Question on used SPN

Are you sure those would be screwed into stringers/wood? Seems like a bunch of screw holes would be a water intrusion point even when not loose?

When I pulled one of the screws and looked at it there was no trace of wood on the screw or in the hole...but maybe I missed something? I will verify this tonight, if it *is* supposed to be into wood and there is any rot then yeah that's going to not be fun :(... My assumption was that it was just screwed into the composite floor (similar to prior plywood floored boats I have been on)....?

Went up to the lake to grab the trailer to fix the bearings.

Checked the seat screw holes. Definitely all fiberglass/foam. Short screws that go just past the thickness of the fiberglass. No wonder they rip out (especially if abused). The 93s I think had a molded fiberglass base, that's probably why. I have an in between boat...

Pics attached, hole and obvious lame attempt by prior owner to use plastic wall anchors on two of the screws.

EDIT: Pictures uploaded, showing by far the worst hole and you can see the foam in there.... Two holes are like that, the rest are just stripped out a little bigger than the screw....

Updated prior post with pictures

Yes, I checked inside the hole and there's maybe a half inch before you hit the structure. It's solid though and untouched by the screws that were there, so at least the guy didn't get longer screws and go into the hull!. I grabbed one of the screws so I could match up whatever I do with it. I'm thinking about epoxying something in there to add strength, maybe fill the holes with this and redrill: http://www.jbweld.com/products/marineweld-twin-tube

I would want to make the holes/screws/mount stronger than they were when new. So might make sense to add some sort of reinforcement (aluminum plate? not sure how I'd attach, perhaps cut out some carpet and screw in AND glue/epoxy to fiberglass).

I'm not too worried if I don't get to it right away based on the use it's going to get for the rest of *this* season. I just won't lean back!

On my '92 the rot seemed to start at the passenger seat base screw holes. There was a thin piece of plywood under the fiberglass skin. I realized during the disassembly that the screws were different sizes. It now makes sense that someone was trying to get into solid material. Based on my boat's serial number it was made in late '91 so they could have changed the construction, but don't be surprised if you find out later there is wood under there to screw the seat base down.

That carpet does not look like original Correct Craft fitment.
More than likely somebody has been there before you. I suspect rotted wooden floor panel may have been removed and replaced with foam and thin fiberglass floor that you now have.

pedricd wrote: Either CC was transitioning the hulls to all composite in prep for the 93 model Or... I'd love to find a contact at CC to ask if they have that detailed of information/build info by serial number....

Since the '93 sport was a new hull design, I highly doubt that they built any '92 hulls using composite stringers. Never heard of them doing that on the ski's where the hull didn't change.

pedricd wrote: I know, conventional wisdom and their literature states that only starting in 93 did they go all composite... I should be able to figure this out by looking more closely at the boat but I won't have access until this weekend. I'm NOT drilling into the stringers to find out however... :).. Based on what I saw in the flooring, it seems like it *could* fit the integrated floor/stringer/hull construction... Fl Inboards, in another thread stated: "Actually their are a number of 91 and 92 Ski Nautiques out their with Composite stringers. They came out of the Sea worlds and a few team skiers boats. I have a 92 that was Deena's team boat with composite stringers. " http://www.correctcraftfan.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=15407 Sounds like it is very unlikely, but not impossible and he's talking ski not sport but...

Direct link to composite stringer thread

On the trailer steps, the slickest replacement I've seen is plywood coated in bed liner. Looks just like the original black carpet unless you look very closely- but no water retention. I am going to try vinyl coated ply (black nautolex) first since I already bought it. I'm just not excited about paying $100 for a sheet of 10' ply.

I made a full size PDF of the pattern for those trailer steps once...   If you PM me your details, I'll see if I can find it and send it to you

Dreaming - that would be awesome! I don't think I need it yet (I have the originals and one is completely in tact and the other snapped in one spot when I was moving it around so I think I can still use those as templates)... I'll still PM you for them just in case.

