Best materials for replacing floor

Bruce, Is your source of oak white or red? Red will rot very quickly! The sealer your friend is recommending, is it hygroscopic? (water absorbtion) The only problem with the exterior ply are the voids in the center plys. Are you planning on entertaining any women with high heels on the boat?? If not, it won't be a problen! When you cut the ply to size, you can look at the edge for large voids.

From a post the other day:

Posted: 14 January 2008 at 4:06pm | IP Logged    

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Eric, Do not use treated even if it is dry and although white oak is a excellent choice it is overkill. The treated will cause a chemical reaction and the white oak is too heavy. Some nice clear fir is the best. Do use epoxy resin for the job. Have you read any of the threads here about stringer replacement?

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54 Atom
77 Tique
64 X55 Dunphy
Three Lakes, Wi.
Keep it original, Pete

Riley wrote: I take it that marine plywood does not have voids. That stuff is hard to find around here.

I think thats correct. Youve probably read this in your searches, but Ive been told that the voids are the only difference between marine and structural grade (the glue is the same). Structural is more than adequate for the floor.

Riley its a bit pricey but you might want to consider Coosa board I used high density foam and laminated it with many layers of various fiberglass cloths when I did my stringers and floor for my mustang... it was very labor intensive and the foam was very expensive. The coosa product looks like it will be somewhat less expensive (although considerably more than wood) and no more time consuming than a wood job.

8122pbrainard wrote: The normal exterier ply is fine but you just need to be careful with the voids. You don't want one right where people are jumping into the boat. The glue used is the same for exterior and marine.

For Eric

Ok, now I got it!! Eric, I copied and pasted that from the other thread (Jan. 14th) where the OTHER Eric is working on the 62 Classic! Confused yet??

Eric, that's why I'm asking the experts. I had a plan, but I showed the boat to a friend and he started offering materials to me as well as his ideas.

I'm hoping the easier part is ahead me as ripping all that old foam out was a pretty manotinous job, although my 16 yo son did most of that.

My original plan was to use exterior plywood and coat with resin on all sides prior to fastening to the floor. Pete says fir is the best, although around here you can only get HemFir, but I will start looking for real doug fir.

The only stringer that needs replacing is the outer stringer which has 4 feet of rot at the rear. The rest is solid. I'm debating whether to replace the whole stringer, or just sister it.

The other problem is I need to figure out how to support the strapping. The old strapping was supported by foam. I am going foamless, so I am going to have to support the area where the strapping meets the side of the hull.

I am getting excited about working on it. I'd love to have sea worthy by the NE Reunion.

Riley wrote: My original plan was to use exterior plywood and coat with resin on all sides prior to fastening to the floor. Pete says fir is the best, although around here you can only get HemFir, but I will start looking for real doug fir. The only stringer that needs replacing is the outer stringer which has 4 feet of rot at the rear. The rest is solid. I'm debating whether to replace the whole stringer, or just sister it. The other problem is I need to figure out how to support the strapping. The old strapping was supported by foam. I am going foamless, so I am going to have to support the area where the strapping meets the side of the hull. .

Bruce, Here in the Midwest, we are seeing less Doug Fir too but the larger 2X10's and 2X12's are still Fir. These larger framing members are used for longer spans and the reason they are the stronger Fir. You may want to look for some Fir 2X12's. It may be possible to get both main stringers out of 1 - 11 1/4" width. If you are still finding only Hemlock, I would use it. Just find a nice vertical grain piece with small tight knots. (I know! These days it's tough finding nice lumber)

I'm still against sistering in next to the old. I just feel that since you have gotten down to almost a bare hull that it's not that much more to do it the correct way. You can cut out the old ones and use them as patterns. I have also mentioned that although sections of the old stringers may look good now, the rot spores may already be present and just waiting for some water moisture. Rot is like cancer - cut it all out!

Don't worry about the strapping at the junction of the floor to the hull sides. Use epoxy with some high strength filler to fill any small gaps at that edge and then a strip of fiberglass tape/epoxy to connect the floor to the hull sides. You can glass in some small wood blocks below the floor on the hull sides just to maintain the ply at the proper height. Here's a example of my Tique stringers before they were glassed in.

Bruce, yes, the wood is "primed" with resin first. When you go to glass them to the hull, you don't what any spots where their isn't enough resin because it all got sucked into the wood.

A 4" right angle grinder with a friction cut-off blade works for me to cut the glass at the bottom of the stringer. Because it's a right angle, you can get it it most places. In corners I have a Fien multimaster with the blade. Works better than a Sawsall. In a corner, the Sawsall can jump back and get you!!

I used a 3" pnumatic cutoff wheel with a garden hose aiming a small stream on the wheel.


Smooth cut, No dust, no itch, with proper ppe.

The idea of running some sort of power tool like a sawsall in such a closed area is pretty thrilling. I was given a sawsall for Fathers Day last year and used it to remove an old metal stall shower from my mother in law's camp. The metal was about as thick as a 1950 Chevy fender. I couldn't believe I was able to remove it and get it to the dump without ending up in the ER.