Flooring options/choices please help!

[Henner]

I know this has probably been beat to death but want some direct answers. This winter I will be replacing the floor due to 3 soft spots. First off i have a 90 Supra Comp. I am going to replace all the wood floor but this go round i do not plan on using marine plywood, so what is the next best option from local lumber yard or home depot? What kind of resin and glass will i need to use to coat the plywood with? My stringers look good and motor mount bolts are extremly tight and can't be spun. My foam feels dry but if i stab a screwdriver in to the middle it is wet when i remove it. So if i wanted to replace the wet foam what foam do i use? I am ready to go pick this stuff up and just wanting opinions and names of plywood, resin, glass, foam to purchase and where. My best friend is a Trim Carpenter and is very good with wood (haha) but i'm just needing to know what to purchase. Thank you for helping out.

[Henner]

Also the old floor looks like 1/2" and i am wanting to use 3/4" is this ok?

[awesomesteven]

I wouldn't replace the foam in it. Its good for a little sound proofing but it'll get wet again and wet foam is not good. There's no real need for 3/4" floor but if that's what you want go for it. The only problem I see with it is making it fit back in. Are you planning on taking the top off? Local lumber yard is where I found the best pricing for wood for me - HD or Lowe's just mark it up from their prices.

[CornRickey]

that's allot of work to go with cheap ( quality) plywood.

[Henner]

Ok I will go with 1/2", what will i need to purchase to resin and glass it? I will not be pulling the top of due to the stringers are not rotted etc. My soft spots are just behind the engine, in front of the rear seat where everyone gets in and sits etc. Can i get the Resin and glass at a local harware store?

Thanks,

[awesomesteven]

I agree with cornrickey. If your going to glass the floor, why not spend the extra $30-$40 to get marine ply and really make the floor last. The plywood (even pressure treated) separates pretty easily and you'll end up having to redo the floorsin 1 or 2 years and end up spending a lot more $.

If you really are going to pull the foam, I would strongly suggest you pull the top and do it the right way. It'll go by a lot faster and end up being a lot easier.

If you go to a hardware store or even a west marine your going to end up paying a lot. I know you can get a pretty good price on the fiberglass mats on ebay. Epoxy (or poly) your going to have to put in some hard work if you truly want the best price. Call a bunch of boat shops that do fiberglass work and ask if you can buy resin and hardener from them at cost. A lot of times they'll say no but you might get lucky.

Go to the search box and do a search for stringer repairs. There are a lot of people here that have done great work and their threads will walk you through a lot of problems your going to encounter - why to leave in/take out the foam, what type of wood to use, how to do a floor patch job, replacing the floor with the top on/off, poly or epoxy...

I haven't done mine yet but I know I'll have to do it. When I do, because of everyone's prior experience, I'm going to take the pull the top and use marine ply for just about everything.

[Henner]

Yeah i understand what your saying about doing it the right way first, but due to finances and that the foam and stringers are ok right now i am just going to do the floor from the front seat, back. I do not want to spend a ton of money right now because I will be doing the complete job in a couple years. Just looking to get rid of soft spots for a year or two then start the big job. So just trying to get my best options on what type of wood to use from lumber yard and what type of resin and glass to coat it with. Thanks again

[awesomesteven]

Yep, definetly understand the financial strain it'll put on you.

Are you going to replace the carpet as well? I'm not sure where you are but I know there are a ton of marine carpet places in the SC/NC area.

If you are going to try to salvage your carpet, why not just try to do a patch job. That's what I did for me as a temp fix bc i'm going to redo everyting in the winter (at least i'm planning to). That way you can get marine ply and not have to buy that much resin or poly. I used an angle grinder to cut out a section (i bought mine at lowes but tractor supply has them pretty cheap) and coated both sides of marine ply with poly and it fit in nicely.

[awesomesteven]

If you can't find anywhere for materials, here is a good one

uscomposites.com

[villain]

Check out fiberglast.com also. They sell so e pretty trick stuff also.

[Henner]

Yes i will be replacing the carpet, i have already pulled all the old stuff out. Next step is i will make templates of the old floor before ripping it out.

[TS6Mburger]

I'm in the same boat as you, literally the same boat. I'm about to redo the floors in a 1990 Supra Comp TS6M. The floors have a few soft spots that are scattered about and I think it's just time to be redone. I also want to work from the front seat back. I haven't got in there to check out the foam or stringers yet - that is the plan for this weekend. I want to get the 1/2 inch marine plywood and glass both sides before laying it down - for long term use. I'm also looking at doing a roll in flooring and not do carpet. I've ordered sample chips from a company called Durabak.

[Henner]

Burger we are doing the exact same boat and same repairs so i would like to keep in touch with each other on what we find to be most efficient.Carpet does not seem like it will be to difficult for this boat as there is not much contour or anything to go around.

[TS6Mburger]

I agree on the carpet; I just think it could be cool/different to do the roll in flooring. I might change my mind when the time comes. I'm going to try to get the rest of my interior out tonight. I've got parts coming for the motor tomorrow. Plugs, wires, electronic ignition and coil. These points have got to go.

