Floor : Hull : Liner Structural Build ?

[castnetcracker]

Originally Posted by strick

I would venture to say that full contact between the two is a mute point and not necessary in the hulls structural integrity. Remember these boats were built like tanks.... all three parts. If you take the same precautions when building a new floor you should be fine. Some are using a new "Glue" that is out there designed for bonding the deck to the stringers forget what it's called.....I'm wondering if thats even necessary seeing how long Potters method lasted. You will gain an appreciation and great respect for "Potter putty" when you tear out your deck just sayin

strick

Methacrylate. thats what i used for my floor to stringer joint and thats what many boat builders use for bonding floors to stringers. good for cyclical shock loads, large gap filling properties, and bonds well with unprepped surfaces (doesnt hurt to prep anyway ).

100% contact is great but as others have said, is not totally necessary. If say, 50% contact is enough to resist the loads and equally strong to mechanical fastening at X" O.C. (not good for boats, but preferred by engineers over adhesives in most disciplines) everything above 50% is for good measure.

[abl1111]

Thank you all for your input. I appreciate it. Always learning. I have a few spongy spots near my IO engine cover from the hinge screw holes leaking water over the years ( there was actually some sponginess in this area when I first did the resto, but thought it was not worth the effort at the time ) Not a big deal or structural but something I'd like to remedy at some point.

I'm a 'do it all and do it right' type of person, so I'd rather redo the whole floor than a section. I have heard that the Potter Putty can be a bear to remove.

Does the liner glue/ attach to the hull at the point where the floor heads vertical ?

[FLexpat]

I have not had the liner out of my '76 23 Sceptre but I have cut the decks out. The PP was between 1/4 and 1" thick on the stringer tops - still surprisingly well bonded to the fiberglass lower skin of the deck. It appears that there is also PP between the liner and hull where they are screwed together under the rubrail. I was able to get a chisel under the putty and break larger chunks off of the stringer tops (got most of it) and ground on the rest to remove. I probably could have left the lower deck skin in and just replace the core and top but decided to do the whole tamale.

[dginge]

When they rebuilt my floor they left it raw on the bottom so that if it got wet it would dry. Most of the spots prone to dampness was epoxied. I hear that this method isn’t the best but my floor is solid. I think it was done in 2005

Originally Posted by FLexpat

I have not had the liner out of my '76 23 Sceptre but I have cut the decks out. The PP was between 1/4 and 1" thick on the stringer tops - still surprisingly well bonded to the fiberglass lower skin of the deck. It appears that there is also PP between the liner and hull where they are screwed together under the rubrail. I was able to get a chisel under the putty and break larger chunks off of the stringer tops (got most of it) and ground on the rest to remove. I probably could have left the lower deck skin in and just replace the core and top but decided to do the whole tamale.