soft floor problems

[willie]

kelly
just wandering my boat has mufflers under the floor in the back of the boat. I am wandering if this is the source of the water that started the rot. My boat is an 89. My dads boat is a 91 and his muffler is on the back of the motor between the exaust down tubes. I just wandered how your 90 is made.
P.S. one of my mufflers could be rotated on the exaust pipe before we loosend the clamps.
let me know what you think, and good luck. the guys at the shop used plywood and built up the stringers then glassed them in on my repair.
hope this helps
willie

[Kelly Owens]

Willie, my 90 Supra comp has a muffler like your dads. Are both of yours comps?I think water got in through the front rub strip, the chaulking was not in tact. Also where the screws hold the fuel line in place along the floor the wood was blackend. I'll raise it up a couple inches so it's not sitting in builge water when I replace it. I have now removed the left stringer from the back to about 6 inches from the metal tow bar bracet just ahead of the front motor mount .Only the bottom half of the stringer had rot from the front mount to the middile of the mounts so I have left the top have to scab onto with one solid piece of mohogany right to the back, liqid nailed to the floor, glued and lag bolted to the good wood ,then I'll reinforce the areas around the mounts with plywood before fiberglassing it all in. I obviously took the engine out to do all this. Much easier.!I'm also replaceing the wood backing for the shaft strut due to a couple small cracks in the fiberglass. I think this should work. What do you think?

[Kelly Owens]

Willie, my 90 supra comp has a muffler like your dad's. Are both of yours Comps? I think water got in through the front rub strip because the chaulking was not intacked. Also along the floor where the screws hold the fuel line in place after cutting back the fiberglass I found water damage there. I have now removed the left stringer from the back of the boat to just behind the front mount. Then only the bottom two inches of the stringer from there upto about 6 inches ahead of the front mount. I am going to use one solid piece of mohogany scabbed on under the front part then liquid nailed to the floor, lag bolted to the good wood and then covered with new flooring where I have cut it back. I am also reinforcing the joined areas with plywood. I am also replacing the wood backing for the shaft strut. Then fiberglassing the entire area. I removed the engine. Much Easier!! I think this should be strong enough if not over kill. What do you think? I would like any imput. I will also be putting the fuel line about two inches off the floor so it is not setting in bildge water having water working at the screw holes.

[Captain Nick]

I bought a 84 Allegro with a 454 in it , the motor was new , as well as the trans. interior was nice , except for some trim. floor was solid as could be. well a few months went by and I finally picked it up .well in the mean time I learned how to check motor bolts to see if the stringer was bad, well guess what , all that was holding the motor/trans in was gravity.
well I cut a hole in the floor I was gonna put a plate on the back side , well low an behold the floor was a double layer , someone just threw a new piece over the old , then recarpeted it.
So I take the boat back , and the dealer is fixing it with my help I supply some labor , and he supplies all the materials.not a bad deal considering I bought the boat for less than the cost of the motor.
anyhow the right s stringers have been replaced approx 10' forward from the rear, the inside left stringer is completely replace (putting it in on fri) and the outer left will be relpaced approx 10'.
we are using exterior plywood for the new ones, and where the motor sits, he found this laminated plywood that is 1.5" thick so we used 2 of them together.
I can guarantee that the stringers will never rot again.
hell if you saw how supra does it compared to how we are repairing mine you would be scared.
Ive been taking pictures all along
the other interesting thing is , the boat has been inside for 4 years never seen rain etc, yet when I cut that old left side stringer out , it was still wet as well as some of the foam
as for where the water orriginaly came from , we thing it was the "seal " around the pipe at the transom, the previous motor was run without water, so we put a piece of plywood on the inside to have a better sealing area, the approx 12" forward put a devider in , and it drains to the bilge , just incase they would ever leak
hopefully it will be ready ti float in the spring

[Kelly Owens]

Willie I'm having trouble getting to reply, just testing with this

[willie]

sorry so long for me to reply. Got to duck hunt in the cold weather and all.(ha ha). My father and I both have sunsports (you know with the open bow.)
Kelly sounds like you have all you rot up front. Or am i miss understanding. Sounds to me like Nick has more of the same issues that I have. It is supprising to me that this is such a common thing. keep me posted

Willie

[Captain Nick]

After seeing the inside of the boat , I would not buy anothe Supra product , or any other boat , I will keep mine forever.
there are so many places the wood is not even encapsulated in fiberglass, the wood is off of the hull 2-3" in places. fit and finish was 0. where the motor mount sits looks to be an afterthought , and cut out with a sawzall. the drain hole that allowed all the junk water into the cabin from the motor compartment. and on and on.
Kinda dissapointing for a boat that cost 25k + in 1984.
But by the time Me and the shop are done I will know just how it is built.
Nick

[Kelly Owens]

Willie, my 90 Supra comp has the muffler like your dads, are both of yours comps? I think water got in at the front of the rub strip, the chalking was not in tact,also the screws holding the fuel line in place along the bottom of the buildge were letting water in at the stringer. I'll replace it a couple inches higher out of the buildge water.I've removed the left stringer from the back of the boat to the middle of the moter mounts, then steped it down and removed the bottom half of the stringer for about another foot. Only good wood is lelft. I'm going to scab onto this with a mohogany stringer liqidnailed to the floor, glued and lag bolted to the good wood, and reinforced with plywood then glass it all in. What do you think? My floor wood is like new as is the other stringer, but I'v pulled the engine to go over it all and reglass any minnor cracks and screw hols that could let water in

[Salty87]

i haven't pulled my floor up but i can tell that water is getting into the starboard muffler. after i run it in the driveway on the hose, i can see water seeping into the bilge from the muffler area. that area of flooring seems kinda bouncy, too.

cap'n nick....good to hear from you. you sent me some pics of your supra about 6 months ago. at that time, your boat was in 2 large pieces...the top was hanging from the cieling and the bottom was gettin' scraped out. almost done?

[Captain Nick]

Salty87
I have lots of pictures of the rebuild, Im gonna try to set up a webshots account to post them all.
and have been working on it.
infact we just set the left inner stringer tonight.
we are hoping to have the floor etc done by new years , and the top back on in jan.
hopefully ready to run in the spring.
Nick