I noticed some soft spots in our boats starboard side floor. They seemed to start where brackets for a cooler were installed. The port side had a small soft spot as well. I had recommendations from a piece of tin with roofing cement to fiber glassing and gel coating the entire floor and installing snap in carpets. I decided to go somewhere in between the two.
First step was to remove the interior and carpet so I could assess the damage:
I cut the floor back farther than necessary, but I wanted a good look to make sure it was just the floor that was damaged. A trim saw set to cut just thru the floor works well:
I cut new floors out of premium exterior grade plywood. I eased the edges and scuffed up the surface on both sides with a 40 grit disc on an orbital sander:
Next I used a waterproof sealer on the bottom side and edges:
Here I added some extra supports at the edges. It should fit snug but not overly tight. Some custom grinding and cutting is required. The fiberglass lip was screwed to the new supports and the new floor will screw to these supports as well:
I used some tiger hair fiberglass to fill any cracks and level out some areas that were uneven.I also cleaned up the original fiberglass and wood with a 40 grit disc on an orbital sander:
I always like to Pre-cut and pre-fit all glass mat and cloth before mixing any resin:
After the fiberglass work was done I added a couple coats of waterproof sealer:
When installing carpet on a boat, make sure to use a solvent based adhesive that is waterproof not water resistant. My favorite is “Henry 263” but it’s hard to find and difficult to ship into Michigan. I ended up using Dap Weldwood “All Weather Outdoor Carpet Adhesive”, which worked very well and has a very similar makeup to “Henry 263”:
The project took longer than anticipated, and the color turned out to be a deeper blue than what I was lead to believe, but I was pleased with how it turned out:
Now it’s time to get the gear ready and get fishing. Good luck all and enjoy the summer
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