New floor for Finding Sanity. Any input welcome.

[dhess]

Hey everyone.I am finally getting around to doing some serious planning and preparation for replacing my boat's floor with hopefully an aluminium checker plate one.

She is a very reliable, seaworthy boat but the floor is becoming a bit of a safety hazzard.

Hopefully this thread will become a source of usefull information for anyone looking at undertaking a similar project.

Here she is:

[dhess]

Basically the problem is that the existing carpeted floor was pobably never sealed correctly and has been exposed to a lot of water over the years and has delaminated and rotted.

Aft floor area:

[dhess]

Although it has a bit of flex the aft isn't to bad. The fore areea is much worse.

Fore floor area:

[straddiebrad]

thats a nice ride mate,i did get a price for checker plate it will cost 150-00 plus gst this is for a 1200 by 2400 sheet in 2.6mm. brad

[dhess]

Here is the worst spot. If you step on it really hard there is a real danger of going straight through:

[shortie]

is that price for marine grade ally.

apparently there are less impurities in marine grade

[dhess]

straddiebrad wrote:

thats a nice ride mate,i did get a price for checker plate it will cost 150-00 plus gst this is for a 1200 by 2400 sheet in 2.6mm. brad

Thanks Brad,

Thats a fantastic price. Will 2.6mm be rigid enough though? Could you please find out pricing on 3.0mm and 4.0mm? Pretty please?

[dhess]

Seats with under seat storage boxes.

I plane on removing these and reinstalling them on top of the new floor.

[shortie]

2.6 would be fine especially if you take the time to add more bracing underneath. I wouldnt have distances of any more the 200 mm btween braces

[dhess]

OK here is what it looks like underneath the floor.

Plenty of braces except for above the fuel tank which hangs off other bearers in its own braces. There would be little room to install more bracing above the tank.

[straddiebrad]

no problem i will get a few prices tomorrow,i will be able to cut it to size on a week end with your help but 4mm is as thick i can go on my gillo.brad

[mick fillet]

nice rig mate. Ally is thinner than carpeted ply, so when you remove the ply and replace it with ally what where your planes for the half moon shaped discs weld onto each of the ribs that cove the cut out of the ply wood?they will be nasty on the toes if you leave them there half an inch above the new floor.

[dhess]

A different angle showing how much the bracket off which the tank hangs off protrude above the other braces. Probably around 6mm

My plan to work around this is to use strips of polyethylene or even 6mm flat aluminium bar to perfectly level out the whold sub frame. It will be necessary to slightly raide the whole floor to make up for the lost thickness of the ply. It would be nice not to have a huge gap between the round plates welded to the ribs that hold the sides of the floor down.

[straddiebrad]

mate to raise the floor i would use a hat sections made out of s/steel,then sit the foor on these sections.brad

[dhess]

straddiebrad wrote:

no problem i will get a few prices tomorrow,i will be able to cut it to size on a week end with your help but 4mm is as thick i can go on my gillo.brad

Brad,

That would be hugely appreciated. There would be an offshore trip at my expense plus some beer in it as a thankyou.

My plan was to make a template in 4mm MDF or ply in order to easily and accurately mark out the tread plate.

This pic shows how tasty the underside of the ply looks.

There is some nice black rot and an orange fungus that looks like a ranga's pubes. :laugh:

[mick fillet]

you would want to make sure that the ally does flex when stood on above the - + of the fuel sender and make a conection and short it out or somthing worse.you could put a clear lid screw type hatch in above it. Just a thought.

[dhess]

This pic shows the complete structural failure of the mushy bit:

[straddiebrad]

mate would be able to cut those pretty easy with the hand held plasma.

[dhess]

Good thinking Mick! Could also just sikaflex a piece of non conductive material to the underside of that section.

Hey Brad,

With the SS hat sections what exactly are they?

My concern would be galvanic corrosion. I guess that would be easily solved with a coat of duralac.

[straddiebrad]

mate a hat section well its hard to explain but here goes they are like what you would put over pipes for a air con.or a channel with a turn out on both ends.

[mick fillet]

straddiebrad wrote:

mate to raise the floor i would use a hat sections made out of s/steel,then sit the foor on these sections.brad

stainless and ally put together in a situation like this would not be recomeded due to electrolysis occuring between the two metals.especialy under a floor where a visual inspection will be far and few between.To use ally would be better and weld it.

[straddiebrad]

they can be alloy hats.

[straddiebrad]

mate i may have some block alloy at work 20/20 about 3-400 long in block form this may work welded on the frame and the checker plate on top.

[mick fillet]

Ok heres a thought and just a thought. Scrap the whole idea of an ally floor all together,lets think plastic. Now days kitchens and barthroom cupboards are made from plastic 12mm board it is lighter more durable in wet areas for the same cost.

Ring a local cabinet maker up get him to get you some, offer to pay him cash win win $$.

It is the same thickness as your previous ply wood. remove the old carpet carefully.Use the ply from the old floor as your template win win $$. reuse old carpet glue it down with lots of contact addhesive. There you have it a new plastic floor re using the old carpet and floor is reinstated back in at the same hieght as the old one fitting in under those welded bits of plate on the ribs.sounds like a lot less effort and it is a non contuctive product over coming the fuel sender senario.

[Gazza]

[]

stainless and ally put together in a situation like this would not be recomeded due to electrolysis occuring between the two metals.especialy under a floor where a visual inspection will be far and few between.To use ally would be better and weld it.

[dhess]

I know exactly the stuff you mean. If they make it in the right size 316 hat section couldn't be cheap though could it?

