Replacing the entire deck on a 1984 hurricane fundeck

Hey everyone - brand new here, and I am sure if I searched and read for a few days I might learn a thing or two and not ask some of the dumb questions I am about to ask - but since I am trying to push ahead with this restoration, I thought I would try asking the dumb questions to save time lol.

Cut out my entire deck, 6'x12'6". There were three supports accross the width of the hull, looks like ordinairy 2x4's that were glassed all around but rotted some anyway). The entire deck was just glassed right to the gunwales all the way around, and then sitting on those three supports, then glassesd on top as well. I cut right up to the fiberglass gunwales and need to clean up a bit underneath where there was some overlap in some places with the 3/4" plywood and none in others.

So now - rebuilding:
1. If I use Fir 2x4's for the cross beams should I fully glass them? or will they breath and last as long or longer open? They will be sitting on the 3 already glassed in supports on each side, so they will get wet but won't be sitting in water. Or am I better to use treated spruce and glass them in?


2. For the deck, they had 3/4" plywood glassed on both sides - that rotted anyway (but hey, 34 yrs old), I was planning to use 1" marine grade plywood and NOT glass it in, just marine grade glue and carpet on top. Bad idea? Should I glass both sides? One side? Just epoxy one or both sides without the fabric? I really have no idea. I want it to last BUT also trying to minimize cost and wasted labor - but since I have $5k worth of furniture to put on it I don't want to do a job that will only last a few years.

3. since the old plywood went under the gunwales and was glassed to them, do I run the new plywood under and use a construction adheasive? Should I screw the gunwales to the wood or is that going to just weaken things and introduce water once again? I will try to upload a few pics so you have half an idea what I am trying to do, since my terminology may be way off.

 

Well, the boat is gonna get wet. So, nearly impossible to protect the wood for an amateur builder.

Budget drives it all.

Want waterproof stuff; it costs 2-3 times.

Do not add thickness to the floors; weight adds fast.

I can answer 3, but need to see what you did. If you cut away the old sole, then construction adhesive it not the way to go.. a drawing or closeup would help

if you have a hanging sole and you cut it off; that is not super easy to redo now...it is supposed to hang from the vertical sides

the easier thing to do is set the new sole atop the old one like a 2" flange if it has enough integrity; this requires raising up the other structures about 3/4"

otherwise, you need to create some type of cleat or build a stringer which is a lot of work

 

Hi Carman.D
-Do you have pictures from before tearing apart and pictures of desired layout?
-What is the box in the middle for? Are you keeping it? It may have had some stiffening function.
-Were the 2x4's 'flat' instead of 'tall' in the boat? Did they rest on that box? Did they rest on those ledges in the hull? What did you mean about them getting wet?
-Did you remove flotation? Plans to replace?

You are fighting a bit of an uphill battle as the original deck was (most likely) built upside down in a mold where it was easy for the builders to add stuff, glass it in, and then the whole of it was flipped over and attached to the hull.

If it were mine I would would use fiberglass and resin on all decking and framing woods and make sure any exposed epoxy is painted or otherwise covered with carpet, etc. If you want to do gelcoat that might steer you to vinylester resin. Are you comfortable with basic glassing and woodwork? Use marine grade stuff, not plain sheetrock screws and PL200... I am not a professional but am convinced that the right tools, materials, and techniques help the average person to do a better job.

Some sort of beam shelf to hold up new/additional deck beams might not be a bad idea.

I should get to some of my own repairs. All the best.

 

I would build a whole new cored sole, including the box, which is probably rotting under the carpet.
Make a melamine mold, upside down, could even have a nice molded nonskid texture.
Leave flanges to overlay the lip in the cutout.
It’s a lot of work for an old boat with limited resale value, the $ end of the equation will never balance.