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Floor repair/replace in Persuader 219 Need advice

T

Tejas Raz

New member
I've got a nice 1992 Persuader 219 powered by a 350 Magnum/Alpha drive.

Here's the situation:
The screws that hold the seat pedestal to the floor became loose and stripped. (Too much air time and 2 foot wave running with a 215 lb. driver? Hmmm!) Couldn't get them tightened or out either. Water got down in the holes and now I have an area about 1.5 by 3 feet on the driver’s side that is rotten. Originally before I knew it’d gotten that far, I was going to reinforce the floor with .25” 7075 T6 aluminum plate that I made with aircraft nut plates riveted to the bottom to match the pedestal hole pattern and screw/bond it to the floor. Only the area under the pedestal felt soft. I yanked the interior out, ripped up the carpet and got a good look at the floor, Now that I know the rot is more extensive, I have decided to fix it right and forever by replacing the whole floor.

The floor looks like 3/4" plywood from the stringers out to the hull and 1/2" plywood covering that from bulkhead to bulkhead and also forming the ski locker which is a bit soft around the edges. It's foamed under the floor and that's dry so the water didn't penetrate any more than the wood in the floor. My idea is to cut out the floor from right at the angled edge going into the forward berth and back to near the gas tank. I'll probably still use the aluminum plates to spread out the loads from the seat pedestal as I do run pretty hard at times and love the rough water (offshore racer wannabe in my mind!). I've got some other maintenance items to do while I have it pulled apart too. Lower shift cable, tighten steering cable, bigger bilge pump and hose, solid motor mounts, engine bay lighting for nightime, rework my neon red lighting for the cockpit, and new stereo as I've still got the stock one now.

I’m entering new ground for me as I haven’t done this before. Any advice from your all's experience would be appreciated.

1. Where and how to cut out the floor. Go out to the bulkheads or cut in a few inches leaving some of the old floor wood.

2. Cut at a 90 or angled in at a 45 degree angle?

3. Put a doubler strip of wood under the floor edges and glass that in first? Then lay the new wood on top of the doubler and glass that in?

4. Marine grade plywood or something else like some of the composite flooring I've heard about?

5. What type and brands of epoxy and glass is best/strongest? West Systems epoxy comes to mind.

I'm open to any suggestions. I need to get to work on this. Not having the boat in the water is eating me up!

Thanks,

Scott Rasmussen
 
I've got a nice 1992 Persuader 219 powered by a 350 Magnum/Alpha drive.

Here's the situation:
The screws that hold the seat pedestal to the floor became loose and stripped. (Too much air time and 2 foot wave running with a 215 lb. driver? Hmmm!) Couldn't get them tightened or out either. Water got down in the holes and now I have an area about 1.5 by 3 feet on the driver’s side that is rotten. Originally before I knew it’d gotten that far, I was going to reinforce the floor with .25” 7075 T6 aluminum plate that I made with aircraft nut plates riveted to the bottom to match the pedestal hole pattern and screw/bond it to the floor. Only the area under the pedestal felt soft. I yanked the interior out, ripped up the carpet and got a good look at the floor, Now that I know the rot is more extensive, I have decided to fix it right and forever by replacing the whole floor.

The floor looks like 3/4" plywood from the stringers out to the hull and 1/2" plywood covering that from bulkhead to bulkhead and also forming the ski locker which is a bit soft around the edges. It's foamed under the floor and that's dry so the water didn't penetrate any more than the wood in the floor. My idea is to cut out the floor from right at the angled edge going into the forward berth and back to near the gas tank. I'll probably still use the aluminum plates to spread out the loads from the seat pedestal as I do run pretty hard at times and love the rough water (offshore racer wannabe in my mind!). I've got some other maintenance items to do while I have it pulled apart too. Lower shift cable, tighten steering cable, bigger bilge pump and hose, solid motor mounts, engine bay lighting for nightime, rework my neon red lighting for the cockpit, and new stereo as I've still got the stock one now.

I’m entering new ground for me as I haven’t done this before. Any advice from your all's experience would be appreciated.

1. Where and how to cut out the floor. Go out to the bulkheads or cut in a few inches leaving some of the old floor wood.

2. Cut at a 90 or angled in at a 45 degree angle?

3. Put a doubler strip of wood under the floor edges and glass that in first? Then lay the new wood on top of the doubler and glass that in?

4. Marine grade plywood or something else like some of the composite flooring I've heard about?

5. What type and brands of epoxy and glass is best/strongest? West Systems epoxy comes to mind.

I'm open to any suggestions. I need to get to work on this. Not having the boat in the water is eating me up!

Thanks,

Scott Rasmussen
 
Can't help to much on the floor other than west system epoxy is probably one of the best products on the market. If i was doing it, i'd cut at 90's and leave some of the old floor (as long as it's still good. There is a pressure treated plywood that tige uses called XL-50 which has a 50 year warranty on rot and breakdown. When new floor is in i'd fiberglass the whole thing to prevent water from getting into the wood from the carpet.

The one thing that i do have a question about is tightening the steering - why? What is loose that requires tightening? Is it the drive thats flopping around or something else?
 
Thanks for your comments Chris. I like the boat a lot! A lone Checkmate in a sea of Bajas here.

Don't know if the steering play is in the tiller gearbox or the drive. I've got about 3" to 3.5" of play in the steering wheel that I'd like to lose. Thought about adding Drew Marine's Sidewinder Steering Stabilizer after I get the slop fixed and add a Skekgard to the drive.

Will probably switch to 1.6 ratio rocker arms and blueprint the carb for a bit more power too. Been hearing good things about the GLM exhaust manifolds in Family and Performance Boating magazine too. Inexpensive, lighter aluminum and individual runners instead of Mercury's open chamber in the manifold. 2-3 mph gains from thier testing.
 
Have a close look a the gimbel ring at the back of the boat sounds like it may be loose. Tighten it up using the 2 bolts at the top of the ring. If it doesn't tighten then it MUST be replaced. This wears over time especially if not tightened regularly - considering how you use the boat, you'll want to check this regularly. Let me know what you find out.
 
tejaz, I sent you an email about floor repair. Let me know if you have any more questions or if something was unclear.
Good luck to you.
Keep us posted.
 
Got your email Gus. Thank you very much for taking the time to write such a detailed letter. Sounds very much like I was thinking. I'll take photos also in case someone else needs them on the board later.

Scott
 
Listen, if you guys don't stop talking about playin' with your gimble rings on the board, I'm going to have to close this sucker down. It's tight, it's loose....geez!
biggthumpup.gif
 
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