[Henner]

Ha I'm doing the same thing, ordering everything externally new from DIM. I bought the boat from a buddy that let is sit 2 years (in storage) and used it all this summer just had little problems here and there, but want to replace all the external motor stuff just to have a fresh tune up.

[chris young]

I was poking around looking at what other folks have been doing, and I thought I'd post them up here. One is a partial repair, I really only posted it so you can see what to expect when the floor comes off, and the other is a method I've been wondering about if I ever get into my own floor.

enjoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0r8FOrVg50

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CMsjayPACs

[TS6Mburger]

Yeah I hope my stringers are okay. I really don't want to have to mess with that. I got mine off a buddy too. It sat outside for a year. I put some pictures up the boat when I got it and as I'm slowly taking it apart.

[villain]

That partial repair is a good video on what not to do. The poor in stringer could be good. Might look into that more.

[TS6Mburger]

What not to do? Could you be more specific? Suggestions on better videos? I thought his work with the sealer was pretty sloppy.


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[TS6Mburger]

What not to do? Could you be more specific? Do you have some videos that show what we should be doing?

[villain]

Just look at how shoddy his work is. He is doing the right things, but going about it half assed. Just look at how sloppy it is.

[villain]

This guy does a good job replacing the stringers in his boat. It's not a supra but good attention to detail.

http://youtu.be/OeCTwaUAPlY

[TS6Mburger]

Yeah his work with the sealent is pretty sloppy. Inside the boat - who cares. On the outside that's not happening. I cut out a section of my floor and the wood is rotten and the foam is wet but only a few inches down. We will see what else is revealed.


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[villain]

This guy has restored a few boats. He knows what he is talking about.


http://youtu.be/3i4js6oHozc

[villain]

This is the start of his searay build

http://youtu.be/kopF4muvF0c

[TS6Mburger]

Yeah I thought he was being pretty sloppy with the sealant. I cut out a section of flooring yesterday. The deck was wet and rotten and the top few inches of foam were wet but after that it was dry. I'll probably dig the foam out to the hull in a few spots to make sure this finding is consistent throughout.
13249 13250

[chris young]

For sure I wasn't suggesting that anyone would copy his workmanship, just thought that because it was a comp you guys could get a bit of a pre-look at what was likely lying underneath. I know my whole floor has to come up. When I bought my boat it was all solid so I figured it was good to go, but now I know someone just put a new floor over the old one and it eventually has to come up.

[Henner]

I made templates of my old floor using large sheets of carboard. I cut along all the edges of motor compartment and side of hull etc. I still have not removed old floor does anyone have better suggestions before removing old floor. Also what did you find best to cut out old floor with? Also what are you guys using to seal the seams before glassing the floor? I hear people saying peanut butter (thickened resin) what is this?

[jasun]

Take the foam out. If you want this project to last 3+ years and your stringers are still ok, taking the foam out and not replacing it will add life to your stringers. One place that was the worst on my restore was right in the front between the passenger dash and helm. on my 86 Supra has the side vents going through the floor, and foam into the bilge. The blower hose rotted and anytime water got in there it never made it to the bilge and just got in the foam.

I got all my stuff from UScomposites. www.uscomposites.com very knowlegable people. If you are close to a Composites One location, their prices on 5 gallon pales of Poly are better then US.
http://www.compositesone.com/locations.htm
You can get mat and cloth from both as well.

[jasun]

I made templates of my old floor using large sheets of carboard. I cut along all the edges of motor compartment and side of hull etc. I still have not removed old floor does anyone have better suggestions before removing old floor. Also what did you find best to cut out old floor with?

circular saw set a 1/2" depth. It will get you close though remember, the floor goes under the cap and you will have a hard time getting all of the floor out.

[TS6Mburger]

Take the foam out. If you want this project to last 3+ years and your stringers are still ok, taking the foam out and not replacing it will add life to your stringers. One place that was the worst on my restore was right in the front between the passenger dash and helm. on my 86 Supra has the side vents going through the floor, and foam into the bilge. The blower hose rotted and anytime water got in there it never made it to the bilge and just got in the foam.

I got all my stuff from UScomposites. www.uscomposites.com very knowlegable people. If you are close to a Composites One location, their prices on 5 gallon pales of Poly are better then US.
http://www.compositesone.com/locations.htm
You can get mat and cloth from both as well.

Really? Leave the foam out? I've heard other ideas but nothing about leaving the foam out completely.

[Henner]

What are you guys using to seal the seems with before glassing the top? I would like something very strong where i attach the new floor to the sides of the boat.

Thanks,

[villain]

The best way is to tab them in with overlapping layers if fiberglass. In the seem itself use a peanut butter mix. ( resin thickened up with caboseal )

[TS6Mburger]

Have you started cutting your floor out yet? I've only done that one spot. It's going to rain here this weekend so I've got to put'er in storage until it passes.
I put on the Ignitor II electronic ignition and flame thrower II coil today (and bypassed the ballast resistor). While putting on the ignitor I noticed one of my springs in the distributor was broken. Ordered a new prestolite distributor, same as the old one, just brand new.

