J/30 Class Association Forums J/30 Forum The Boat, Sails and Equipment Cabin Deck Replacment

I have to replace the cabin floor in my boat as the boat had a bad desial spill and the wood floor just absorbed it and it has a bad smell. Has anyone ever replaced the wood teak & holly or does anyone know how I can get rid of the smell?

Mark
No Quarter Given

Mark,

Are you sure the fuel is absorbed in the wood and not elsewhere in the bilge? Was the wood unfinished so it allowed the fuel to seep in? What was the source of the spill and where did the diesel fuel run. There is the "Hidden Bilge" that may be the source of the fuel smell. Check out this thread Dewatering Aft Bilge - Need Advice and see the extensive work Rich Miller did.

Bill, the diesel tank had a leek along Starbord aft seem it seems for a very long time. The mast boot was not on very well causing the bilge to fill when it rained right to the top of the floor boards and also above it. The fuel sat on top of the water and the wood sucked it up, in fact parts of the floor are black from the fuel. the table sleeve is totally black. The leek ran from the tank to the bilge for so long the smell is in the cussions which I am now throwing out and having new ones made. It looks like myself and my dad who is an excellent wood working guy will take out the wood floor and replace it. I have been told that there is a fiberglass floor below the wood is this true?

Mark

Mark,

Sounds like you got the problem well diagnosed. There is fiberglass under the wood cabin sole. Take a look at the Phantom #364 Blog that John Hartley wrote to document his rebuild. There are some great pictures on what is below the cabin sole.

Note that not all J/30s have the wood cabin sole. Some were made with just the fiberglass.

I found it impossible to remove the floor intact. Not only is it screwed into the fiberglass below, but it is glued as well. I found that I had to cut sections with a skill saw and pry loose. I salvaged enough to make a small section to cover the "hidden bilge" which I opened. Have a look on my blog Phantom364.blogspot

Well thanks for the advice, I will be ripping the floor out when the weather gets warm up here in Massachusetts & do expect it to be a tough project. Any further advice with this replacment is always helpful.

Thank's Guys
Mark T.

Well we took up part of the cabin sole, about an 8 inch section to see what it really looks like. Man, it's a going to be a tough job the wood is so socked with diesel that it still wet and bad. Looks like a long and tough job a head. Hopefully we will have the smell out after it's all done.

2/24/09 The floor is out and it's time to try to scrub out the deisel smell. Does anyone have a suggestion on what I can use to get ride of the smell?

Did you also remove the fiberglass skin and are you down to the vermiculite? If it is in the vermiculite, no scrubbing will take the smell out as it has been absorbed. It sounds from your past description with fuel soaked water over the flooring that you probably have fuel penetrated in the vermiculite and it may need to be chipped out.

yes the skinn is out and the vermiculite is being taken out and I have been told a few ways to get rid of the smell so we will see, but man its a big job.