inject(west epoxy) or redeck(with plywood)?...soft floors

[aquaprouts]

Getting going on my 196 project.....question on soft floors/decking........at what point do you decide it is feasible to inject and easier to repair a soft floor area with a west type epoxy to firm it up versus tearing the topskin, nonskid off and replacing the plywood sandwich?  I have one obvious area  between the stringers in front of the motor that no doubt needs new plywood as there is a 1/2 inch void in the floor......some other areas to the port side of the console running back are soft but only sink 1/4 inch plus minus....i dont know if the plywood below is wet in these areas but suspect it must be.....does an injection epoxy system take hold to a damp plywood core?  To what depth void is an epoxy injection effective?  There seems to be a curvature from the floor from the stringers {high}going outward to the inner gunnels {low}....if I were to replace the plywood sandwich core from the stringer outward, how do you accomplish a curvature in the floor?....It is only a few feet and would seem difficult to bend the plywood to match the original floor contour of high to low.......When replacing the nonskid after replacing the plywood core, how do you seal the seam of the nonskid? is this done with just the resin bonding of nonskid to the plywood or is a top layer of 3m 5200 or the like necessary?    Anyone out there with a 196 know the length of the shifting and throttle cables?....my boat runs the cables atop the floor from console to engine and I would like to reroute through the floor channel........In the interim have just cut out the front mid floor cooler to bolster up the front decking as the cooler was bowed downward.....all foam appears dry and the hull and stringers solid.....will be building a wooden support structure off of the front bow triangular{?} stringers to accomplish jacking the cooler back in place and re aligning the hatches.......thanks for any help in advance to the above......capt Kurt.....

[Callyb]

I think you will get some some better advice if you can get some pics posted.

[MarshMarlowe196]

I don't know if you've seen this thread already,
http://classicaquasport.com/smf/index.php?topic=10525.0 but Lewis used an injection method to fix some soft spots in his deck and had good results. Maybe he can offer some advice.

[Georgie]

A much more simplistic way of looking at the situation is to just go ahead and try the injection first, and if it doesn't take, then you know you need to replace the floor.  I've injected the decks in both my wellcraft's with admirable results.  If the right epoxy is used, if it penetrates throughout the area being fixed, and if it is mixed properly, the result is usually hard as a rock.  There are a few minor variations on this process, so I recommend you read through all the discussions on this site and decide for yourself exactly what you think will work the best.  Oddly enough, I find that the MORE deteriorated the deck is (i.e. the more delamination that has occurred), the better the epoxy travels underneath the fiberglass skin, and therefore the better job it does stabilizing the floor.  The method does NOT work very well when the bond between the glass and the wood hasn't completely failed b/c it acts as a barrier preventing the epoxy from traveling.  The other primary point is to make sure you've identified the source of the moisture so that it can be properly sealed to prevent further saturation.

Good luck.  

[slvrlng]

Yes I repaired an area in my deck. It is now very stiff with no flex at all. I did have a couple of areas where the bottom layer of glass on the sandwich was shredded with gaps in it. I figured this out by probing the holes with a piece of wire. In those areas I took small thin pieces of foam and forced them through the holes, once through the hole they would expand out and hopefully cover the shredded areas. I then mixed the epoxy very thick with cabosil and injected it in those areas. I let this set for an hour until I could probe into the holes and feel resistence. I then topped them off with the regular mix of slightly thickened epoxy.

Here is the thread. Marc started it and I piggybacked my repair into his thread.

http://classicaquasport.com/smf/index.php?topic=10525.0