part of the support structure of the boat - if it fails, the boat's structure is compromised. You also have stringers or ribs beneath the deck as well - if your floor is beginning to soften, the stringers are also suspect so those will need to be checked. Its similar to a water stain on your ceiling - are you concerned with just the stain or are you concerned about where it came from, what caused it and what else might be wet?

Look down inside the ski locker and take a screw driver and start poking around - any soft spots you can find? If you are serious about repairing the soft spot the other option would be to cut and access hole in the center of the spot and then use that access hole to inspect below for further signs of rot. Maybe there won't be any!

Good luck

 

[foodfisher]

Lot's of help in the restoration forum, but you better fasten your seat belt. It's going to be a rough ride.

 

[tpenfield]

The bigger concern would be if the floor is just part of the problem. You can certainly replace part of the floor, but you should check the structure and foam underneath to see if it has absorbed water and is rotting, etc. That is the typical scenario on how these things play out. It starts with a soft floor and then upon further investigation, it leads to stringer and bulkhead replacement. There is always an exception, and pictures would help us visualize.

Best to open up the area of the floor and check things out down below. Post lost of pictures in order to get some good advice on the repair.

 

[Barramundi NQ]

I hate to br the bearer of bad news, however the phrase "soft floor" very rarely ever means small repair. I have a soft spot on my floor, I know that it meams a full rebuild. This is almost always because of the way in which the soft spot finally makes itself be known. As the floor is the highest part of the deck, and water follows the law of gravity, meaning it falls to the lowest point (I'm a roofer and that law is something I work with every day). Follow the advice from tpenfield and check out threads already here in this forum regarding soft floor. friscojarrets a member on this forum and he had one soft spot too. Read how it went for him. In the meantime I hope that you don't have a major rebuild on your hands and that the water found its way into the deck only from above very recently and no wicking has occurred. Post lots of pictures and let us know.
k

 

[Barramundi NQ]

After some time on the water, and you've pulled out the bung/s, what colour is the water that comes out? This is not always reliable as the foam in the subfloor may absorb it all and not release much. If however the water looks a little like tea, or worse is like coffee, then its quite likely the timber in floor or stringers is gone.
Hope I'm helping.

 

[NYBo]

That was exactly how my boat was when l bought it. The edges of the plywood weren't sealed properly. However, more exploration revealed a few more bad spots and I ended up replacing about 25 square feet of the sole. I was very lucky that the damage was caused by missing glass that let in water. The boat was stored by the PO bow up with the plug out so the stringers and transom were fine. But that is not usually the case.

 

[alldodge]

I'm looking at buying a '87 Se Ray Sorrento 19' from the original owner. It's in average condition for it's age. Interior actually pretty good for it's age. Has a 4.3 190HP Mercruiser IO. Lower unit replaced 3 years ago. Starts right up. Runs good. But, there is one soft spot in the floor on the passenger side right next to the ski locker. The rest of the floor seems all OK. Hmmmmm? Until I saw that I was real interested, now I have alot of questions. Is it possible to just repair that spot? Is that the sure sign that the entire floor and stringers are going to have ongoing and never ending rot? I appreciate any and all advice here about this on soft spot in a floor that otherwise seems OK. Make no mistake either, it's a soft spot. It's spongy and I can hear the sound of wood cracking when I step directly on it with all of my 240 #.
Again, all and any advice appreciated. .

Without seeing the spot, my guess is it's in an area which water can pool. It could also be that part of the floor may not have been sealed in fiber glass. So this means you need to dig all the wood out, rebuild and fiberglass. If that's the only spot it might not be to bad. Need to find a way of looking under it and also, ask the owner if you can take a screw drive and probe around the inside of the hull. I would probe around that area and also in the transom. If you can push the screw drive in by had it's soft and needs replacing. Good luck