Hey Guys

I have an old (mid 80's) Tempest runabout, its 15ft long powered by a "mind blowing" 55hp outboard! LOL

Its just something the kids use for tubing and bashing around in (cheap on gas and insurance) It also gets used for fishing, since "worm guts" smeared all over my Baja doesnt really appeal to me.

Anyway the floor is rotted, its to the point where anyone who gets in the boat has to be carefull where they step. I found a place locally that sells marine carpet, but wondered what you guys recommend for the actual "floor"? Would regular plywood work out? Or is there something better?

I dont want to spend "serious" money on this thing, since its really not worth a lot, however, I am 6ft 2 and a couple of big Macs away from 220pds, so, the idea of trying to wedge my fat arse into a 15ft boat to fix the floor ISNT something I want to do too often, so, using something that will last a few years (or decades) would be ideal

Thanks in advance for the input

Michael

Are you going to tear out the existing floor and re-do it or just want something to go over top of it to get by? If your floor is rotten most likely your stringers are too, so if you do tear out the existing floor the project may get bigger. Although it shouldn't be too bad on a 15 foot boat.

As far as what to use, a decent plywood with a layer or two of glass and resin should be fine. I used a decent A/C grade called 'Arauco' (or something like that) for most of the new structure when I rebuilt my 240. When I did the floor I also put a layer of glass/resin on the bottom side too so it was completely encapsulated.

I think I am at the point where I am gonna HAVE to take the existing floor out and replace it, its soft pretty much "Everywhere" and I think if I was to put new stuff down on top of the old then I would be back in the same boat (literally) in a year or two.

Is it hard to replace stringers? Is there a way to check them to see if they are ok or not?

Thanks for the info!

Michael

Yea, poke them with something pointy! Or tap on them with a tack hammer all over, the dead flat sound you hear is rotted stringer, cut it ALL out, replace the wood and re-glass.

Once you have the old flooring out you will be able to inspect the stringers to see if they are still good, if you need to replace them then remove/replce one stringer at a time to help "hold" the shape of the hull. Do not use treated plywood when going back with the flooring because the fiberglass will not adhere to it, I ecommend Greenwood XL plywood panels as they are made for marine grade and cost around $70.00 a sheet plus frieght from Overton's. Also recommend using exposy over fiberglass resin, better adhesion to wood, will adhere to current fiberglass on you boat and about three times longer pot life and extremely low order. PM for e-mail if you have any questions, I am currently finishing up a floor/stringer on a 84 Centery CTS.

Great! Thanks for the help. I am gonna start tearing the floor up in the next few days, will probably take you up on the offer to PM you Cliff, stay close to your inbox, lol

Thanks again!
Michael

With proper prep on the existing substrate there is no need to spend the extra money on epoxy, regular poly resin will work just fine at about 1/3 of the cost.