soft floor repair advice

[muzzytt]

Hi all..

I have had this soft spot in the floor since I purchased the boat it was covered by screwing down plywoood on top.

I just pulled the plywood off and indeed floor was very soft. so up came the carpet and I jjust pushed it in and it started falling to bits. so I kept digging till I found the stringer and to my surprise it was solid and no signs of rot or softness. i used my phone camera to take some pictures inside and all looks good.. mpics are attached.

as its summer I want to keep using the boat untill winter when I can pull the floor out. however I had this access hatch lying around that will fit that space well or should i cut some ply and patch it up.
eventually once i replace the floor i would like to not put the carpet back in some sort of non slip surface..


I also want to remove old screws in the transom can I fill these holes up with an epoxy filler ?
any help would be appreciated as I have never worked on boats

btw the boat had this ice box arrangement that was screwed down in the middle of boat driectly on top of were the fuel tank was , well i took it off as its wasting space and is not a well designed item.. when i took it out i found an inspection port that gives access to a bolt on the fuel tank... any idea what that is for?

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii314/Muzzytt/DSC03079.jpg
above pic showing rotted area and the access hatch that i want to put there..

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii314/Muzzytt/DSC03028.jpg
stringers seem good

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii314/Muzzytt/DSC03042_edited.jpg
another pic shwoing inside the rotted hole pic of stringer


http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii314/Muzzytt/DSC03073.jpg
pic of the access hole that was under the ice box


http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii314/Muzzytt/3333333.jpg

pic of the ice box as it was in the boat prior to taking it out.

[muzzytt]

there was plywood screwed down over the hole in the floor the boat also has a custom cover and when it rained the water would accumulate over the area were soft spot was and slowly drip onto were the soft spot was. so i presume thats why it went soft there.
and the screwed down ice box plus the seat boxs mite not have helped either..

there is also this gel type fluid on top of fuel tank looks a browny colour as can be seen in pics.. i dont know if this was because of when i left the bait pump tap open recently and nearly sunk the boat ? back half of boat was full of sea water so maybe that caused it?

[finga]

Exploratory surgery might be needed for the hatch.
Roughly mark out where the hatch will go (in pencil) and start drilling about 1/8" holes from around the edge of the rot and drill little holes going round and round in circles working outwards towards the line you've marked out.
If the timber is not soft in an area stop drilling there. It's solid. Don't drill anymore holes in the solid timber as you might have to move the hatch a bit to get rid of some rot in another area that's outside the original hatch position.
Try and work out where the rot is located by doing this over and over until you either run out of rot or floor.
If the rot runs out first mark out the hatch and cut the hole for it etc etc.
If you run out of floor put another ply/alloy/fiberglass patch on it until winter repairs.
Make sense?? Hope so :)

[PADDLES]

the brown stuff might be duralac or something similar to isolate that bolt from the tank (dissimilar metals)

[muzzytt]

finga did as u suggested and it worked out ok the hatch fits nicely. I am gonna glue it down instead of using screws that should hold it down.
its obvious that the seat boxs are one of the main culprits for the floor rotting as the screws they used to bolt them down seems to have cuased the rot.

the middle floor panel covering the fuel tank seems dry and strong. i used a jig saw to cut out the shape for the hatch wich was less messy than grinding it.

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii314/Muzzytt/DSC03092.jpg




oh an that bolt turned out to be something like a dip stick to check fuel levels prior to the ice box being bolted on top of it.

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii314/Muzzytt/DSC03087.jpg



guys any idea how to fill these holes that are no longer used in transom?

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii314/Muzzytt/DSC03089.jpg

[siegfried]

Hey muzz there is a product called epi fill you can get that is the go for patching up holes , top stuff bcf etc should have it

[muzzytt]

Hey muzz there is a product called epi fill you can get that is the go for patching up holes , top stuff bcf etc should have it


cheers mate however ended up using sika epoxy filler it is a kneading product and dries rock hard and is rated for use in underwater hopefully that will do the trick...

I have also now cut the rot out and installed the hatch so it should be fine untill winter when ill pull it all out.

seems the rot started from the screwed down BOAT BOX seat jobbies.
I am also movong the batteries up front near the helm seats along with the switch.


I have removed all the antifoul on the back of the boat now and looks much better now a little spray on paint stripper and orbital sanding got rid of it.

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii314/Muzzytt/DSC03100.jpg
PIc showing b4 antifoul removal


http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii314/Muzzytt/DSC03099.jpg
and after

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii314/Muzzytt/DSC03098.jpg


http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii314/Muzzytt/DSC03097.jpg
and the seats with boat box`s

[muzzytt]

the seat on the left used to be used as a live bait tank .... 1980`s design :)