TOPIC: Spongy Boat Hull Repair

My dad's old 14 foot runabout set in a barn for the past 25 years with a cover on it. I've been wanting to bring it back to life so I placed it in my little private lake to see if it would even float. It floated, when I loaded it back on the trailer, I seen a drip from the bottom of the hull between the middle of the boat and the stern area. I crawled under it to see where it was coming from and it was a little busted spot. It obviously filled the hull up under the floor with water, so I let it drain out at the busted spot and when I unhooked the trailer from my truck, the trailer does't have a jack so the front of the boat set very low. There was a little water that springed out of the floor where your feet rests at the front bench seat. Then, I climbed under the front of the hull and put pressure on the bottom of the hull with all 5 finger tips. I could feel movement in the hull and see it move in a little. The boat is a 1961 Crestliner Mustang 14. I'm sure you guys are tired of hearing about this boat but I seem to have a lot of questions about it. In the glassic library here on fiberglassics, it says the boat has balsa wood laminated to the whole hull bottom. So I know it has wood in it and I know its possibly rotted. I don't want to put a lot of money in to this boat because having to buy a good used motor alone is going to cost almost as much as I can buy a whole newer, bigger boat for. I know its a special boat and it would be a one of a kind boat on the lake. That would make it worth more than what most people are willing to spend on it. But, is there a way to repair this myself without spending big bucks at a fiberglass shop? Or is this a task that only someone experienced and trained needs to take on? I wish there was just a epoxy that I could smear over the whole hull bottom and be done with it but I'm sure that's not the right approach...especially with possibly rotten wood inside.

Well....how much is sentiment worth. From what you describe it's going to take a lot of work and time. Replacing the floor is a major project itself. If you also have holes/cracks in the hull those have to be addressed with proper resins etc. Transom? and without a motor. You might want to think about a different unique boat and swap out some of the hardware from your father's boat to keep the sentiment alive. If the trailer is good that's even better because then you could be looking for a boat only.
Just a thought.

Well the hull itself looks good other than a lot of tiny stress cracks. The transom is as solid as a rock...it never had a bolt on motor, just a clamp on, so I'm sure this helped keep water out. When I stand on the cavitation plate on the motor and wiggle back and forth...no movement in the transom at all, just movement in the boat as a whole. The busted place on the bottom is the worst part and it isn't very big either. But anything big enough to let drops of water in is major enough to rot the inside. The boat is solid everywhere else. But in the center of the V, the lowest part of the boat, feels a little soft when I crawl up under there and put pressure on it. Still solid, but a little soft. I had the boat out on the private lake 6 months earlier and that was the first time in 25 years it had water in it. So the water I found dripping out was hopefully no older than 6 months plus the new water that had just gotten in. Hopefully no 25 year old water in there to set and rot for that long. I wish I had a expert to look at it but don't really want to spend the money to get it to the nearest fiberglass shop (100 miles away) and hear them say an estimate big enough to turn me away. Because I know the trailer will need new tires and wheel bearings. I'd be willing to get it to the shop if I knew it wasn't going to be a expensive job to have done. I'd spend up to $1,000 on it. What is your ballpark guesses on how much it'll cost to have repaired?

Assuming everything is fine except the floor a conservative estimate from a shop I'm guessing here would be around your $1000. mark. parts and labor. Other people on this site can give you a cost of a do-it-yourself floor replacement. I never did a complete floor myself.

Can you post a picture of the damage to the hull and the interior of the boat in the area above the damage? It is possible that only a portion of the balsa core has rotted. If that is what you have. I have a cored hull in my dorsett and only a 6" spot was not mush. it was not stored indoors and the transom and stingers were all gone too. I didn't know until after I started cutting that I had a cored hull.