My 73' 170 rebuild.

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Here goes. Previous owner had screwed down plywood. Wife wanted a bigger boat so figured I'd get the portable tanks out of the back to make it seem bigger. Opened up huge can of worms.

Got the dirty work done this weekend. Plywood and PL gone, gas tank removed. Somehow the gas tank hatch is solid. Transom cap is separated but really solid as well. Just doing floor as I want to use this season and patching up transom. Next weekend plan is get cutoff grinder and remove the entire sole. Going to template with cardboard so I can get really tight to the gunwale and casting platform. Figuring use 3/4" outdoor ply, 2 layers of glass on the bottom, 3 on topside. Glue to stringers and glass top in. Plumbing bilge pump through the hull while I'm in there.

Gas tank - $300 from Alloy Metal Works. Seeing few ways to set new gas tank, going to just strap it down to make life easy.

Engine - 88 SPL that runs great. Brother has a 90 that I'm scavenging power tilt/trim from and lower unit without cracked skeg.

Electrical - plan on getting gauges and lights working and leaving it until this winter.

Controls - is it worthwhile to do binnacle setup or just leave this jenky thing that works. Is it easier to de-rig from the engine of console?

Good to be here!

[RickK]

Boy you ain't lying about the control - jenky is a good term.    Are you leaving the cable trough in? If so, it's not hard to change cables to the engine or the console.
If you can put up with it for the season I would consider it.

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Boy you ain't lying about the control - jenky is a good term.    Are you leaving the cable trough in? If so, it's not hard to change cables to the engine or the console.
If you can put up with it for the season I would consider it.

Controls work pretty well actually, haha. No binding at all. Going to try to leave cable trough, not sure if it's rotted at all, need to start cutting away and check. Plan is to not raise floor height at all if I can. Guess run individual PVC chases for controls, fuel lines and power lines if I have to, but not sure how to seal it up so it doesn't just fill up with water and not sure how to finish at stern.

[RickK]

I think you'll find that the existing floor is about 5/8" with glass so you'll have a little height difference going with 3/4 plus glass.  The usual approach is to cut around the perimeter leaving a lip to set the new floor on.  You fill the gap between the top of the stringers and the bottom of the new flooring with wood or composite. Then you can tape it all the way around (but you'd have to do that even in your plan).  This is the way I did my first floor replacement and I left the trough, adding a lip on the outside for the cover to set on.  That lasted for about 15 years and then I tore it out and did the total rebuild, running PVC for wire chases under the sole to cabinets in the corners that I made.
What you'll find out is there usually isn't a right or wrong way, just the way you want to do it, as long as it works.

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I think you'll find that the existing floor is about 5/8" with glass so you'll have a little height difference going with 3/4 plus glass.

Rick, thanks for reply. Is 1/2" ply with 2 layers bottom 3 layers top strong enough for floor?

[RickK]

I went with 5/8" which is actually close to 1/2" in thickness - that's what I would use - 1/2, which will be less than 1/2" will be too light I think unless you are light yourself.

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I went with 5/8" which is actually close to 1/2" in thickness - that's what I would use - 1/2, which will be less than 1/2" will be too light I think unless you are light yourself.

can't seem to find 5/8 locally. might go with 1/2" and a few more layers of glass to match existing floor height. myself and family are all sub 160lbs.

[RickK]

I think it's called 19/32" now (or something to that affect).

[MarcG]

I used contractor paper from Lowes to make my template, worked pretty good: http://classicaquasport.com/smf/index.php?topic=13282.msg141207#msg141207

I'm using 1/2 inch CoreLite for the sole simply because it doesn't come in 5/8". Once the fiberglass is laminated it will be plenty strong. I left the lip and will put the new sole on top because it will make it much easier to tie the sole in. You can see from the pics on my rebuild, there is nothing in the corners to support the edge of the sole.

Good luck with the project!

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I left the lip and will put the new sole on top because it will make it much easier to tie the sole in. You can see from the pics on my rebuild, there is nothing in the corners to support the edge of the sole.

Thanks! I was thinking of adding access plates to inside rear sides so I could reach into the bilge and add glass to the underside of corners. Would also use same panels to plumb thru hull for bilge pump and rewire rear lights. Keeping the trough and existing tank coffin so want floor height to be as close as possible. Going to use 1/2" marine ply and build up to 5/8 with glass.

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I left the lip and will put the new sole on top because it will make it much easier to tie the sole in. You can see from the pics on my rebuild, there is nothing in the corners to support the edge of the sole.

found this diagram online. seems like a good way to do it. this is my first foray into large scale glass work. only done small repairs and surfboards before. would i screw deck down or glue to stringers with thick mix of resin and chopped glass or both?

[RickK]

I would glue it down and weight it down with everything you have in the garage.  Are you using poly or epoxy?

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I would glue it down and weight it down with everything you have in the garage.  Are you using poly or epoxy?

Poly I guess. Usually don't mix types on surfboard repairs. Does it matter on boats? Would rather use epoxy just for fumes.

[RickK]

The difference is how you can cover it - poly you can cover in gelcoat, epoxy can not be gelcoated. What your finishing plan is dictates what you should use.
What to use to stick it down also depends on how long it will be down - if you are just doing a quick fix and will gut it later, then I'd use poly on the deck laminations and thickened poly to stick it down.  If you are not going to redo it later, then you can think it through a little more and possibly use epoxy.
On my rebuild I used epoxy below the deck and poly above.

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Thank you. Can you do poly over epoxy? Assuming some epoxy would come around from below, how's the bond between the two? Planned on painting as it seems way easier than gel coating. If that's the case I could just use epoxy for whole thing and make life a bit easier.

The difference is how you can cover it - poly you can cover in gelcoat, epoxy can not be gelcoated. What your finishing plan is dictates what you should use.
What to use to stick it down also depends on how long it will be down - if you are just doing a quick fix and will gut it later, then I'd use poly on the deck laminations and thickened poly to stick it down.  If you are not going to redo it later, then you can think it through a little more and possibly use epoxy.
On my rebuild I used epoxy below the deck and poly above.