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Fibreglass boat deck repair help

Matt30987

New member
Hello,

I am new to this site, and this is my first post.

I have a 1984 Orkey Dory 13 foot GRP 5hp Honda Petrol. On my last trip out one of the seat pedestal cut a hole in the floor. I chose to remove the floor to attempt to strengthen it so this does not happen again. This is turning out to be not as easy as I thought, so I am asking for help on how is easiest to do this.

Here is my boat: rps20200817_104055.jpg

Top of the deck: rps20200817_081713.jpg

Closer look at pedestals: rps20200817_082751.jpg

Hole in floor: rps20200817_081744.jpg

Underside of deck: rps20200817_081807.jpg

Boat without deck, bottom circle is broken part: rps20200817_081637.jpg

I have chopped out one of the foam triangle pieces so I can get to the damaged section for easier repair.

I use the boat once a year to fish at norfolk, and I am potentially going to sell it soon as I want the garage space. I have no fibreglass experience so am looking for the easiest way to repair and strengthen this. I probably should have just fibreglass over the top and left deck in place but I want it stronger, and I was curious what was underneath.

My thoughts are:
1. Chop out all the triangle pieces. Smooth the bottom and build up 3,4,5,6 sheets of fibreglass matting for strength. Install pedeatals using bolts. Replace foam triangles with fibreglass to seal/hold in place.
2. Add Marine plywood to top of deck, fibreglass. Secure seats with large coach screws.
3. Build new deck with marine plywood, fibreglass the lot. Not sure how to fill the voids unless I used existing foam triangles.

I welcome any thoughts and suggestions. Or if you are anywhere near Oswestry and want to look/help/get paid to fix it, let me know.

One problem I have come accros is with removing old sealant, in the corners it just wont come up, any ideas? I am using a sharp scraper, so sharp is shaves off the top of the gelcoat.

Thank you for reading.

Matt
 
They make a spray solvent to loosen up the sealant....

On the pedestals, I'd be inclined to just use a piece of 6061 aluminum plate on the floor...bolt the pedestals in and use nylon locknuts and you should be fine...you can bond the plate to the floor with a polyurethane sealant or thru bolt it it...if you put it on top, taper the edges...

what you have for a floor looks rather thin....
 
Hello,

Thank you for your reply. I have bought some 3/4 inch marine plywood as I have worked with wood quite a bit anyway. Still not.sure if I should fibreglass it or just paint it though.

Matt
 
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