First post! Doing some work to a 1981 Ranger 370V. Learned a lot just reading and searching these boards.
Found some soft spots in my floor so I decided to cut out the bad stuff and replace with new plywood and glass. It'll basically be the left half of the main floor and a portion under driver's feet. At some point someone decided to just put caulk on some cracks.
Anyways, it looks like, from what I can tell, this plywood actually rests on the foam a little bit above the stringers. Is this normal? There were definitely nails going through the wood and into the stringers to secure it down, but also definitely a bit of a gap as you can see from the pictures. In replacing the wood, should I just leave it like so with most of the weight being supported by the foam instead of the stringers?
Ranger built the boat and use a two part flotation foam. They would set the floor onto the stringers with nails. Next, drill 1" holes and pump the expanding flotation foam into the cavities. There is a gap as you see it. This is due to the foam expanding against the stringer and underside of the floor. leave it alone. Make sure wherever you cut the floor to remove some foam and basically sister in a board by the stringer so the lip of the wood has a place to secure down onto and create a solid area. I noticed you did drop the circular saw no deeper than the wooden floor. I have repaired some of the 300 series after someone thought they could repair it. Received a couple and they had cut 2"s into the stringer. Repairable but added alot more labor cost..
Ok, got it: add some boards to create a lip so the new wood has something solid to attach to. So this means screw the new wood directly onto the stringer, correct? Otherwise when I add new foam it could expand over the center stringers and into the drain, right?
Thanks for your help, and yes, I was very careful with my circ saw NOT to cut the stringers! Being a lifetime do-it-yourselfer, I've learned to anticipate moments where I could cause more damage.
When you cut out the sections to replace, set your saw to 45 degrees so you can add a bevel. Then cut your patches with the 45 degree bevel going the other way and you will end up with about a 3/4 inch overlap where you can glass the patches in seamlessly. The last boat I replaced the floor in I also replaced the stringers, and not wanting to give water a place to wick back into the stringers, I used F-26 polyurethane construction adhesive instead of fasteners. I applied the construction adhesive liberally, and because I was also planning on doing a quickcrete project bought twelve 80 lb bags of quickcrete to weight the floor down while the adhesive cured. Ended up with a rock solid repair with no path for water to wick past any fasteners.
Actually, I was debating the same thing in terms of fastening! After grinding down all the nails from the stringers (nail heads just popped off when trying to pull out) I was wondering if adhesive would be better than screws.
I'm also going to add a pedestal hole mount over the drain channel in the new floor so that I can add a seat there for a third person to ride while we're on plane/trolling. Is it better to drill and add before all the glassing and carpet, or do it afterwards?
Update: I royally suck at glassing lol First layer of chop strand was a mess! Forgot to put a layer of resin on the board first so had to quickly lift up chop strand coated in resin and redo. Little strands went everywhere, had multiple bubbles that I had to drill/grind/sand our last night. Filled many small areas with quick marine epoxy putty.
Today laying the woven glass mat was much easier. Once this layer is cured looks like all I have to do is sand down and then add one more layer of resin to level out/finish the floor. Carpet will go down over it obviously so I'm not too worried about perfection. I just want it to be reasonably smooth/level and make sure there's no high or low spots that will prevent water from getting to the drains.
Just got off the phone with Ranger and, sadly, they don't make my original carpet color from 1981 anymore. Looks like I'm going from brown carpet to beige unless there is a suitable and affordable alternative.
Finally put down the last layer of resin today and I must say I'm pretty proud and happy the way it turned our for my first time. Definitely ugly and no were near perfectly smooth, but good enough for carpet to go on next!
I thickened up the resin which really helped me to fill in the low spots I had. After laying two layers of glass I have become better at spreading the resin and it's easier when it's thicker, too, for that final coat.
Next I need to order carpet from ranger, but for now, I just want to throw a couple door mats on it and go fishing!!
DONE! After calling Ranger I found out it could take a while to get anything from them. They said they aren't shut down, but a lot of people are furloughed right now so some parts could even take as much as 10 weeks. My neighbor recommended a local person to do carpet and upholstery all in for about $1500. That included parts and labor, new hinges, etc., stripping the rest of the old carpet, etc....I couldn't pass the offer up. He had all the material in stock and matched the original colors very well. If you need anyone to do your boat and you're willing to come to Fresno, CA let me know and I'll pass along the info.
Reply With Quote
First layer of chop strand was a mess! Forgot to put a layer of resin on the board first so had to quickly lift up chop strand coated in resin and redo. Little strands went everywhere, had multiple bubbles that I had to drill/grind/sand our last night. Filled many small areas with quick marine epoxy putty. 