boat floor repair

[loejay]

I bought a 1998 crestliner that was a DNR boat the floor is soft.Any input about just putting new floor over old? Reason is old floor goes under the  consoles and would need to remove them to get it out.Was thinking of coating new wood with rubber roof coating and then vinyl over that.Thanks

[shamrock7]

Unfortunately, Crestliner had a few years where they had some bad plywood. I have one to do this spring myself. There is really no reason to put anything on the new plywood other than for your own piece of mind. It won't hurt anything. Make sure that you put down good AC or better quality treated plywood. Others will say only use marine grade. In my experience, (25 years in the marine business) marine plywood is just a lot of extra money. As long as the wood you get is exterior grade, you should never have to deal with this issue again.

[ThinIce2006]

Take it from me, you really have to remove the old rotten wood and replace it. I had to do mine about two years ago. This time I coated the plywood with fiberglas before I put it down and it's as firm as a virgins butt. Several years ago I tried just putting resin over bad wood, but it didn't last one season. To make it easier replace the floor in pieces so you can tuck one under the console.

[walleyeseeker]

Don't use regular treated plywood for a floor, it is not made for horizontal applications. Use PTS or AC or marine grade, but never construction grade treated.

[Eric Wettschreck]

Regular AC plywood coated with fiberglass resin works best. The chemicals in pressure treated plywood will react with the aluminum and do bad things to the metal.

If you have any questions aboot re-flooring your boat, let me recommend contacting Steve Bakken. He told me everything I needed to know about doing mine.

[loejay]

Thanks for the input guys. I have to see what kind of plywood I can find in town.I didn't know that pressure treated plywood would react to the metal thanks for the heads up.I have the floor in the front all replaced with a buddys help he had a sheet of 11 ply birch 3/4 in. I wanted to do 3/4 in the rear floor but it only has 1/2 in. Going to work on the rear this week.

[timjones]

If you end up using pressure treated plywood you will also need to use special treated fastners or else stainless steel. If you use normal screws the chemicals in the plywood will dissolve them in a year or two.

[Steve Bakken]

The toughest part about going over the top of the old wood is finding something to attach the new wood down to. The old wood wont hold a screw and it's a guessing game as to where the stringers run. If you can, you'll get much better results by removing the old wood first. When we do one at the shop, 90% of the time, it's only a couple screws that attach the consoles to the floor. You only need to raise them an inch or so to slide the wood in and out. This way, too, you won't have moist old wood accelerating the decay of the new stuff.

[loejay]

I have been looking at taking the old stuff out now that i see how much moisture is still in the old wood.It looks like the front sheet goes under consoles and half ways under the live well. More work i guess.

Talked with Crestliner the old floor is 5/8 plywood so thats what I am useing again. What do I use for a sealer if I don't want to use fiberglass?

Thanks for all the imput!!!

[sparcebag]

Loejay I see your in Alaska.Have you thought about a composit material? recycled plastics,no more rot EVER salt just stains does'nt impregnate.I have $90.00 in flooring a boat I'm doin right now,just pulled it and going to composits after checking into them!Some boatmakers have already switched.

[loejay]

No sparcebag its AKASKA SD. I go to Soldotna,Alaska every summer

Where do u buy that stuff? I checked one place in Nebraska and they get $100 a sheet for 4x8 sheet,plus shipping. Prices me out of that stuff.

.

[loejay]

I have been having bad luck with this project. The nice 3/4 11 ply cabnet plywood has no exterior glue in it. So i went with all 5/8BCX. Well i cut out the compartment covers and see that this plywood has voids in it and is comming apart.So back to the (bad word)lumber yard.No have 3/4 7 ply marine grade plywood ordered.They did discount it.I hope its better than the last stuff.