OMC: Floor repair question

So all the chatter on floors and seats got me thinking I should do some preventative maintenance on the seats in my 1967 Reveler. Visually they still look brand new with no cuts or cracks, but structurally, the webbing is all broken and I was afraid the next time someone stepped in a seat they'd go straight through and I wouldn't have pristine seats anymore. If you've read the recent e-mails, you know these seats have a riveted/welded aluminum frame with molded in foam cushions/coverings. I was planning to rivet in some bar stock to help support the seat, but what started as simple preventative maintenance......

There are 2 bolts holding the seats down. These anchor into wood nuts that have claws anchoring them in place on the *inside* of the plywood flooring. Well, the first bolt came out no problem; the second bolt wasn't quite so simple and ended up breaking free and ultimately being ripped out. Near as I can tell, the plywood is still structurally sound and not rotten, even where the bolts pulled out. The wood was however damp and the bolts/nuts rusted (thus why they broke free). I jumped all over the floor looking for any give or sags and it seems solid. I think the water was concentrated on the 2 rear bolts because the vinyl flooring was wrinkled up under the seat in that area and, small amount of water it may have been, the only outlet for it was around the bolt.

So my question is this: How can I best get my seats back in my boat? The front bolts are fine, but I need to do something in the rear. I'm thinking of either filling the holes (both rear seat bolts pulled out this way) then drilling a pilot for lag screws, else replacing a section of the wood flooring and gluing it back in. Obviously filling and drilling would be the easier route, but what filling material would you recommend? Note that the seat frames have 4 mounting holes though only 2 were used (according to the owner's manual, they are used to manually adjust the seats fore/aft.) so I can replace the single rear bolt with 2 lag screws, one into the repair and one into solid plywood flooring. So my questions are: what filler/repair material to use (epoxy, fiberglass?), what size lag screws and how think is the plywood flooring?

Also, my vinyl flooring was looking a little tattered and had shrunk/wrinkled over the years so I looked into some new vinyl flooring with apparent success. Has anyone ever heard of or used "Nautolex?" It looks very similar to the original pebble-textured vinyl flooring and comes wide enough to cover the floor in 1 sheet. It is reasonably priced too. I have some samples on the way, but would be curious to what others have used. Here are some links for Nautolex:

Wholesaler: http://www.perfectfit.com/products45/shopexd.asp?id=896
Retailer: http://www.a1foamandfabrics.com/site/department.cfm?id=11BE5A56-98C1-443E-A01FB5A6B3A61E36

Last question! Has anyone found a source or suitable substitute for the woodgrain trim and woodgrain panelboards on these boats? I could use 1/4" marine plywood, but I really don't want to deal with refinishing it every few years. All the laminates I've found are out as the particleboard would surely fall apart after the first few times it saw water.

Thanks for all the info! You folks are a wealth of knowledge on these old boats!

Andy Perakes
Received on Wednesday, 16 June 2004