TOPIC: Fiberglass boat floor repair

My Glastron Carlson CVX 17 had soft spots in the floor so I removed a portion. I found that the boat has one stringer and no frames.

There is a 1/4 inch space between the bottom of the floor and the hull at the port and starboard sides of the floor. The top of the floor is fastened to the hull with fiberglass cloth.

I am unsure on how to rebuild this area of the floor. Should I insert a continuous shim to make up the gap, just place a few shims to hold the floor in position will the fiberglass cloth or what?

Thank you,

Randy

From all the DIY Vids I have watched they have used a solid 1/4 inch shim glued to the hull with what I would think was construction adhesive. Then a beam of adhesive between the shim and the underside of the new floor panel.

Weight everything down and let the adhesive cure before glassing the new panel in place.

I am in the process of the same repair on my CVX-20 but I will be replacing the center floor support as well as a bulkhead and adding some PVC pipe cut in half for drainage in the bulkhead.

I will also be adding 2 inspection covers in the floor under the rear seat to check for any future stand water.

Karsten

I haven't decided whether or not to replace the stringer. I drilled three test holes. The material that came out was dry but didn't appear to be wood. It was more like a gypsum material. I don't know quite what it is.

I like the idea of access panels. How do you plan to frame them?

Randy

I looked at my boat again and think I have determined the method of constructing the floor. Four inch foil faced insulation was placed on both sides of the stringer. The insulation was glued to the floor with resin. The 1/2 inch plywood was stapled to the top of the stringer. The floor was supported on both sides of the stringer by the insulation. This resulted in the 1/4 inch gap under the floor at the outside edge.

I speculate that this was a faster way to install the floor since the hull would not need any grinding or filling to keep the floor level at the outside edges of the floor.

Randy

That doesn't sound like the original installation to me Randy, sounds like somebody has been in there before? There are numerous rebuild threads on www.classicglastron.com/phpbb/ that have tackled the project on every style of Glastron and Carlson out there. You might want to drop by there and gather the gangs thoughts, they're very familiar with the brand, to say the least.

That being said, we hope you keep posting here and share some pics of your project as you go along!