Ideas for replacement Floor panel

[murphfsu]

I have a 93 PS 190. I am looking to replace the rear floor board (fiberglass) that covers the exaust pipes and steer cables. The problem arose when the hinges holding my engine cover started to loose stability and ripped through the fiberglass floor panel. They only had a small washer holding them together.

Not a huge deal but I want to replace it with a new piece and carpet it. Any ideas on materials -- I was thinking an insulated piece of ply wood would work but was hoping to find the exact same material.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[jsonova99]

I don't know if you could find the same stuff or not. Can you fix the old one with some fiberglass? Otherwise I would probably just use a nice piece of plywood and fiberglass it to seal it.

[murphfsu]

That was my guess -- I was going to pull the carpet and see how it looked. It really has some flex to it now when you stand on it. I think the heat over the years from the mufflers compromised the material a bit.

I also replace the pumps on the engine cover with 40lb pumps when I probably should have used 20lb. The pumps were so strong they caused the hinges to rip through. Live and learn I guess

[jsonova99]

I have a '91, and my floor is as solid as can be with ~730 hours on it.

[east tx skier]

Originally Posted by murphfsu

I have a 93 PS 190. I am looking to replace the rear floor board (fiberglass) that covers the exaust pipes and steer cables. The problem arose when the hinges holding my engine cover started to loose stability and ripped through the fiberglass floor panel. They only had a small washer holding them together.

Not a huge deal but I want to replace it with a new piece and carpet it. Any ideas on materials -- I was thinking an insulated piece of ply wood would work but was hoping to find the exact same material.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I have a 93 PS 205 and just dealt with the same issue. My section of floor behind the motorbox to which the hinges attach is made of honeycomb aluminum, not fiberglass. While I had that section pulled, I got some slightly longer screws and placed a thin piece of plywood across the underside of portion of flooring where the hinges attached and had pulled through (not the entire piece of flooring, just enough to cover the width where the hinges attach). I drilled small holes in it at the attachment point. I then reattached the hinges. The load was spread more widely and I haven't had any trouble with lose hinges since. It's easier to replace a thin piece of plywood than an entire floor section in my opinion.

[jsonova99]

Originally Posted by east tx skier

I have a 93 PS 205 and just dealt with the same issue. My section of floor behind the motorbox to which the hinges attach is made of honeycomb aluminum, not fiberglass. While I had that section pulled, I got some slightly longer screws and placed a thin piece of plywood across the underside of portion of flooring where the hinges attached and had pulled through (not the entire piece of flooring, just enough to cover the width where the hinges attach). I drilled small holes in it at the attachment point. I then reattached the hinges. The load was spread more widely and I haven't had any trouble with lose hinges since. It's easier to replace a thin piece of plywood than an entire floor section in my opinion.

Sounds good to me

[east tx skier]

The problem is that the washers don't spread the load nearly enough. Cranking the screws down too tight will probably be enough to break through that floor. Not cranking them down tight enough will leave play in there and the weight of the engine box will pull them through. Just spread the pressure out and it'll solve the problem until the wood rots. I didn't even bother treating mine as it only took 5 minutes to put on and I'll have that floor board up once a year to grease the steering anyway. If it needs to be replaced, no big deal to do it.

[murphfsu]

Thanks for the insight -- no that you pointed it out -- my floor is honey comb aluminum as well.

When you ran the plywood accross did your floor board no longer sit flush or did you not take it to the ends?

[AirJunky]

I'm just about to deal with the same problem on my '94. I picked up the gas rams at Napa..... seems like I read they were 30 lbs. Anyway, the hinge screw are pulling the honeycomb floor so I was thinking I would stop by the scrap yard & make some aluminum backing plates for the bottom. The floor & carpet otherwise is in great shape with almost 600 hrs on the boat.

[east tx skier]

That'd be even better. I just used wood because I had some sitting there and wanted to get it put back together.