Soft spot repair
 

Managed to punch a hole in a soft spot a few months back and never got around to replacing the spot. Got the fuel tank out this evening and need some pointers on replacing the wood and fiber glass. Soft spot runs from about a foot in front of the drain and goes almost to under the livewell. Any help/pointers is appreciated as I?ve never done this but would like to get it done myself.

i thought someone more knowledgeable than me would answer, but, guess not. i redid my deck once and did a pretty decent job. if it was me, i'd set my saw to the depth of the floor wood and cut out the bad spot. then replace it with a piece of marine plywood and glass over the patch using heavy mat. sand it down and paint.

What I would do.?? I can't tell but it looks like you have mold in the picture. If so, this must be taken care of. Cut out as much as you can and if there "might" be any more, treat it with product made to kill mold.... not Clorox it only kills what is on the surface.


If the remaining wood around the edge of where you cut is dirty, it needs cleaning [sanding???] so the fiberglass will attach firmly.


Then after you get the plywood cut to fit the hole, I would put a layer of fiberglass on both sides and edges to seal the wood.


Then attach two [or 3] pieces of wood using screws along the top edge of the plywood and allow the wood to stick out about an inch. This will allow you to place the plywood in the hole, and the extra wood you added will keep the plywood from falling down in the hole.


Put the first layer of fiberglass [resin and glass mat] on the on the plywood... except not where the extra support wood is located. The resin should extend 2 to 3 inches onto the old flooring. After the fiberglass hardens, remove the support blocks and glass these areas.


If this repair is where a person will walk on the spot.... I would put 3 or 4 layers in that area.


Another tip..... only mix small batches of the resin, maybe a cup at a time until you get use to working with it. Cut the figerglass matting [enough to extend 2 to 3 inches out around the edges] before mixing the resin. Since this is a fairly large area, it might be easier to cut 2 or 3 pieces of mat to cover the area. Over lap each piece before putting on the resin.

If you have a soft spot in the floor you might also have other hidden damage. Before you close the hole up check to see if there is more damage that needs taking care of. If you go to Bateaus2.com they have a forum that among other things covers repair underCracker Larry's Corner: Boat Repair and Rebuild Support


There are a lot of people that post pictures of the repairs as they do them and you can get questions answered. If you join the forum (no charge) you can post pictures of what you are looking at and get recommendations in what to do.


I built one of their boat designs and used 20 gallons of epoxy and yards of biaxial fiberglass. I live in Sulphur and if you have any questions PM me.

Could also search Gringo John's posts on here. He's probably covered all you need to know, along with photos.

Well, there's some termites in there too. Also some of the stringers are rotten. Crap.

Your project just got a lot bigger.


To repair the boat, you will have to keep cutting out the "BAD" areas until you have removed all the termites and any mold. Your problem [damage] is why a lot people don't buy a fiberglass boat that has wood in it.


I would buy some fiberglass [or maybe Aluminum] material to use as stringers to support the floor. These can be glassed onto the bottom of the plywood. Make the stringers a little longer than you think what is needed and trim them to make the floor level.


Good luck in your repairs.

At this point your repair work will be to completely remove the floor to get access to the stringers and transom. Remove stringers as needed to get to good material, look very carefully at the transom. Use an ice pick to check for softness and use a drill to gently take out core samples looking for wet black wood. Be careful not to drill all the way through the transom. You may end up with all of the insides removed, an empty hull. This may mean an easier, but more costly repair, as you now have good access to replace what you need to replace. If you go this route the hull needs to be adequately supported to keep the hull from warping as you do your repair work. Again Bateau has detailed pictures and repair methods on their repair forum.

Boat Repair Link
 

Here are two links to floor repair jobs that grew to stringer repair and transom repair.


https://forums.bateau2.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=61322


https://forums.bateau2.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=64084

I recommend that you take lost of picture of what you take apart. This can help you to know how to put the floor back together.