Trojan Boat Forum

I pulled up the aft salon decking piece that runs port/star at the sliding glass door. There is significant water damage in 1 corner and the entire aft edge is dark. I was surprised that is is only 1/2" thick; I guess I was expecting 3/4".

I had thoughts of pulling up the entire floor and replacing it with 3/4", but then had a thought to lay another layer of 1/2 over the top. This would give me a full 1" of thickness and I think it would improve on noise control and overall stability. I can use the existing pieces as a template to trace and cut close with the band saw, then run over it with a router and a pattern bit. I am open to suggestions.

Also, the bulkhead under the glass door has water damage where the starboard side motor door support connects. The beam is still connected, but it has dropped about 3/4". I am looking for ideas on how to repair that section of bulkhead.

Adding another layer of plywood will not reduce noise by any significant amount. It will just add weight. I would replace the bad plywood with new and instead add some proper sound insulation. I have used Soundown products in the past with good success. The insulation that, I assume, Trojan put on the bottom of the saloon deck is just 1" styrofoam which does nothing for sound insulation.

Here are some photos of my decking issue... It looks like the port side is starting to fail as well, however, there is very limited water damage on that side and the wood is solid. By the looks of it, it appears the the decking frame is simply toe-screwed onto the bulkhead.

I'm still not sure how to repair this, but the starboard side of the bulkhead needs replacement. The plan I am going it with is to remove the starboard engine cover and the aft deck, jack up the decking frame, remove bad bulkhead wood, and get down in there and see how bad this is. I'm not sure how I will go about splicing in new bulkhead... Either with bracing or glassing. I would also like to add a support beam across the top edge of the bulkhead and bolted through. Then use galvanized joist supports and carriage bolts to bolt the decking frame through the bulkhead and support beam.

From what I see in the pics, I would be tearing out all the bad wood until I got to solid good wood then start replacing the wood and glassing it in. But that's just me..... Also looks like you might want to consider removing the sliding doors while doing this project and get a better seal on reinstallation. I doubt they are sealed at all now from the looks of things.

I lifted the rear deck and got down inside. There was really only 1 spot of bad wood and the support piece (that was only screwed in) came loose. I patched it from the back end and braced it with another piece of treated plywood about 30" long. Bolted through with SS carriage bolts.

I still need to pull the glass panels to get to the screws that run through the tracking (any help in removing these would be appreciated.)

I am still debating if I should put another layer of 1/2" plywood over the current floor. It should tighten it up a bit, and it will be a nice clean layer for replacing the floor, but it does add weight; especially the treated stuff.

Ok so you want a stiffer floor....... why not pull the old panels up and replace with 5/8 or 3/4 plywood? you will have a thicker floor than the original and not as much weight as adding another layer of 1/2" to the original. Just an idea..............

That was under consideration at first, but the panels on the port/starboard side run all the way to the sides under the side lockers. I would have to remove the entire side locker assembly adding more time and effort that I really can't afford which is what led me on to this. I've already re-fabricated the aft panel and another piece is 5 minutes with a router and a pattern bit away. I thought of going over it with 1/4" but the effort is the same. After going though my cut list, the additional weight is really marginal; hardly 60 lbs.