mittens

wow cool pic. sucks though.

jeffswav

Most likley someone let water sit in the boat to rot out the floor. It does not take much to rot out the wood, I had to replace my transom last year. Some of the screws were not sealed up on the trim tabs.

thisistank

Both points on this thread are very valid. A boat not properly cared for will have rot and other issues no matter what the build! Baja was a production line boat (quick builds, cost saving efforts to get it out quick and cheap), that's no secret. Screws into the fiberglass were pretty common (for example the way they through bolted the outer edge of the bolsters in the Outlaw series but screwed the inner mounts into the floor because it wouldn've been a PITA to through bolt them). I would assume any holes cut through anything near water or direct contact with water was properly sealed at Baja as a standard build process. But the other various screws on the inner portions most likely were just directly screwed in with out sealant first. But if you let water sit and there's screws, water will seep in and cause rot.

I agree with Obnoxus, I had a 97 Outlaw I ran the snot out of for 7 years and never had anything get rotted except the engine hatch (which was a near factor recall regarding how they built it and improper draining).

Either way, sorry youre having issues with rot. It's no fun no matter what boat you own!!

LanierBoss272

Agree 100%- I bought a now 12 year old boat 10 years into it's life and for the most part, she's truly a solid vessel. The rot is annoying, but not knowing how she was treated prior it's understandable. I think the biggest issue with the floor rot wasn't the screws but more so the cracks in the floor once it got a little weak and the bolsters punched through the first layer of glass and really allowed water and moisture an area to penetrate. I really wanted to put this post up because I know of several Baja owners that are having the same issues with the floor, and like me, thought it was solid fiberglass and not laminated wood in the middle. I may even go as far as to this winter, pulling the floor again and having a mold made for the 2 skins (inner and outer) and replace the wood with starboard. Rot issues solved!

I think I had just reached my boiling point with some of the "shortcuts" in construction. My lower fuse panel has fallen open, the switch panel has dropped 4 of it's 8 screws, even the windscreen had come loose at the back corners (fixed now though) all because of the same issue- screwing into raw fiberglass. 12 years of beating the crap out of it on rough lakes and poker runs and just rumble of the big block shakes stuff loose especially when it's only grabbing on maybe an 1/8" of fiberglass. Bonding epoxy has truly become my best friend over this experience! Fill, sand, drill!!! (I think I should've named the boat that!)

wantingmore

I replaced mine a couple of years ago and recently it got soft again, so I replaced it with 2 3/4" pieces of starboard stacked on top of each other. It's rock solid, looks great, and will never rot.

puzzleboy

Mine is the center panel which appears to cover the fuel tank I'm guessing. Never had it up, but it ends up near the front of the bolsters, and at the aft end goes under the rear seat bulkhead and ends there.

Is this the panel that has a wood structure to it? This is the panel where it appears to be a bit weak in the middle, just forward of the rear seat vertical bulkhead. Everywhere else it seems fine. I keep water out of it, and the previous owner had it dry stored whenever it wasn't being used. Guess I should check though.

Ebay Ed

puzzle mine was soft also and found out i have bad stringers right there mine just had the transom replaced this week and now it is getting ready to be split in half and have the rest of the rotten wood replaced i will have a brand " new " 1998 272 baja when mine is done

wowchad

That right there, that's funny!
It would be a unique boat name that's for sure.

Had a couple Baja's, great memories and I loved 'em both but drilling a hole through wood and not going back with a brush full of resin is a truly a crime.

wantingmore

Yep,that's the place

c_deezy

iTrader: (1)

Do you have a pic that is taken further out showing exactly where this is in the boat?

That's balsa coring and seems kind of odd to be used in the cockpit floor (I'm assuming based on the pic), were your seats bolted into this? If so it's no wonder it rotted.

Having torn mine completely apart and seeing firsthand how it was built, I disagree that these boats were severely neglected and that's why they rotted. Granted most of the boats in this thread are 10 years newer than mine, but it's evident the construction techniques didn't really improve over that period of time. I would be very surprised if any boat built during that era was rot-free today, even ones that had the utmost care over the years. The ones that claim they are, just don't know it yet.