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Bob,
Thanks for the compliment! Since I've never done a whole restoration I'm thinking a LOT about what I do and how. It hasn't always gone perfectly, but I'm pleased with how it is going for the most part.
Regarding my floor. Have a look at the shots on page 4 of this thread. The floor is actually 5 pieces. I used two full length pieces for the forward section, one piece on end for the mid to stern and then two smaller pieces to fill the spaces between the giant transom braces. The center stringer is big enough to handle two rows of screws for attachment and I wanted the largest pieces I could fit. It didn't make sense to do the whole thing with sections as it would be more gaps for failure and flex. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.
For attaching, I used 8oz cloth at all the seams to seal it up prior to filling with foam. After all the foam was poured, I covered the entire floor with 1708 biaxial. This is 17 ounce mat on the botom, with a secondary 3/4 oz mat on top. It is really thick stuff and hard to work once it gets wetted out. I used a 56 inch roll for the center line then hit the sides with 36 inch. This did a good job of tying the floor into the hull and gave me a good amount of glass going up the side of the hull for more strength.
A couple of tips for you based on my experience with the 1708 if you decide to use it.
Don't try and do the entire floor in one large roll. The mat is really hard to work in that length and tends to drift. I reccomend starting at your stern and running perpendicular to the transom. You will get 36 or 50 inch widths depending on which size you get. As you build the layers, you will get a natural step in the glass which should help water flow when cleaning, etc. Also, it will allow you to work with smaller batches of resin. If you do go this route, you'll need to do the sides first so that the center set is laying on top of the sides for drainage.
For your foaming, i'm not sure if this will be an issue or not, but I used construction adhesive (liquid nails) on my stringers prior to putting the floor down. I didn't want the floor doing any wierd bulging due to the foam getting into the cracks. Seemed to do the job and wasn't too expensive to do. Oh, and as I mentioned before, as you mix your foam you are going to have leftovers of a variety of sizes in your containers. Don't throw them out. Rather, break them down to chunks that can fit through your fill holes and shove em in! you'll waste less foam that way.
Thanks for the compliment! Since I've never done a whole restoration I'm thinking a LOT about what I do and how. It hasn't always gone perfectly, but I'm pleased with how it is going for the most part.
Regarding my floor. Have a look at the shots on page 4 of this thread. The floor is actually 5 pieces.
I used two full length pieces for the forward section, one piece on end for the mid to stern and then two smaller pieces to fill the spaces between the giant transom braces. The center stringer is big enough to handle two rows of screws for attachment and I wanted the largest pieces I could fit. It didn't make sense to do the whole thing with sections as it would be more gaps for failure and flex. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. For attaching, I used 8oz cloth at all the seams to seal it up prior to filling with foam. After all the foam was poured, I covered the entire floor with 1708 biaxial. This is 17 ounce mat on the botom, with a secondary 3/4 oz mat on top. It is really thick stuff and hard to work once it gets wetted out. I used a 56 inch roll for the center line then hit the sides with 36 inch. This did a good job of tying the floor into the hull and gave me a good amount of glass going up the side of the hull for more strength.
A couple of tips for you based on my experience with the 1708 if you decide to use it.
Don't try and do the entire floor in one large roll. The mat is really hard to work in that length and tends to drift. I reccomend starting at your stern and running perpendicular to the transom. You will get 36 or 50 inch widths depending on which size you get. As you build the layers, you will get a natural step in the glass which should help water flow when cleaning, etc. Also, it will allow you to work with smaller batches of resin.
If you do go this route, you'll need to do the sides first so that the center set is laying on top of the sides for drainage.For your foaming, i'm not sure if this will be an issue or not, but I used construction adhesive (liquid nails) on my stringers prior to putting the floor down. I didn't want the floor doing any wierd bulging due to the foam getting into the cracks. Seemed to do the job and wasn't too expensive to do. Oh, and as I mentioned before, as you mix your foam you are going to have leftovers of a variety of sizes in your containers. Don't throw them out. Rather, break them down to chunks that can fit through your fill holes and shove em in! you'll waste less foam that way.
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