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'74 MX-16 floor

S

scottswierenga

Member
I'm about to finally get rolling on my mate this spring in a week of two. The interior is currently stripped of all vinyl parts, seat bases, carpet, and glue. I'm now down to the wood floor and hull. The floor has two spongey spots in front of where the bench seat was. I've been toying with the idea of overlaying the old floor with new ply and glassing it in, without removing the old floor. I know it's always inadvisable to add weight to a boat when it's avaoidable, but I think this would be less than 30-35lbs. overall.

So my question is, What do you think, burn the time to remove the old floor and start from scratch, or just go with the overlay?
(I'm not planning on keeping the boat more than a few years)
 
Take it out. You probably have rotten stringers and saturated flotation foam. Honestly my opinion is if you don't want to get in to deep on this very old boat, sell it to someone as is and move on to the boat you really want. Just my opinion. Lots of help here if you do decide to dig in.
 
What are some good off-line sources to get glassing materials from? I've seen small amounts of resins and fiberglass sheets at auto parts stores in the past...but sine we're land-locked here in the midwest there aren't any U.S. Marine stores (or the like) here.
 
scottswierenga said:
What are some good off-line sources to get glassing materials from? I've seen small amounts of resins and fiberglass sheets at auto parts stores in the past...but sine we're land-locked here in the midwest there aren't any U.S. Marine stores (or the like) here.
Click to expand...

I would stay away from the auto parts or big box stores (Lowes Home Depot) the quality isn't as good. Remember they're in the business to sell parts or home supplies. A good reputable fiberglass store is the way to go. Here are a few others to choose from:
www.fibreglast.com
www.mertons.com
www.jamestowndistributors.com
 
Well I haven't been able to make any progress on the Mate yet. I wish I had an indoors space to do what I need to. I'm at the mercy of the weather...which has been less than spectactular lately.
 
Well, it's 3 years later and the weather finally improved enough to work outside!
(truth be told life got in the way and the boat project was put on the back burner for far too long)

I've dug into the MX again and was forced to rip the floor out, it was a mess. It didn't help anything that the stitching on the the boat cover rotted out and it's been getting wet inside for years now. While cleaning up inside the boat to get ready to work, my knee went right they the floor. There was nothing left but a layer of glass and the wet rot wood underneath. I was able to pull the keel stringer apart by hand and remove it in a few chunks.

I don't know how to post pics here, but you're welcome to friend me on Facebook for a few pics of progress as things go along. Search my name, Scott Swierenga
 
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