I am thinking about 3/4" exterior ply with the bed liner/rubberized coatings (thanks for the Overton's tip). Do you end up coating top, sides AND bottoms or leave the bottom open to "breathe" (paint where it sits on the brackets tho)? I think it's a good idea as I don't like the idea of a big rattling piece of steel back there...although it would look pretty nice. I'm guessing you sand down/route the corners to give the ply a more rounded edge?

I'm thinking about ordering git rot to make sure the floor is solid around the driver seat as a preventative...Is that worth it based on my prior descriptions or should I just plan to rip it out? Do I need to worry about the stringers being hurt by the floor or is it purely there for seat mounting purposes? I don't want to open a can of worms that's unnecessary by tearing into there...but I also don't want to create a much bigger issue down the line.

Again, thanks for everyone's help on this boat so far...

Hi I was looking into doing stringers on our 88 2001 and Cpes from the rot doctor. They had a real good article about treating plywood with and leaving it out in the weather for 3 years and still looked good. I ordered some to shoot up into the a platform mount holes and to try out on some wood pieces. Have to see how it does.

Nice work Cousin Donald, key point here is encapsulating your wood in rubberized protection before dipping to ensure your wood will not get soft prematurely

It is starting to sound complicated and expensive so at this point I would say tear it out and do it right.   The floor under the seats was likely the same 1X stock they made all wood stringer boats I have every seen. You are probably right that it has been repaired before... question is was it really repaired and the only problem is how he attached the seats, or was it not repaired at all or very poorly. I wouldn't waste git rot stuff on it, as unless there is dry but spongy wood down there that product wont do you any favors, Us composites sells epoxy, the minimum repair I would recommend is to get some cloth and get a hole saw and screw out some one inch plugs an inch or so deep on the holes no where near the side of the hull. If you like what you see in those holes fill them in with plugs and go over them with some layers of fiberglass... if you find wet wood then pull up the whole area under both seats dry out and repair in the off season.

If the floor was replaced in the last few years, that seat shouldn't strip out - even with some dude sitting on the seat back....... unless there's cancer. Fix it up for now but be on the look out...... few people go through changing a floor for fun. And if it's new-ish, it should hold up for several years.

Based on your recommendations, I grabbed a 1" hole saw and ended up cutting 7 holes out. My findings are this:

- There has been no "patch" job done that I could find (consistent fiberglass/material throughout)
- The construction appears to be bare plywood with 1/2" of foam on top of that with fiberglass on top of the foam (floor is floating on top)
- Since I only had to go through a thin piece of fiberglass to investigate, I cut out two of the holes near the hull. The wood did not extend all the way to the hull and is not glassed to it...(bare wood)
- Some of the holes (especially towards the back of the seat) have clean "brand new" looking wood in them (the screw hole itself was torn up).
- Others were marginal but were solid and appeared to be dry
- there is one "bad" hole, with some rot, the wood is still "there", rot was clearly tied to the screw hole and extended laterally a couple of inches on both sides about a 1/4" wide.

MechGaT - I found your thread on the stringer job you did on your 92 SPN (thread). Great pictures and info, and if I end up there at least I have good reference.   That's the only example I've been able to find of someone tearing apart a 92 SPN... Does my floor construction sound at all like yours?

Also, I see that my bilge and every exposed area below the floor is pure white and yours appears to be grey/black? Wondering if that's stock on mine... I also have a round plastic "hatch" behind the engine for access to the output shaft/coupler. Again, the PO stated that the guy he bought it from said it had composite stringers...I'm wondering if it's had a stringer/floor job once already...assuming everybody *knew* what they were talking about and were being honest.

So, what I'm doing for now is digging out the bad wood I found in the one hole (already done this, did not have rot all the way through), drying it, filling it with CPES and plugging all of the holes with 1" CPES soaked dowel rods after putting CPES in every cut out hole for good measure. Then I'm putting some fiberglass over the top of each hole, drilling and remounting the seat. This will then let me see if I have time/the location to rip out the flooring this winter or not. If not, I'm sure it will hold for at least a couple of seasons while I figure it out.

In any event I think it's a terrible idea to have fiberglass, with a foam filled void, then bare wood THEN put a screw through that...would that really be stock? The fiberglass would flex up/down around the screw, opening the hole more and more and allowing even more water in than a wood backed fiberglass....