If at all this post sounds as if I were on drugs …… It is due to the fact that I am, Hospital yesterday ,Pain = Drugs = CT scan = KIDNEY STONE ! I have been trying to pass this thing for a week now not medicated and have been unsuccessful , But I will do my best to keep this interesting.
Our last post was involving what we thought to be our completion of the cockpit .. NOT , We knew the floor was soft and from the bottom it look just as if we only needed to jack it up and brace it, not the case. in fact we had drilled some pilot holes just to check this one area that had this bubbled up area, and what did we find WATER damage in a 1′ area. And so this begins another stab at this cockpit. We began by cutting the bottom out to inspect the damage and as you can see in the photos it was necessary. This did not upset us too bad just because now we could get to all of the sea cocks to secure them with sealant and fit the cut offs and hoses, This also allows us to make a few changes to the cockpit. We were wanting it to be a bit higher and the steering pedistal to be closer. So I would say this was for the best. I will say thanks to Don who gave us this marine plywood , being the accountant for this project I will just say have you seen the price for marine plywood !
Have you ever cut plywood covered in epoxy and fiberglass ? holy crap dose that have a smell, only someone who has not washed their butt in months can understand . not to good ……. So after getting the seacocks in order and making a template for the new floor , Burt being Mr. Clean as we call him here , wants to scrub and paint that area underneath the cockpit. Now I get cleaning it a bit , but come on this is not a place you are going to look at too often ( I hope ) . So I did manage to stop the painting part, due to the fact it has a pretty good coat of bilge paint . 1 for Dee , only if you were keeping tabs. Now on with the floor, this was fairly easy we routed out the holes for the scuppers and the emergency tiller and put a coat of epoxy mixed with acetone , this will seep down in the wood for added protection. Now we left a lip around from the old floor. This is in good shape and it will provide us the ability to raise the floor a bit and a great way to seal up. We put our steel floor brace in first and then added marine sealant to the frame and that outer edge that we left. We then dropped the floor in . IT FITS ! yes I was excited if only you knew how many times in our years of projects has something not fit, So now we add our epoxy filler around the edges and step two to put the fiberglass down and three coats of epoxy along with the sanding of course. So by thursday …………….. You should see a completed cockpit !
Restless Rudder 
The lucky thing Dee…You have Burt to be the repair slave to keep costs down!!! We are keeping an eye on your progress. We're going to Florida soon to look at some boat prospects ourselves…Yours is going to be a beauty…SmilesDoll (& Capt'n too)
yes , it is nice to have in-house labor cost, good luck on your search ! love to see a picture if you find one .