Searider SR5.4 Floor and Transom repair - advice request

[foivos]

Dear All,

I recently purchased an SR 5.4 and took it for a ride last weekend. WHAT AN AMAZING RIDE!!! Reality exceeded expectation and now I understand why everyone loves these boats.
Unfortunately though, the boat needs repairs: the floor after 1h became rubbery soft and some water started coming in from the floor (2 decades ago there was a seat installed with bolts on the floor that did the damage). Nevertheless, I fell in love with this boat!

So, I am about to embark on floor and transom rebuild journey in my SR5.4 and I would please like to ask some safety and technical questions (for starters) that relate to epoxy usage. The boat is in my garage and I plan to grind floor and transom off outside my house (open space) to avoid dust staying inside the garage and probably glass the new parts in open space too, but bring the boat in for the evening until the epoxy cures.

To the best of my knowledge (this is my first time doing fibreglass repairs) at the moment the process will be in 3 stages where epoxy will be used

1. glass transom on hull (may also require prior gluing slabs before setting up on hull)
2. glass floor (pre-preparation externally)
3. glass floor inside the boat (attach it to the hull).

I am leaning towards using epoxy resins for the repairs (for various reasons, one being fumes/smell intensity in comparison with polyester). In the picture you can see my garage space.

Question 1: Do you think this is doable/safe or do I need to search for alternate working space? I am also thinking during the curing process when I will have the boat inside the garage to use industrial fan(s) and open garage door for the night. Any other safety precautions? The temperatures in Western Australia where I live is 15-30 and mostly dry climate.

Question 2: how much should I detach fabric tubes from the hull at the transom? In the transom pictures you see there is the protective part A and a wedge part B that covers portion of A. I am thinking of detaching completely A and at least some part of B where A goes underneath it. I might detach B up to the end towards the cone too as it might be easier for regluing this way. Any advice here? For glue I am probably going for Bostik 2402 (2 part) or similar (I think there was a replacement) which is the best I can get in Australia (not really cheap!!). Alternative is polymarine but that gets out more expensive as it comes in small containers and I will probably need 2 to 3 for this job. Also should I be orienting towards detaching along the seam tapes (hull/pontoon attachment) at least close to the transom? Or avoid that? I have experience in hypalon glueing as I make my own wetsuits (hypalon neoprene gluing) although it is significantly different than pontoons, but also have from patching PVC inflatables (including re-attaching floor to an old zodiac sib).

I plan to document the whole process for future reference for people that might do something similar.



Thank you very much for your time.

PS What a ride!! Special thanks to all people here, I've read so many things for Avon seariders, I was searching for a boat like that almost 2 years now. VERY hard to find in Australia. I've also found valuable information in the forum with major searider rebuilds.