After the slight flooding debacle we experienced early this spring, we decided to remove the old, nasty, saggy, oily-water soaked cabin sole and replace it with a new, solid, nice one.

Out With The Old

Before removing the sole, I first made a red rosin paper template of the existing area. I knew it wouldn't end up being an exact fit, due to the fact that the new sole might not end up in exactly the same location, however it would at least give me a starting point. With that done, the next step, of course, was to remove the old sole. I wasn't sure exactly what I'd find, so I just dived right in. I found that the sole was two separate pieces: an original forward section, and an after-market aft section. The newer section was actually solidly constructed and well sealed. Additionally, it was easily removed in a single section as it was simply held in place by a couple of screws.

The forward section however, consisted of a subfloor of plywood which was heavily tabbed to the hull, with a thin "teak" veneer over the whole construction, including the tabbing. Removal proved to be somewhat difficult, however after 30 minutes with a reciprocating saw, I had the bulk of the sole removed. I then spent some time with a hammer, cat's paw, chisels, and putty knives breaking out the last bits of plywood and tabbing up forward. Farther aft, the sole had been resting on severely resin starved fiberglass mat "tabbing" which was now saturated with oil. Removal of all this material left me with a huge amount of debris in the bilge.

Floors...er... Sole Supports

With this opportunity to replace the old sole, which was disturbingly saggy underfoot, we wanted to be sure the new sole was very solid. To this end I decided to build in some strong mahogany floors beneath the sole. (Ed: Technically, these aren't really floors, as they do not tie the hull to the keel, but I'm going to use the term "floor" and "cabin sole support" interchangeably.) After cleaning out the debris from the bilge and scrubbing thoroughly with simple green and plenty of fresh water, I turned my attention to building the floors. Since I really was using these simply to support the sole, I decided not to go overboard with the project, and built simple "T-beam" supports which I planned to simply epoxy into place.

Since each support would have compound angles involved, I took some time to first make careful measurements at each station where I planned a support. I knew that I would still need to do plenty of in-place fitting, but hoped that some preliminary planning would make things proceed as smoothly as possible.

With my measurements in hand, I cut each floor to the anticipated correct size, then fine tuned the fit with saws, planes, and sandpaper, until each fit accurately. I then assembled the floor with it's "T-beam" support using epoxy and bronze screws. With this done, I installed each floor in place, bedded in thickened epoxy.

Sole Building

With the floors installed, I was able to turn my attention to building the new sole. First, using the rosin paper template that I had made previously, I cut a subfloor from 12mm (approx. 1/2 inch) Meranti plywood. Since the total length of the sole was a bit over 8 feet, I had to make the subfloor in two pieces. I fine-tuned the fit of the pieces with a hand plane until they sat flush on the floors. While I tried to get the ply to fit accurately, I planned later to fair the sole into place anyway so I didn't worry about perfection.

Next I decided on the size and location of the bilge access hatches. This was limited by a number of factors, including the 2.5 inch width of the planking material I planned to use as the finished surface of the sole, as I wanted full planks on the hatches.

I had determined to use Rustic Red Birch household flooring as my finished surface for the sole. This was a tongue and groove material, but due to the hatches, I needed square edged material. So I ripped the tongues and grooves off of each board using the table saw, then prepared to install the planks on the subfloor.

Installation was straight forward. I first marked the centerline of the sole, then clamped a full length of the birch flooring on one side of the centerline to use as a guide for my first course of planks. I then cut pieces to length and installed them in a bed of heavy-duty exterior-grade construction adhesive using countersunk bronze screws.

I allowed the boards to run wild over the outboard edges of the plywood subfloor. Then once the construction adhesive had cured, I cut off the overhanging material using a jigsaw. I test fit the sole in the boat and made some minor adjustments to the fit using a hand plane.

Once I was satisfied with the fit I installed bungs in the countersink holes in the sole and hatches. I then sanded to 220 grit, and began a varnish and finishing regime, laying on a total of three coats of varnish and painting the underside with grey bilgekote before permananently installing the sole in the boat.

In With the New

With varnish and bilgekote on the sole, I was finally able to install the new sole in the boat. I installed the sole in a thick bed of construction adhesive, then used clamps and stringers through the access hatches to clamp the sole in place until the adhesive cured.

To fill the gap between the edges of the sole and the hull, I mixed up several pots (40 total ounces) of epoxy thickened heavily with colloidal silica and some microballoons. I troweled this mixture into the large gap, creating a gently curved fillet between the sole and the hull.

Once the epoxy cured, I carefully sanded the fairing compound, then removed the tape that protected the edge of the sole from excess epoxy (which turned out to be a very tedious process). I then retaped the edge of the sole and painted out the newly faired area and surrounding hull with Interlux Chocolate Brown Brightsides paint (now discontinued). The final result was a seemingly seamless fit of the new sole, with which I was extremely pleased. After one more sanding and coat of varnish to clean up some minor damage during installation, the new sole was complete.