nuevocito

merlin · Jun-25-2008, 10:15 AM

Well, it's been a long haul but I finally got her done. The new floor is in and I took her for a shake-down yesterday. Even managed to catch a yellowtail and a couple of barracuda.

Here's where I started. The old plywood floor was rotting out and had several soft spots. I don't have that many photos but you get the idea:

Next, I ripped everything out:

Sadly, I found a few popped welds that needing repairing. It seems the old floor got so flexible that it couldn't handle the stress exerted by the T-top. I got the welds repaired and decided to move the front feet of the T-top a few inches forward so they lagged into the bulkhead - much stronger than the stringer by itself.

The next big challenge was the console. The previous owner had tried to repair it with some horrible welding and some piece of shit wood riveted to the side. I ripped into it and bolted it all back together with some very solid backing plates and stainless hardware. Next I ground out the ugly repair and faired in some flexible epoxy. It was some work but after I got her all painted up she looks better than new!

I decided to add some color to the boat (my wife's suggestion) and glad I did. I went two-tone using some of the gray truck-bed liner on the edge and flat surfaces so stuff wouldn't slide around. Here's how she looks now:

Then there was the floor. I had some fiberglass panels constructed. They are gel coated with sand for non-skid. They really turned out great. But first I had to get the aluminum re-coated. I decided to use some truck-bed liner after seeing some previous posts. It was quite a bit of work - it wouldn't stick at first but after applying some two-part epoxy primer it turned out great.

Here are some shots of the finished product. I am so stoked with how it turned out.

I took my time and really tested things I wasn't sure of on scrap parts before I applied it to the boat. Everything is screwed and glued and I used Tef-Gel on every piece of hardware. I couldn't get another turn on the bolts attaching the T-top and console to the deck if I tried. It felt really solid on the water. The deck is very comfortable and washes off with ease. All I gotta do now is find some fish!