[Scottie1961]

I've already found some great info on this site for my new (to me) 202 Shabah so thanks for all the great threads. I did a few searches but couldn't find a thread regarding the construction of the floor in the Shabah and possibly all Mariahs. As I was doing a more detailed inspection of the boat I pulled up the snap in carpet and discovered a strange transition from the open bow to the cockpit. It appears like the bow area is a separate insert from the underlying floor structure. The carpet from the cockpit area extends up under this "insert". The aluminum threshold piece has tiny screws that have long since stripped out of the thinner fiberglass material.

My main concern is the likelihood of water getting trapped under this area especially since the carpet seems to go underneath (probably not very far). The floor seems very solid throughout the boat as this thing was kept inside it's entire life. I do want to avoid any future issues so just being OCD about it I guess. She will live indoors during the winter but stays outside under a cover in the summer.

My inclination would be to try and cut the carpet right at the threshold and pull it out from underneath but not sure how far it goes. I also want to use larger stainless screws to reattach the threshold piece into the floor structure. Thanks for any feedback or insight into this.

[ShabahZ280]

Do you have a pic of this? Your description is a little bit hard to understand. Photos will help explain it a lot better!

[Scottie1961]

Good idea, i'll get a pic and post it!

[Paul F]

The floor in the bow area is part of the top deck mould. The flooring on my 1995 is treated wood. I wouldn't worry about it unless you leave your boat exposed to the elements. The screw holes are from snaps that held a piece of carpet on the bow floor. They strip out over time.

[jjt1276]

I had some rot in this exact area in area in a 99. You are correct this was/is a design issue in my opinion. The rot I had was near the front edge of the "transition" behind the aluminum and also down the starboard side of the floor extending one and a half feet to the bow and three inches to the centerline. I noticed this because the floor felt a little soft in those areas. My boat has carpet in back, no carpet in bow. There is a gap between the aluminum and the floor filled by a folded in half piece of carpet. The wood is sandwiched in fiberglass. Floor, wood, thin layer of glass, small gap then carpet, then the main floor of the boat. The design flaw as I see it is when that carpet gets wet it can't dry out, especially the exposed edge near the cockpit. I scraped out all rot with a large screw driver, dried the area, filled with expanding marine foam. I replaced the aluminum with a vinyl piece and glued in place (no screws) left a 1/4 inch gap to the floor. I did not replace the folded carpet filler in the gap between the floor and trim piece. The foam worked great and I was able to fill the void inside of the fiberglass "sandwich". I now also never put wet life jackets in the under seat stowage, and open those stowaways when covered. Now with the air gap near the cockpit under the floor drys out. Glad you are finding/fixing this now before you have bigger problems!


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[jjt1276]

BTW I was also thinking of cutting the carpet as well. Leaving the air gap I mentioned seems to have fixed the drying issue.


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[CHICKS75]

I tackled this project this weekend. as all have stated, a design flaw. mine was very soft at the threshold toward the bow.
I went for "GIT ROT" and made slot cuts where the wood was bad to acceptable.

This morning i checked the hardness and i am very pleased with the results. i will now sand/scuff, paint and apply black SeaDek down in this area and will be good as new!!

Ill try and post the finished result.

[Firestone]

Wow, this was one of my first projects on my boat after I bought it in May of this year. The starboard side was very soft and the screws had just pulled out. This was mainly my fault because I did not know the front storage compartment did not have a drain to the exterior and melting ice was going right to the carpet below. Like many others I removed much of the water logged plywood about 6 inches on the starboard and only an inch on the rest. I used a high strength epoxy and fiberglass material to fill in the area. It is solid as a rock now

[pllevine]

I never had carpet in my 202.... There may have been once, and I don't have an aluminum threshold piece over the floor transition. I thought that it looked a bit shoddy to just have this bow shell piece like that.
I guess I need to think a little more about snap in carpeting and fabricating an aluminum piece for the transition.


1998 202 Shabah 5.0L Alpha 1

[Paul F]

Wow, Guess I was wrong about it being an issue. My boat is garaged so I had no idea.