Replacing cabin sole

[dr2owen]

I am seriously considering purchasing a 1986 Cape Dory 330. The boat is in excellent condition mechanically but needs some lipstick. The biggest thing is there is water damage from a leaking hose on the cabin sole and the plywood has delaminated and is soft. Does anyone have some advice and/or tips regarding replacing the cabin sole?

[moctrams]

There are a lot of "how to" on the web.

http://yogaandboatmaintenance.weebly.co ... y-solution

[John Stone]

There is a lot of experience among forum members. If you post a few pictures it is a lot easier to share some thoughts on how to tackle a repair to the cabin sole. Number one is to ensure the source of the water leak is corrected.

[Doug Gibson]

Not sure how similar the floor construction in your 330 is to my 36, but I would bet they're pretty similar.

Replace my fuel tank and therefore the central section of the sole a few years ago. I found the 1/2" ply wood veneer sole was screwed and plugged in the 5/8" or 3/4" plywood sub floor. Adhesive was also used, but appeared to be poly sulfide, so was soft enough to allow removal of sole in fairly large (1-2 sq foot) pieces.

Since I wanted to match fore and aft sections of the flooring, I used same teak-and-holly 1/2" plywood. The width and spacing of the holly strips matched original (some things don't change much after 30 years). Very expensive - I think I paid > $200 for a 4x8 sheet.
Glued, screwed and plugged back into sub flooring. I had to divide the new flooring into two sections in order to fit and slide under bulk head cut-outs, etc. Couple coats of matte varnish finished the job. I'd like to do the same for the flooring in the galley and v-berth - just to have it all look the same, but other boat priorities call. In my boat, there is a fiberglass pan used in the head/v-berth area, so I believe the veneer plywood is screwed/glued directly to the pan - no plywood sub-floor.

Can send photo if that would be helpful.

[Tom Keevil]

We had the same issue when we bought Rover. Our first solution was to cover it with a carpet. That lasted eight years, and then we replaced the sole. It was relatively low priority after various system upgrades and lots of sailing in lieu of boat work.

On the 33 the teak and holly plywood is screwed and glued onto a fiberglass sole. I don't know if that's also true for the 330, as the interior is very different. It was a big job, but certainly doable by someone with rather minimal woodworking skills (i.e. Me). We added another hatch to provide easier access to the bilge. There is a lot of potential storage space down there which is very useful on long cruises. We coated the edges and bottom with epoxy, so we never have to repeat this.

In our case the width of the holly strips did not match the original, so there was a change at some point in history.

[K Chiswell]

On our 330 the sole is half inch teak & holly ply over half inch ply. It is screwed and plugged like the 36. The settees and other interior cabinetry is assembled on top of the sole so to replace it all is a lot of work.

I have not been able to find a match to the teak & holly spacing. Our existing sole has 2 1/8 teak with 3/8 holly. The only thing I can find is 2 3/8 teak with 1/4 holly. I just pulled up a large portion of my sole and the teak & holly veneer is in pretty good shape. If we could cut a peace big enough to patch the area that needs repair out of it, you are welcome to it for the shipping cost.

[dr2owen]

On our 330 the sole is half inch teak & holly ply over half inch ply. It is screwed and plugged like the 36. The settees and other interior cabinetry is assembled on top of the sole so to replace it all is a lot of work.

I have not been able to find a match to the teak & holly spacing. Our existing sole has 2 1/8 teak with 3/8 holly. The only thing I can find is 2 3/8 teak with 1/4 holly. I just pulled up a large portion of my sole and the teak & holly veneer is in pretty good shape. If we could cut a peace big enough to patch the area that needs repair out of it, you are welcome to it for the shipping cost.

Thank you all for your responses. Yesterday I had the first of the two happiest days in a boat owner's life as I am now the proud owner of the "Consort" Hull number 132 a 1986 Cape Dory 330 which will be housed at Worton Creek, MD. I have attached a picture of the damage to the sole in the cabin. It is on the starboard side between the table and the ice box. I was told it was due to a leak which was fixed. I believe that as things are dry. I think a patch to fix just this area would need to be about 4 ft by 6 ft. I can see plugs in the plywood so I assume I just figure out how to remove them and start unscrewing the damaged part. Again thanks for the feedback and your help.

2018-04-06 11.43.45.jpg

[Ben Thomas]

If the head sink drain is not tied into sea cock, then it drains into the bilge. I replaced my rotted sole a few years back due to water damage and placing a 20 gal. fuel tank in part of the bilge area. I discovered that the hose from head sink had coiled back to it's circular packing shape and spewed gray water up into ply for many years. I have since shortened the hose and clamped it in place on the center line.
While you're in there you should check that hose.
Cheers