Surveying the Condition

The first step in a project like this is evaluating the condition that things are in, and determining what needs to be repaired. My boat was in pretty sad shape when I got it- I knew that the floor was rotten beyond salvage (my foot went right through it when I was looking at it!). I suspected that the stringers underneath were probably rotten as well- And I could tell that the transom was rotten as well. But, the signs aren't always this obvious, and you might need to do a little exploration to find the rot.

Floors
The odds are the floors will be rotten in your boat. When these boats were built, the floors are usually plywood, and they are installed directly over the top of the stringers, often with no paint or other type of coating on the underside of the plywood. Usually, a layer of fiberglass cloth and resin is put on the top of the plywood, which seals everything off and makes a perfect environment for rot. To make matters worse, often there is little of no access to the area below the floor (refereed to as a Bilge), so when water does get down there, it is difficult or impossible to remove. So, The odds are, you have had water down there for about as long as your boat has existed. Poke around a bit, and look for soft spots, because it may not be this plain-
Hmmm... My foot went right through. Do you think it MIGHT be rotten?


Stringers
If the floors are rotten out, there is a pretty good chance that the stringers underneath them will be as well. You'll know pretty quickly once you get the floor out. You might run in to a problem, though, if your floor seems intact. You could very well have rotten stringers underneath it- But with the poor access that some of these boats have, no way to verify that. You're probably better off taking the floor out just in case- If you cut it out carefully, and it turns out that it is really in good shape after all (don't hold your breath!), you can always use the old one over again. A good, solid stringer system is critical to the structural integrity of your boat, though. Better safe than sorry.

Transom
There is a good chance that there will be rot in the transom as well. You can check it in a few ways- First, Grab it and give it a good tug. There should be no give or play in it- It needs to be solid. Remember, this is where the motor attaches to the boat! Even if it feels solid, do a little more probing before you declare it sound- Hit it in a few places with a mallet. You should hear a solid thud, not a hollow sound. If you still aren't sure, you can drill a few 'exploratory' holes through the fiberglass into it. If you have access to the inside of the transom, do it from there, as you'll have less patching to do later. When you drill in to it, you should get good solid wood, rather than damp rotten wood. If you run across any that's damp, the transom needs to be replaced.
Because of the construction of my boat, I didn't have to remove the entire deck to access the transom, and the rot here is pretty obvious.


Hull & Decks
If you are lucky, the original gelcoat might be in good enough condition to salvage. It might take a lot of sanding, polishing, and buffing- But I have seen gelcoat that looked like chalk dust come back to an incredible sheen with some time and effort. This boat, however, has been outside for a long, LONG time- And the gelcoat is not only faded but cracked and crazed as well. In addition, it's been painted. So, I'll need to sand it all down, fair it, prime, and repaint.

Interior
As you can see, there really isn't anything left of the original seats. The replacement seats that are in the boat now are made from OSB and an old mattress. Classy combo! I'm going to have to make new seats- Including hardware and upholstery.

Well, I can see it is going to be a LOT of work. So far-

And, I'm sure that there will be more things that I find before I'm done. I'm tired already- Better get started!

Taking it apart

Because of the way this boat was built, the only way to get to the floor to replace it properly is to remove the hull from the deck. On this boat, the hull and deck are joined with rivets, concealed beneath the rub rail. To get at them, you have to remove the rubber insert from the rail. Then, you need to drill each rivet out, using a bit that is sized properly so it doesn't enlarge the hole. That way, when you go to rivet it all back together again, you can use the same size rivets.

Once the rivets have been drilled out, You should be able to lift the deck right off the hull-

Removing the deck using a shop crane and a home made 'gantry'. I lifted it up, then moved the hull out from under it on the trailer, then dropped the hull onto waiting sawhorses.

Now that the boat is apart, it's time for the fun to begin! Let's get that rotten wood out of there.
I chose to start the work with the boat up on it's trailer, and later built a cradle to support it better while I was working on it. You could do all the work on the trailer, but I think it's easier, and probably better for the boat, to do the work while it's on a cradle. I built mine from 2 x 4's, and put it on moving dollies when I need to move it around the garage or driveway. I can always take it off the dollies and leave it blocked up, too.

Notice that the keel of this boat is slightly curved- The 2 x 4 that I used to attach the forward cradle to the aft one is flexible enough to conform to the curve, which supports the keel for it's entire length, rather than just the 3 points that the keel contacts a roller when it's on the trailer. This is especially important when the stringers are removed, as there isn't much support left in the hull!

Here are a couple of closer shots of the cradle, so you can see how it's built-

That basic design should work for just about any boat, you'll just have to modify the length of the supports so they fit on your particular hull. I build mine from 2 x 4's, but remember that my boat is a relatively light 16 footer. Scale up the dimensions of the lumber as required for larger boats.
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