Wood floor, foam and prep for '86 durcraft ??

I'm trying to finish a boat project that was about 90% complete and on the final section of rear compartment. The wood floor was rotting under the gas/batter area and after a few pulls, everything was completely rotted and packed with years of sludge. After lots of beach/spic-n-span, it looks much better with a few spots to go. Here is where I'm stuck, what is the next prep steps, type of foam (where to buy) and best wood choice to use. One of the problems is the clearance is very small and needed to come out to accommodate a larger batter and gas tank.
Some concerns is the corrosion that appears around the edges, should I be concerned with this.
Second, the three vented slots are not connected and can trap rain water and such, the middle rail is the drain for the center of the boat but is not connected to a pump or drain plug. How to remove this trapped water from these areas?

Any help on type of foam, glues, thin woods, waterproofing, etc. would be much appreciated

I decided not to put any flooring at the transom. Although my center chine does feed the drain plug, the others in the boat don't, and they hold some water too as you've described, and I'm also annoyed by it. I even thought of filling all but the middle chine at the back of the boat because of it. It's not so much that they hold water, it's that they feed water/dirt into a hard to get at area for cleaning because of the knee braces and the last rib in the boat.

The decision for me to leave the area without decking was made because I wanted to be able to identify water/leaks in the boat as quickly as possible if needed and the only thing stored back there are batteries or (on rare occasions) a gas tank.

If you want to put a deck down, I'd try to make something that is easily removable for cleaning/maintenance. You can use the blue foam board and exterior plywood that has been sealed with a spar urethane. While you're back there, I'd give the corrosion a hit with a wire brush.

I would fabricate a removable aluminum tray

How about one of those plastic boot trays? That might fit in there real good.

scbasschaser said:

Second, the three vented slots are not connected and can trap rain water and such, the middle rail is the drain for the center of the boat but is not connected to a pump or drain plug. How to remove this trapped water from these areas?
Any help on type of foam, glues, thin woods, waterproofing, etc. would be much appreciated

Click to expand...

Welcome SCBassChaser!
I would fill in the vented slots on each side from the last accessible location (probably ahead of the rear seat) back to the transom using a marine filler.
This would force the water up from collecting in those hard to reach areas.
Next I would 3M 2 small (1/2 X 1/2) pieces of aluminum angle to the flat area just created on the bottom, from each side to the center channel, angled slightly to the rear in the center of the boat to force any water to the center channel and drain. I've re-edited this several times to clear it up, so I hope it helps....Jerry

Thanks guys for the HELP!!! The wire bush (course) and drill combo really did the trick, I have most all the gunk and corrosion removed after about 1.5 hours of prep. Great ideas on diverting the water into the drain channel and using a removable is an excellent thought. You don't know how much appreciate the ideas.

Two other problem areas and I posted a picture is the open ended support beams attaching the compartment interior walls to the floor. Should I consider filling the ends with some Great Stuff or would that just encourage more moisture. Anyone seeing the benefit to capping the ends.

Second area is in the very back of the transom area that allows water to move between the interior walls of the boat. Are these small areas to keep from water being trapped in the subfloor and interior of the boat. Not sure about filling these gaps? Any thoughts.