240 Rebuild

[JimCt]

Which type of Sawsall blade should I get to cut the floor sections out?

[JimCt]

Fwd. tank out:


Tank compartment. Notice the clear plastic fuel fill line.  Not too kosher.


Tank:


"New" trailer.  240 will just fit:

[RickK]

Coming along... 8)
Too bad the rear tank can't slide forward and out the front hole.  Shame to have to cut out the floor.
On your trailer, sounds like you're going to have a LOT of tongue weight if the boat just fits.  Jeep handle that much tongue weight?

[JimCt]

The floor is shot from the console aft to about where the pedestals were so cutting the floor has to be done anyway.

The Cherokee will have to go.  Don't know what tow vehicle I'll get.  Open for suggestions.  Decision time on that is Spring '07.

[JimCt]

Aft tank out, which was leaking:


Bilge area minus tanks:


Floor sections cut away:


Did a little calculation of weight.  Tanks full, 40 gal. + 70 gal. will add 694#.  Have quotes out for duplicate replacements.

[Kaczki]

Looks like its comin' along real good.  Keep the pictures coming!

[JimCt]

Deck failure analysis:

Aside from just being 32 years old, another factor appears to have contributed its fair share to the deck failure.  The autopsy photo below shows the lay-up of the encapsulated plywood.



Rather than a single piece of plywood spanning supporting hull members, AS used scraps of odd-sized pieces... some as small as 4" x 4", none larger than 12" x 14".  Because of this lack of continuous plywood structure my bet is the deck had a fair amount of flex to it even when new out of the factory.  Early on small cracks likely developed in the outer deck skin at the "hinge" lines and watertight integrity was lost.

This way they laid-up the floor structure makes me wonder if AS was in financial trouble back then or they were just trying to max-out profits at the cost of hidden quality problems.

[RickK]

That's weird.  I think it would have cost too much in labor dollars to work out that "jigsaw puzzle" than it was worth in savings.  Dunno, that's weird.

[John Jones]

I'm really surprised to see that.  Couldn't have been economical or strong.

[scott_gunn]

I'm really surprised to see that.  Couldn't have been economical or strong.

I'm guessing it was a way to reuse scrap wood.  Probably only a few of the "lucky" boats got built this way...

[JimCt]

I agree with Scott.   Those pieces had to have been scraps from around the shop.  As they say in the hog trade, "we use everything but the squeal".  Why ship scraps out in the dumpster when you can ship them out as billable product...

[Bluesbrother]

So now I have a question, many of you guys put new floors in your AS, it seems as if everybody is very surprised to see this jigsaw puzzle floor. My 19-6 floor was exactly the same as Jims'. The gaps in between they had filled with resin. So did everybody else find a different floor core when they replaced theirs?

[GoneFission]

Mine was one solid piece of plywood when new - a big delaminated mess when I replaced it.  However, the problem could have been prevented...  

The delamination started with the hole for the deck plate over the gas tank gauge.  The hole was not sealed, just cut and the deck plate installed.  Moisture seeped into the wood and the plywood began delaminating around the hole.  This was evident when I started removing the wood - the delamination was less the further I got from the hole.  When I re-cored my floor center section, I kept this in mind.  After cutting the hole for the deck plate, I sealed the edges with epoxy.  Then I installed the deck plate, I turned the panel upside down, and filled the spaces around the edges of the deck plate with slow-cure epoxy.  The edges are now completely sealed and solid.  

If anyone has not done so, I would recommend you take your deck plates out of the floor and seal the edges of the cutout with a slow-cure penetrating epoxy - Git-Rot would work great for this.  This may prevent delamination and a lot of work later!

[JimCt]

Surfaces to be sealed have to be dry.

[GoneFission]

Yes, ideally wood should be dry to seal it.  However, those of us who have owned old wood boats often deal with wood that is less than ideal in condition.    You can seal wood that is damp, but wood that is soaked is usually a hopeless cause.  I had occassions to deal with all types of wood issues with my '63 Chris-Craft Constellation - 6 tons of mahogany looking for a way to rot!  

Here is a way to deal with damp wood edges that you wish to seal:  First, take the deck plate off, remove any caulk, and let the area air dry for a couple days.  Then give the wood edges a good soaking with acetone.  Acetone will mobilize water and help dry the wood.  Let the area dry and reapply the acetone.  After a few application and drying cycles, the wood edges should look dry.  You can then mix Git-Rot and apply it.  Remember some latex or nitrile gloves - it's hard to get Git-Rot off your skin!  Git-Rot will actually penetrate damp wood to some extent, but its penetration is really increased by the acetone.  Keep applying the Git-Rot until it stops being absorbed.  I have even put a "well" around a hole and filled it up to allow the epoxy to soak in...  Git-Rot takes a couple days to set, so be patient.

Once the Git-Rot sets, the edges should be sealed.  You can then re-caulk and reinstall the deck plate.