170 Floor

[c master]

Question #1:  My '76 "170" is in great shape, with the exception of the customary soft floor area 18"-30" north of the transom, between the stringers.  I would like to cut out a rectangle of the floor back there, and install an inspection door (longitudinally).  This would also give me good access to the bilge pump, and associated wiring/hose.  

Anybody ever pulled a floor out of a 170?  Any pictures?  Any known dimension between the stringers?  What the heck is under there?

Any suggestions as to saw choices?  Circular saw?  SawzAll?   Rest of this boat is rock solid, clean, etc.  I'll take a few pictures and upload them when I can.  

Question #2:   The hull, deck and other smooth fibreglas is still in great shape, although I'd like to have the whole thing cleaned/buffed.  Floor is original (?) very light green-gray, with some traction molded in.  Can all of this be cleaned successfully with a good buffer?  What product?  I don't want to buff through the gel coat or make it worse.

[slvrlng]

First off, welcome aboard!  When you get a chance post under this link and introduce yourself.
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6358

Second our fearless leader Rickk will probably be able to help with exact dimensions for stringer distance and dimensions. Here is some discussion between Rickk and Jimbo about the methods Rick used when he did his.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4174&p=26068&hilit=+170+floor#p26068

I will try and search some more and see if I can find some more info for you until he chimes in.

[slvrlng]

One more thing I would not contemplate buffing the deck. That sounds like an impossible task. I had great luck cleaning mine with clorox cleanup mixed with softscrub using a stiff brush to get in between the diamond pattern. The flat sections of gel are a different story, I really like using Presta gelcoat compound, absolutely one of the beat compounds I have ever used. Basically turns it into a one step process. You can find info on it at this link.

http://prestaproducts.com/Gel_Coat_Comp ... tails.aspx

[slvrlng]

Here is a good link from over on bateau2. He is rebuilding a 170 also.

http://forums.bateau2.com/viewtopic.php ... 6&start=10