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Deck, stringer and bulkhead question

pedrodog

New member
I'm a nube to the fiberglass world and just purchased a 1982 ozark v161 bass boat a few weeks ago. I was told before I bought it that it had a small soft spot on the deck. I noticed that it had drain holes on port and starboard and figured there must be weep holes throughout and drain out to the pan at the transom. My question is, it would seem to me that under the deck there would be no foam in this boat and the stringers and bulkheads would be cased in glass. If so, could I just re surface the deck with 1/2" cda and glass it in? Also about mid ship strb side on the hull below the deck line there is a quarter size chunk of glass missing looks like just the gel coat and possibly from over flexing against a stringer? or could it be from something else?
TIA
 
Drill large hole with a hole saw in the soft spot and see if there is foam down there. If you dont remove all of the water your just putting a bandaid on a dirty sore it will just get worse. You must remove all the dryrot and wetfoam then you can put it back together. Tap around the deck snd transom with a hammer you willknow where the dryrot is by the sound.
 
Drill large hole with a hole saw in the soft spot and see if there is foam down there. If you dont remove all of the water your just putting a bandaid on a dirty sore it will just get worse. You must remove all the dryrot and wetfoam then you can put it back together. Tap around the deck snd transom with a hammer you willknow where the dryrot is by the sound.

Thank you for your reply. I guess my question is more like a conformation. There are two drain holes on the deck in front of the bench, prt and strb and does not have a hose attached that I can see and wondering if not would there be weep holes throughout the stringers and bulkhead and drain to the pan at the transom? If so wouldn't the bulkhead and stringers be in cased in glass and if they were they should be in better shape than the deck? thanks
 
You wont know until you open it up. How big are the drain holes?

About an 1 1/2. The hull seems really solid, I took it out a few days ago for the first time. I'd be really surprised if the stringers and bulkheads weren't glassed in. Lol ok thank for your input we'll just have to put some holes in the deck this winter and see what's going on in there.
 
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