what is the floor in a 1987 formula 242 made of

[alamantia]

Super novice question here but these white panels on the interior floor of a boat i am looking at buying what material are they? The reason I ask is because the only boat i have ever owned was a 1987 wellcraft that had was carpet over marine plywood. The entire floor was solid as a rock and very ridged with no flex. The formula i am looking at has these white panels and as i moved up and down the center of the floor flexed quite a bit. Are the panels plastic? Are they backed with wood? Should there be flex?

 

[jigngrub]

Does it look like this stuff?

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Unbrande...0-FRP-Wall-Board-MFTF12IXA480009600/100389836

 

[alamantia]

More like this

 

[Bondo]

Ayuh,.... Looks like the basic fiberglass lay up, wood backer is probably rotten,....

 

[DeepBlue2010]

This is a regular fiberglass deck as Bondo indicated. It is fabricated by sandwiching some sort of a core (most likely plywood) between two sides of fiberglass each side consists of one or more layer. If the panel flex as you move on it, the core is most likely rotten. Moreover, boats tends to rot from the bottom up. If the deck is gone, most likely the stringers and the transom are as well. If this is the case, this is going to be a project boat and will require a lot of work. Keep this in mind before you make your decision to buy the boat. Best of luck

 

[jigngrub]

Boat decks should not be soft, springy, spongy, or flexing. They should be firm and solid.

On a 28 yr. old fiberglass boat, that may or may not be the original deck. If not properly cared for a boat deck can rot out in 10-15 yrs.