93' Ski-racer flooring / deck replacement.

Hello all! I just purchased my first boat. I bought it knowing that it needed the floor redone.
I haven't removed the old decking yet, so I'm anticipating having to do stringers as well. This is my first time doing glass work on anything. I know this part of the boat won't be visible, but I'll know it looks like crap if it isn't done right, so I've practiced on a few t-joints I made from regular plywood until I got good results. I pre-coated the plywood until it stopped absorbing the resin. Using epoxy resin, I have my peanut butter consistency down for the fillets, chop strand overlapping the fillets, then 1708 over everything, rolling all the air/excess resin out.

I just have a few questions.

What would a standard deck thickness be on this type of boat? I was considering 1/2" but I don't want it to be flimsy, and 3/4" seems like way overkill. I guess it would mostly depend on stringer placement? Should I just stick with 1/2" and add stringers where necessary?

What is the proper way to bed the stringers to the hull? Do you use spacers under the stringers before you bed them, or set them directly on the hull?

If you are using epoxy, 1700 45/45 is a better choice ( no csm). Less resin and easier to work with. Stringers correct way, 2 layers of 1700 on top of layup for a pad. Putty in stringers, tab in 2 layers, and wrap tops 2 layers. As far as deck thickness, whatever you're comfortable with. I did all mine in 3/4" but that was primarily just to avoid having different thicknesses to work with. It was easier for me just to standardize. JMHO

What is the intended use for the boat? If it is destined to be fast I would switch from wood to a 1/2'' core board material. You can use it for stringers and floors and much more. It will also save a little weight and make it more rot proof. When you start tearing into it, post up some pics to let us see what it was built with.

I'm a big fan of composite board also. For a number of reasons.

Thank you for the responses! It's primary use will be for cruising around, no racing.
I'll be sure to take detailed photos. Now when you say core board, which type would be ideal?

A product called coosa board is one good brand. There are several others. They come in varying densities for different applications. Do a little research on them and you will see types and their uses.

My choice for everything EXCEPT transom was Carbon-core laminated, honeycomb. I choose this due to it being pre-laminated, very light, less money than most others, and reasonable shipping. So far I've been pleased working with it, although it does present a few minor challenges.

Well, I didn't have much time to work on it today, however I started into it. It doesn't look to have stringers. The seats are bolted directly to the deck with lag bolts and nylock nuts. Not sure how they managed tighten them? I'm still in the process if moving all my tools to the garage, so I didn't have my cut off wheel to slot the end of the lag bolt so I could use a screw driver and a box end wrench to remove the nuts. Honestly, the floor feels so bad, I could have probably ripped them out, but there's a section of alum angle that the bolts run through under the floor plus the passenger seat already has a pretty good size crack in the base that'll need some love too. Photos are looking from bow to stern.
Looks like I did score a can of Diet Pepsi!
Attachment 403654Attachment 403650Attachment 403651Attachment 403653Attachment 403649

Wow, that is a mess! Surprised it wasn't sealed better. Might consider pulling the deck. Won't be easy any way it's done. Divinnycell core would be my choice for that repair.

Looks like you're licking over someone else's patch work. No stringers huh. I'm not a fan of that having seen stringers fail at high speed.

Made a little progress tonight. It looks to be only 1/2". When you say pulling the deck, do you mean separating the hull/shell at the seam, or removing the entire floor?
Where the hole was cut in the center of the floor for the storage box, cup holders, the end grain was never sealed. I'm betting it was stored outside at some point in its life.
Tomorrow, I'll get the rest of the carpet pulled and start the removal process.

Attachment 403869Attachment 403870Attachment 403871Attachment 403872Attachment 403873

Check the core. Last few mirages we have done needed a floor then when we ripped it out we found the core was bad also.

Subscribed

Update:

I made some progress over the weekend.
Attachment 404222 Attachment 404223 Attachment 404224
Got the floor removed from the front of the rear seat, forward.


There's still a 4"-5" section under the seat that I cant figure out how to get to.
Attachment 404225 Attachment 404226 Attachment 404228 Attachment 404227
All the wood came out from underneath. I can get to the center section, but the spots between the tunnels and the seat, there's only about 2" of space.


While removing the battery tray, I found another section that'll need replaced
Attachment 404229 Attachment 404230 Attachment 404231
The narrow strip that the tank and battery sit on is nothing but glass and resin. I'm betting all the wood is laying in hull as well.


Since the new floor is going to be 3/4" and the old was 1/2", I was going to cut the lip down flush with the top of the tunnels and do the final touch up with a grinder.
Or should I just cut the overhang back and use the original edge to glass into?
Attachment 404232 Attachment 404237


There are two sections of core that I need to replace, where the original seat studs were located.
Attachment 404239


So far the project is coming along a little slower than anticipated. From what I've been told, the worst part is removing all of the old material.
With the tough-to-get-to section under the rear seat, oh and also, the previous owner mentioned that when he would beach the boat and one of rear corners (around rub rail height) would dip below the waterline, the boat would take on a little water. Splitting the seam and removing the shell is something that's above my comfort level, but I think it may be required.
For now, this is how she sets.

Attachment 404242 Attachment 404248

As much as I would like to be asking questions and posting results of my first glass job, I'm still dealing with removing the rot.
I noticed a soft spot in the rear, so I removed the fuel cell and poked around a little.

Attachment 404991 Attachment 404992 Attachment 404993 Attachment 404997

It also got up into the rear stringers, bulk heads and knees.
Attachment 405001 Attachment 405002

With the knees and rear bulkhead removed, the transom should be fairly accessible. I'm 99% certain I'll be replacing it too, if all this is bad.


But what really grinds my gears... Someone thought it was a good idea to fix a leak below the waterline, from the inside, using silicone!

Attachment 405004


Up until now, I've been using a Rotozip with a 90° head and 3.5" tile cutting wheel and a Multi-Max oscillating tool. This has been taking forever!
I think I need to step it up to a Sawzall and angle grinder to knock old fillets down. Is this usually how it's done in an actual shop?