Thats why I was just thinking flat bar to avoid any galvanic corrosion problems I would use sikaflex or similar to keep it in place and then go through the whole lot with counter sunk screws. Was also thinking about finishing the edges of plate that but up to the hull by slipping some split nylon tubing over their edges.

[dhess]

mick fillet wrote:

Ok heres a thought and just a thought. Scrap the whole idea of an ally floor all together,lets think plastic. Now days kitchens and barthroom cupboards are made from plastic 12mm board it is lighter more durable in wet areas for the same cost.

Ring a local cabinet maker up get him to get you some, offer to pay him cash win win $$.

It is the same thickness as your previous ply wood. remove the old carpet carefully.Use the ply from the old floor as your template win win $$. reuse old carpet glue it down with lots of contact addhesive. There you have it a new plastic floor re using the old carpet and floor is reinstated back in at the same hieght as the old one fitting in under those welded bits of plate on the ribs.sounds like a lot less effort and it is a non contuctive product over coming the fuel sender senario.

Have investigated plastic flooring but it doesn't have me convinced.

There are two types polyurethane and polythelyne.

Polyurethane is about $200 a sheet has to be carpetted as its not UV stable. Celluka is one of the manufacturers.

There is also seaboard which is polyethylene. Costs over $300 a sheet. If you are going to carpet it you need to use mechanical fasteners as pretty much nothing reliably sticks to PE. I am trying to avoid carpet as I hate having a whole lot of crap soaking into it to never come out again. In an ideal world I would use seaboard and have a texture machined into it for nonslip.

[noname]

just to throw another bullet into the fire, there is a alloy core coated with glass, thats fibre glass, or alloy that is available too. meant to be very light very strong and very durable.think quintrex use something similar in some of the hatches of most model boats now.

sorry to do this to yas

rob

[wesfish]

i got a price for 3mm checker 1200x2400 and its not cheap through my work $280+gst , i would suggest trying ullrich aluminum , look them up on the net for the nearest one, they sell to the public and have the hugest variety of ally extrusions rhs shs tube angle flat and all sorts! thats who my work buy from then add their own price on top! well worth checking them out!!

[jeff f]

call capral they are the biggest ally dealer in qld

[mick fillet]

did some research for ya dhess. Rang my mate who is a cabinet maker to see where he gets his board from and what it is made from and how much any way he said-It is 100% acrylic with a uva rating and comes in 2.4m x1.2m x15mm thick and weighs 8.2kg.They call it cellulite board and costs $139 per sheet. Ring lincon century 32443244 and the suplier of the product is parburys. They make the product but you need to order it through lincon century.

[dhess]

Jeff,

Capral was the first place I tried for pricing. Seemed a bit exxy. Should ask the for trade pricing and see what they come back with.

Thanks for the info Mick. I am still realy keen to have a carpet free floor and don't think the acrylic sheeting would have the slip resistance. If I can't make tread plat work on a budget I reckon it would be a good option but rather than carpet it I would get some of the tube nylon matting stuff and just have it sitting loose on top of it.

[Davo_Dinkum]

i like the plastic stuff mick is talking about .if they use it to make kitchens ,u would be able to paint it .so use anti slip paint stuff.

[dhess]

I like the non slip paint idea, but it would have to be very hard core non clip paint and there would have to be a way of priming the acrylic effectively enough to prevent chipping and flaking. Any ideas?

[superstryda]

jeff f wrote:

call capral they are the biggest ally dealer in qld

Thats where I went to get my ally for my framing, the one at slacks creek, guy there even did a cashy for me and worked out real cheap.

[mick fillet]

Rang my mate back - theres no need to prime or etch the surface just straight 2pak is sprayed on to it thats for kitchen and bathrooms of coarse.you could do what i did with my last boat and that was to clear coat the floor then i sprinkled white beach sand through a sieve all over the floor wilst the clear coat is wet and it dryed translucent i ended up doing the trailor and mud gaurds every where and couldnt tell it was non slip to look at but bloody hell it was non slip alright.

[fishingnut]

dhess wrote:

I like the non slip paint idea, but it would have to be very hard core non clip paint and there would have to be a way of priming the acrylic effectively enough to prevent chipping and flaking. Any ideas?

etch primer first, I can put you in contact with a bloke that paints boats for a living if your interested

[Malcolm]

How many years did the ply last ?

It would be the go again if it was coated with something

[dhess]

It lasted about 4 years and to be fair I have abused the crap out of it. Many a time the boat has been full of rain submerging part of the ply. Long story but wher I have to store the boat is less than optimal. It faces down a reaonably steep driveway so the hull will get fairly full of water before reaching the level of the bung holes.

I still like the idea of clean aluminium with no carpet to trap dirt that will last longer than the boat.

[dhess]

mick fillet wrote:

Rang my mate back - theres no need to prime or etch the surface just straight 2pak is sprayed on to it thats for kitchen and bathrooms of coarse.you could do what i did with my last boat and that was to clear coat the floor then i sprinkled white beach sand through a sieve all over the floor wilst the clear coat is wet and it dryed translucent i ended up doing the trailor and mud gaurds every where and couldnt tell it was non slip to look at but bloody hell it was non slip alright.

Hey Mick,

I have given painted concrete the non slip treatment using fin silica sand and have to agree it works a treat. With two pack paint would it be durable enough to avoid being scratched, chipped nicked by dropped sinkers, knives, things being dragged around etc?

Have also read that acrylic has poor resistance to industrial solvents including petrol. Although I guess this would be taken ccare of by coating it with a good 2 pack paint.