Help! I have a soft floor!

[Capt Meredith]

AS 1978 25CC... I can walk along the floor and feel the stringers but inbetween them the glass is very fleixible. My model has the coffin fish box in the front and the floor is starting to slope under it. Has anyone else had this problem? What would it take to fix it and how do I go about finding out what is under there?  

Thanks for any suggestions!

- Meredith

[jdupree]

Don't know if this will help, but I think most of the CCP's don't have foam under where the coffin box sits.  Another member of the site told me this.  Sure enough, I removed the access plate and looked under where the box sits and there is nothing but the stringers.  I have noticed on mine that the deck does have some "flex" where the coffin box sits because it does not have the foam to support it.  The rest of the deck is solid because it has the foam under it.

[GoneFission]

I think you have a 246CCP, so Dupree is right - it's pretty much an open area under the deck unless you got the optional 2nd gas tank put in there.  The deck material in this area is composite, not wood, so you usually don't have to worry about rot.  Sometimes the deck will sag a bit under the coffin.  You could redeck it, or even maybe figure out a way to put some supports under the deck working though the access port in the back or by taking the below-deck storage unit out of the front to allow access under the deck.  Several composite manufacturers make shapes specially designed as deck stiffeners.  

Or you could do what most of us do and figure there are other things that we would rather work on... It ain't broke, so...  

Are you planning to keep the coffin or take it out?  That might make a difference.  I don't think your deck flexing is a problem if you are planning on keeping the coffin.

[Mad Dog]

If the floor feels "flexable" between the stringers, if you can distinguish where the stringers are under the sole, and could not when the boat was new then you must have either a rotten sole or a delaminated sole (if it is composit).  Are there any access ports that would let you get a look up under the floor?

I have a '75 AS 22-2.  The liner was constructed with the sole as in integral part.  The sole was 3/4" plywood encased in glass.  Sounds good except that over the years surface cracking and poor accessory mounting exposed the plywood to moister and rotted.  I doubt the '78 was built much differently. You can leave it until it fails completely or go ahead fix it right.  There is plenty of support and advice if you want to fix it yourself.

Check out the link below for pics of what you might find.

[jdupree]

Gonefission is right on :!:   He is the one that told me about the void under the coffin.  My deck does "sag" just a little under the coffin.  The years of that heavy coffin sitting there has caused just a little "sag".  If the rest of the deck is solid, I would not worry with it.  If you are like me, most of the "junk" I have piled in the coffin most likely doesn't help :)

[GoneFission]

Keep in mind that the Osprey (170, 196, 222) have a different setup with stringers and decks compared to the CCPs (200, 222, 246).  The deck on CCPs is cored composite, not wood.  Wood was used in the center cover over the gas tank prior to 1986 and quite often does rot.  The deck in front of the console is not supported in the center and is well above the tops of the stringers.  A front fuel tank was an option, and there is plenty of room under there for a 30-50 gallon tank.  Open the deck plate under the coffin on a CCP and look inside and it's like a cavern under the decks - that is how Aquasport was able to put a step-down head in later models - there was plenty of room to do that.  The optional tank setup also stiffened the under-deck area some due to the tank supports and hatch.  

The front section does feel a little "springy" with the coffin removed due to the fact that you have about 4 feet of deck with no support under it.  The coffin actually adds some support and when it's in place, thereby lessening the springy feel.  

I would be worried if a CCP deck had soft spots, but not so worried if it just is a little springy.  Again, you could run some transverse stiffeners under the deck if you wanted - it would just be a bit of a pain to do it with the limited under-deck access.  


See ya on the water!

[GoneFission]

I've discovered - through real experience - that the CCP deck is NOT wood-free as described in Aquasport literature.  For example, I replaced the front hatch in my CCP and found - you guessed it - 1/2" marine plywood under there!  Interesting, because there is composite core toward aft where the deck hatch is under the coffin...



This could explain the notorious plywood over the front deck area on some CCPs -the wood rotted!  Anyway, I epoxied mine so it won't do that - something CCP owners need to know!