Adding floor support

strick · #1 01-15-2004, 11:00 AM

The area were the splash well used to be on my 23 measures 4'7" across. I was worried that the floor piece I made to cover this area would be under lots of stress without additional support under the floor piece. So I made some floor joices. First I took two 4x6's and glued them on top of one another then sanded them a little for a smooth surface. I then put a quick coat of epoxy over the piece. It was waxed and then 2 layers of biaxial were layed up over the piece.

After I popped the laminate off the mold it was cut to shape and glassed into the bilge were the old battery boxes used to be.

I ran it all the way to the transom. I filled them with 2 part polyurathane foam. They are solid as a rock and kinda act as stringers but that was not my intention. At any rate it provided lots of support for the floor.

I'm going to put two drain tubes in each joice for drainage to the bilge like like the boats have already. This weekend I hope to paint the bilge and primer the transom cap and floor piece. It may even start looking like a boat again!!!

Strick

FELLOW-SHIP · #2 01-15-2004, 03:41 PM

Again I like the way you think. I am sure you will not have any problems on your deck sagging. I built a live well and had the top of the live well become additional support for my floor. I also had a 90 degree lip on the inside wall of my splash well for support and part of my transom supports came up high enough to make additional supports for the deck.
FellowShip [img]images/icons/cool.gif[/img]

Dave Hirshberg · #3 01-15-2004, 04:04 PM

Nice [img]images/icons/cool.gif[/img]
Looks like you got it all figured out.

warthog5 · #4 01-15-2004, 04:59 PM

Very nice. I think I will incorporate something like that in my Mako.

laser · #5 01-15-2004, 06:16 PM

Very nice work!!
On my 23 which was twin I/Os I glassed in a support beam of laminated marine ply across the transom that attached to my new center stringer knee on the transom...kinda ties everything together. I have yet to determine how to use the engine space and keep weight out of the back.

Bill

[ January 15, 2004, 10:27 PM: Message edited by: generaider ]

TUGBOAT · #6 01-15-2004, 07:33 PM

This is Why This Site is SOOOO GreaTTTT !!
Even when Some of the Great ideas doesn't work the rest of Us are Warned !
Great Job !
Scream'n reels' [img]images/icons/cool.gif[/img]

thedink9 · #7 03-18-2004, 10:24 PM

Strick

After looking over your floor support fabrication job I began to wonder how I could apply this technique into repairing / replacing the soft inboard stringer on my 23. One thought I had was to cut the top of the glass off, remove the wet foam material,dry it out well , refoam and recover. If the glass is still solid do you see any reason to totally replace the entire stringer?

strick · #8 03-19-2004, 10:08 AM

Not sure which stringer is the "Inboard Stringer" however if the foam is saturated then you can cut off the top cap fiberglass of the stringer and remove the old foam then replace the top cap with new fiberglass and drill holes at various locations on the top for the excess foam to escape when you pour it into the new Stringer. This will allow maximum strength and ensure that every small pockett gets filled with foam. That said there are some on thos board that have dryed out their wet stringers by simpley drilling small holes on the bottom of the stringer allowing any moisture to escape then sealing the holes. There are several ways to skin this cat [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] Keep us posted on what you do.

Strick

thedink9 · #9 03-19-2004, 04:31 PM

Strick
I get in there this weekend and take a few pictures and try to post them. I will also drill a few other holes to see how bad the problem is. I dug out some foam along a crack and the foam was really wet about 3 inches up from the bottom. It would take a lot of drying to air dry this baby, I believe.
Dink