tahiti floor question

[wickedfab]

my tahiti has the rear 4-5 ft long stringers then the front is a subfloor type deal. looks like plywood just set on the hull. is that annalysis sp? correct? would i be able to rip up the subfloor and run two complete stringers? any pics you guys have would be great.
tia
ryan

[Some Kind Of Monster]

So you want to know if you can remove the 1/4 stringers and add full stringers?

[wickedfab]

yeah but the stupid subfloor is in the way...
whats the construction of the subfloor?

[roostwear]

Keel stringer under floor, boxed at the back at stringers. Quite strong if structurally sound. I doubt you're buying anything by going full stringer.

[wickedfab]

do you think i should just reglass where the subfloor is pulling from the hull?? and reglass where the rear stringers are pulling them up and brace the
somehow?
damn i wish i had pics......

[tahitijet]

i cut all mine out and went full stringer with a sub floor between the stringers in the area where the old subfloor was.

[victorfb]

the subfloor design with the 1/4 stringers is actually very strong as long as it is all intacked. with the subfloor you will get more lateral support than going with full stringers only. as roostwear mentioned you may be better off repairing the original design how tahiti made it. just make sure all the wood isnt roten from the years.

[71tahiti]

I am replacing my floor as well. I have a single center stringer that starts just in front of the engine. My floor was glassed to each side of the boat. I had water soaked wood in the floor. I am going to use nida-core as the floor, and re-glass it to the boat like original. I think my boats floor had been replaced before. Any other suggestions?

[wickedfab]

well acually my buddy thats doing the glass just left a few min ago . i am going to leave the floor intact and clean and reglass teh crack. also strengthening the otherside while im at it. and putting a spreader in between the 1/4 stringers in front of the motor to tie them and the subfloor together. should be accomplished in teh next two weeks.

[Jetaholic]

Honestly, I think it would be a great idea to just replace all of that wood, floor and stringers. The keel stringer should be fine...you can probably get away with just reglassing over that.
Once the floor is in you may want to inject some floatation foam underneath it (that's what was done to mine).
New wood = piece of mind & "like new" structural integrity
Jon

[old rigger]

Once the floor is in you may want to inject some floatation foam underneath it (that's what was done to mine).
New wood = piece of mind & "like new" structural integrityJon
Never, ever install that expandable foam under the floor. Under there, the boat is always damp, no matter how well you seal it up, and the foam acts like a big sponge soaking all that moisture up and worse, retains it accelerating dry rot. Infact I always install some kind of access hole hidden under the bow somewhere, or in a seat base, where I can pop the cap on it, and then at the other end, in the well, install a drain plug and sleve. When the boats at rest, I remove both and let that area breath, removing any moisture in the process. ;)
That foam's a bad idea, and many boats come from the factory like that.

[71tahiti]

NO FOAM!!!!!! I am replacing my floor because it will wick water and destroyed the wood. Not to mention the extra LB's ive been haulin. It was the weight that led me to "peek" under the floor... WAS SOAKED In theory foam seems ok.. but in a marine environment it can cause alot of damage if ever wet. Im with Old Rigger.....

[mike_ct]

i thought the idea of the foam was to displace the volume to limit the area that water can occupy, because like said before, no matter how well you seal, it *WILL* get water in there..
ie. boat with no foam has enough room for 30 gallons
ie. boat with foam only has air-space for ~4 gallons because the rest of the airspace is taken up by foam
I do understand the idea behind keeping it empty to it will dry better..
I put new flywood down in my 18' tahiti, re-glassed over the keel, and finished by screwing and fiberglassing the new plywood, and my boat still flexes like a mofo'..i just got used to seeing the motor sit perfectly still and the rest of the boat flexing around it :)

[DelawareDave]

i thought the idea of the foam was to displace the volume to limit the area that water can occupy, because like said before, no matter how well you seal, it *WILL* get water in there..
ie. boat with no foam has enough room for 30 gallons
ie. boat with foam only has air-space for ~4 gallons because the rest of the airspace is taken up by foam
I do understand the idea behind keeping it empty to it will dry better..
I put new flywood down in my 18' tahiti, re-glassed over the keel, and finished by screwing and fiberglassing the new plywood, and my boat still flexes like a mofo'..i just got used to seeing the motor sit perfectly still and the rest of the boat flexing around it :)
I replaced all the wood in my Hawaiian, and without the floor, the hull, without the deck, was very flimsy. Once I bonded the floor back in, the hull, still without the deck, was fairly rigid, and had very little flex.

[old rigger]

i thought the idea of the foam was to displace the volume to limit the area that water can occupy, because like said before, no matter how well you seal, it *WILL* get water in there..
ie. boat with no foam has enough room for 30 gallons
ie. boat with foam only has air-space for ~4 gallons because the rest of the airspace is taken up by foam
I do understand the idea behind keeping it empty to it will dry better..
If you have a boat that takes on and retains 30 gallons of water under the floor, you have other problems and all the foam in the world won't cure it. There is no reason to have ANY water under the floor, that's why you install a drain plug in the bulkhead. If any water does find it's way under there, it's very easy to pull the plug and let it drain out.

[mike_ct]

you mean 30 gallons isn't normal? :D
i put a drain plug in on each side of the keel in the bulkhead area, well, actually its just a 1/2 hole and i use 2 pieces of cork...i really wish i put some kind of vent up front too now i could open to get some air in there..
ohh well, lessons learned for next time i do the floor..
here are some shots from my floor, unfortunately i didn't take many, just a few along the way..i went around perimeter with a circular saw, just cutting fiberglass, the wood was totally rotted, along with the foam..i left around 2 inches surrounding the perimeter of the floor that i screwed through into new plywood before re fiberglassing the whole thing, i also cut a triangle and shoved it up under the front gas tank area that I did not cut out the original fiberglass...
thats my dad and my friend with their "what were you thinking?" faces on..
http://ecytotoxic.com/g2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=1297&g2_serialNumber=1
me powerwashing
http://ecytotoxic.com/g2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=1361&g2_serialNumber=1
http://ecytotoxic.com/g2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=1363&g2_serialNumber=1
http://ecytotoxic.com/g2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=1293&g2_serialNumber=1
TADA! Unbelievably, IT FLOATS!
then, I blew the motor, and found out the packing was leaking like a civ, and rowed it back fast i could.
http://ecytotoxic.com/g2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=1291&g2_serialNumber=1

[mike_ct]

http://ecytotoxic.com/g2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=1367&g2_serialNumber=1
http://ecytotoxic.com/g2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=1370&g2_serialNumber=1
http://ecytotoxic.com/g2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=1373&g2_serialNumber=1
http://ecytotoxic.com/g2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=1376&g2_serialNumber=1
http://ecytotoxic.com/g2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=1379&g2_serialNumber=1

[old rigger]

lol.
I've seen that look before on your dads face...on my dads face back when I bought my first boat and blew up the engine.:rolleyes: