1. Yes, there were a few floors - surprisingly rough-cut and sloppily fitted. Basically just hunks of oak timber cut with angles on the ends. Only a few, though - no wonder certain sections of the sole felt a little bouncy/spongy!Rachel wrote:Were there floors in there too? Or is the sole self-supporting (or whatever you would call it if just spanned from side to side, basically sitting on the edges)? What held it down?
2. You can see in the photos the remnants of the fiberglass/resin lip that ran all the way around the perimeter. That's what held the "subfloor" down. What I'm calling the "subfloor" (since that's what it would be if it were in a house) was 3/4" (maybe even slightly thicker) marine plywood. It was screwed down to the oak floor timbers, which were not attached to the hull, as far as I could tell - they were just sitting on the hull surface. There was a continuous glass/resin "tab" all the way around that went up over the edge of the plywood subfloor, with a little gutter or trough all the way around. I think the idea was that if any water got in (which it did, through leaking deck fittings and portlights), it couldn't soak into the edge grain of the plywood and would instead be directed aft to the main bilge under the engine.
On top of that "subfloor" was the visible sole - which was 1/4" plywood with that "teak and holly" design on its face. That was glued down to the subfloor - and I mean really, really glued - there was absolutely no way you were going to just lift that 1/4" surface layer and put down a new one - I thought about it, but then realized that just wasn't happening. The 1/4" surface plywood overlapped and hid the fiberglass/resin lip that held down the "subfloor."
Problem with that design was that any time water did get in there, it trapped the water under the overlap - between the underside of the 1/4" surface plywood and the fiberglass gutter. This was most evident in the aft-most portion of the sole, which you can see in the first photo - it was all soaking wet and rotten. I was able to just pick it apart with my fingers. It probably wouldn't have been a problem if every owner for the past 42 years had made sure to re-bed the deck hardware at the first sign of a leak, but there are a couple leaks that obviously have been ongoing for years.
Well, being that (1) it was really beat up and pretty much shot and (2) it came out in about 942 pieces (not sure if you can see the reciprocating saw and angle grinder in the photos - those were my removal tools), I'm pretty sure refinishing is out of the question. Most of the chunks now reside in my trash can. There was no way it was coming out as one piece - it took it out by cutting it into chunks as I want along - started at the rear, by the engine box and worked my way forward. It took several hours and my back is now killing me. As Danny Glover said over and over in the Lethal Weapons movies: "I'm getting too old for this <stuff>."Rachel wrote:Are you going to re-finish it or build new? If new.... what kind of wood, etc.?
I'm going to build new. I've got it all planned out in my fevered little brain.
I saw this Herreshoff H28 for sale on eBay - I really, really liked the look of the interior:
One thing I really like is the clean simplicity of that plank floor. I see several positive aspects of making a floor that way, most notably the fact that it eliminates the need to try to fit a whole sheet of plywood around the entire perimeter simultaneously - which reduces complexity and physical difficulty tremendously. Instead of making some kind of template, cutting a sheet of plywood to the template, and then trying to wrestle the cut sheet through the companionway and set it in place (where would you stand??), installing a single board at a time will be far, far simpler and easier. Plus it's a nice, classic, slightly rustic look that I really like. But then again, I've always been a bit of a sucker for a slightly "work boat" look.
Another plus is that you can use pretty much any kind of lumber you want - plain old spruce boards from the local big box would work just fine. Way cheaper than that teak-n-holly plywood. Also if it gets a little scuffed or dirty, I won't care - with a bright varnished teak-n-holly sole, I'd be bumming every time somebody tromped on it with dirty shoes. With a painted wood deck, assuming you use some heavy-duty marine paint, you can pretty much hose it off into the bilge, and after a couple years, if it gets beat up, give it a quick sanding and re-paint. Or, if you wanted to go a little more high-dollar look, you could get some kind of nice hardwood and varnish it. I was toying with the idea of going all black walnut on it. Or maybe even oak. But then again, you've got that whole varnish maintenance thing, and that much wood might make it too dark in there - I like the brightness of painted surfaces.
But then I had the real stroke of something-or-other. A few years ago, I built a couple benches for our backyard deck:
The two boards that make up the seating surface are actually a synthetic decking material. They are dimensioned just like your typical pressure-treated decking planks - about 7/8" thick, if I recall correctly, and about 6" wide. One side has a wood grain pattern; the other side has a non-skid surface. Very easy to work with; cuts with normal woodworking tools. Never rots, doesn't warp, crack, split, peel, whatever. The benches have been sitting out on our deck for about three years now, in the sun, rain, snow, ice, etc., and they still look very good. Only slightly faded - and fading won't be a problem inside the cabin. It comes in a nice tan color, and you can get special fasteners that enable you to fasten it without any screws showing on the surface, by using a biscuit cutter to cut little slots in the edges.
Although I'm sure purists would be horrified, I DON'T CARE!! It's MY boat!! HAHA!! Ahem. Excuse me.
So my plan is to install new floor timbers and then install that synthetic stuff. I'll never have to paint it, it will never rot, no matter how wet it might get, it won't warp, twist, whatever. And if it gets dirty I can literally hose it off and the water will run down right into the bilge, to be pumped overboard. And if I eventually decide I don't like it, it will be easy to simply pull out the screws holding down the hidden fasteners and yank the "boards" out. And then one easily could put down whatever sole one prefers. Although it's more expensive than real wood, it's way less expensive than the teak-n-holly plywood and similar synthetic stuff sold for sailboat cabin soles - I couldn't believe the pricing of that stuff! It will be a big time-saver, too, because once it's screwed down, I'm done - no painting.
First I have to cut, grind and sand off that remaining fiberglass lip that runs around the perimeter. I'll sand it all flush and also sand as much of the inside of the hull as I can get at with my sanders, to clean it up, fair out a few ridges and bumps, and leave a fresh, slightly scored surface for epoxy to grab.
Then I'll set about making new floors, which will be properly fitted in the old wooden boat tradition. I'm trying to decide what wood to use. I was thinking spruce or doug fir,both of which are traditional boat-building woods. A standard 2x10 from the big box typically is either of those two, and can yield some nice, vertical-grained pieces if you rip out the middle. But I also like the idea of oak, for something with a little stronger screw-holding power.
Either way, I'll soak the floors with penetrating epoxy sealer first, then epoxy and fillet them to the hull, with plenty of limber holes/spaces to allow any water to flow between.
Then I'll paint the whole shebang with Interlux Bilgekote. Then I'll install the new floor boards.
All of that will take a lot of time to fit everything, but I can picture it in my head, and I think it's going to look pretty sharp. I might one piece in there first, just to see whether I like it, before buying it all. If I decide that I was crazy after all to even consider it (yeah, like that would be the first time THAT ever happens), I can just return it and go to plan B - painted wood.
Got it in one! Yes, exactly.Rachel wrote:Oh, and the thing that looks like a pipe... is that something to do with the centerboard? Cable housing?
Glad you like it. Yew weccum!Rachel wrote:I love the photo updates, thanks.