[jasun]

The best way is to tab them in with overlapping layers if fiberglass. In the seem itself use a peanut butter mix. ( resin thickened up with caboseal )

+1

Press that stuff down in there.

[Henner]

Well Burger the old floor is completely cut out and now i am digging out foam. All of my stringers that run lenght wise with the boat are still completely fiberglassed and solid, not so much for the ones that run crossways that the floor screws down to. They are pretty much gone.

[TS6Mburger]

You are ahead of me. Weather and other things have delayed my floor demo. I've also had to do more work to the motor than expected. How long did it take you to pull off the floor? Any pictures?

[Henner]

Didn't take much longer than an hour to cut the old floor out and pull up.

[TS6Mburger]

Awesome. Can't wait to dig into mine. Did you check out Jet's floor restoration job? Very extensive work on the sub-flooring. Don't think I'll go that far but some modifications might be in order.

https://forum.supraboats.com/showthread.php?8193-OK-here-goes-89-Supra-Comp-Floor-Resto

[Henner]

Can someone please tell me where to purchase this Caboseal and how to mix it properly with the resin. (What percent of caboseal to resin)

Thanks,

[jasun]

us composites sells it

I found that a mix of 1:1 or maybe even a little more cabosil gave a thick peanut butter like consistancy.

http://www.uscomposites.com/fillers.html

careful stirring though... the stuff is lighter then powdered sugar and is 2x as messy. It gets everywhere. I added the hardener to the resin, stirred a bit and then added my Cabosil

[chris young]

I've done a lot of work with composites over the years, building windsurfers, I have zero experience with polyester but tonnes with epoxy. Firstly mix the resin thoroughly before adding any fillers. Next, choose your filler based on it's use. Silica (Cabosil) is only a thickener, it does not add any strength to the joint and it takes a lot of resin. I'm assuming you're bedding stringers. If that was me, I'd be using a blend of West 410 Microlight and some sort of fibre such as the milled fiberglass. Alternatively use Phenolic Microballoons on their own. Be warned though, you cannot use it anywhere where it gets much thicker than 1/2" unless it is mixed with the Aluminium powder (I've never done this myself) It will get very hot and the filler will be useless. They say it can actually ignite, it's never happened to me but I have seen smoke

Mix only the amount you can use in about 5 minutes, and once it's mixed, get it out of the pot you mixed it in, and spread out on some kind of tray or board, this will extend the pot life because the large surface area dissipates heat an slows the cure. I've found the absolute best way to handle filler is to spread a sheet of heavy plastic over a table pulled tight and taped down, and spread the newly mixed filler on that, Then you just pick up what you need on your applicator squeegee or trowel or whatever. When you're done you just remove your "table cloth" and throw it out. Cheap and low mess. One other tip, mixing by weight with a digital scale is a lot more accurate than by volume (make sure you know what the by weight ratio is because it will not be exactly the same as they by volume ratio) Always measure out your resin first then add the hardener. If you're using a flexible plastic spreader, don't try to clean it off while the epoxy is still gooey. Let a thick coat of filler cure on the spreader and then just flex it and break off the cured resin or filler. You can get a lot of uses out of a squeegee this way.

Good luck.

[TS6Mburger]

..thinking about punting.. There is a guy in my area who says he will redo the floors, carpet, foam, and repair/replace any stringers that need it for $1200-$1600 and gives a 5 year warranty. He gives an extensive list of previous customers and seems pretty legit. My main concern at this point is time. What do you guys think?

[jasun]

..thinking about punting.. There is a guy in my area who says he will redo the floors, carpet, foam, and repair/replace any stringers that need it for $1200-$1600 and gives a 5 year warranty. He gives an extensive list of previous customers and seems pretty legit. My main concern at this point is time. What do you guys think?

That seems awefully cheap. I did it my self and spent almost 1100 just in fiberglass and Resin... Plywood was another 800... Granted my boat is bigger, but carpet was close to 200 also.

I would get a quote on if everything had to go what it would cost...

Where are you located?

[TS6Mburger]

I'm in Oklahoma City, but this guy is in Paris, TX. I'm going to take the boat with me to Ardmore, OK tomorrow and let him take a look at it and see what he quotes me. He says he will look at it with me and once he gives a price it will not fluctuate; he will honor that price. He will also send photos during the process to keep me updated on the status and what he finds. Estimating a 2 week turnaround.

[Henner]

Burger just this past weekend I got the floor fiberglassed back in, so next in line is carpet. So at this point i have replaced Stringers, Foam, and floor. I am also in Oklahoma, Tuttle.

[TS6Mburger]

I didn't know you were in OK too. I'm in south OKC; maybe 10 miles from Tuttle. I thought your stringers were good? Have you got any pictures of all this?

[Henner]

The main stringers were solid, but the 4 that run opposite of the main stringers were rotting so i went ahead and replaced and glassed them in. I have several pictures at home i will try to get to you.