My boat floor, to repair or not repair? (Pics included)

[Hydrilla_NC]

I'm in the process of building up a little bass boat, and today I stripped all the carpet to check out the floor. I was happy with the condition of the floor for a 26 year old boat. The only soft area is about 1' square where the rear pedestal seat went. I plan to build raised decks in the front and back, similar to how a lot of guys build out jon boats. I'm wondering if I should cut out the soft section and do some sort of repair? I want to keep this boat a long time and I know rot spreads. Please look at the pics in my recent blog entry and let me know what you guys think. Thanks! Blog link- http://bassboatproject.blogspot.com/

[ProcraftMike]

Looks like a decent boat. I would remove the bad portion of the floor and splice in a new section. Just make sure you cut enough of the old floor to remove all of the bad area. Use epoxy resin on all wood and a couple layers of fiberglass matting with epoxy resin over the top. You will need to build a lip under the old floor to support the new section that you need to splice in.

You could put something over the top of the bad spot and make a slightly higher area for the pedestal mount, but I would still remove and replace the bad section of floor. Leaving the old rotten area down there is just asking for trouble down the road.

[boostedone]

If your floor is a core construction(basically the floor you see is glass all the way across, then there is a balsa or other core under it that is glassed in). The best way to do the repair is to cut out the area of the CORE only, on the deck skin. Do not cut all the way through both layers. Then remove the old wood from the pocket of glass. What you will end up with is like a lasagna dish in your deck. Then just cut out a new peice of wood to fit the pocket, and glass over it using epoxy resin.

[Hydrilla_NC]

Hey, thanks to both of you, that's some really helpful advice. I will definitely be repairing the floor properly, I don't want to wonder if it's going to be ok in the long run, especially since much of the floor will be under bass boat style casting platforms, so I won't be able to see if it's holding up or not.