Deck Bracing

[BassBlaster]

I dunno how many of you remember my build as its been awhile since I have worked on it. My boat will be all aluminum except for the transom when its done. I'm getting ready to start working on it again and I'm trying to get the rest of what I need to finish it. Some carpet and some aluminum bracing is all I have left to buy and then it'll just be as simple as putting it all together!!

So, today I am questioning the bracing. I originally removed the very front seat type brace thingy in the nose of the boat as I plan to build a very small deck up there. Nothing that I will be standing on. It will just be large enough to mount my trolling motor, FF/GPS and have a small hatch for some underneath storage. I also plan to put the battery in there. It may get stepped on on occasion but will definately not be used for standing and fishing. Will probably be my foot prop when the crappie bite is slow and I wanna kick back, lol. So, anyhow, I had planned to do the bracing with aluminum angle. How heavy of angle should I be looking at? Should I be looking at tubular bracing rather than angle? Any help is appreciated. I plan to buy everything I need to get finished in the next couple days so I can get this baby finished up!!

Oh if it helps, my flooring is aluminum road construction signs. I know I went out and measured the thickness awhile back but I cant remember how thick it is now.

 

[JMichael]

Size requirements are going to depend on your layout. The farther apart the horizontal braces are, the stronger your braces need to be and the thicker your flooring will need to be. That also applies to the amount of vertical supports vs the span of the horizontal piece.

 

[BassBlaster]

The horizontals will be roughly 53" wide if I remember correctly. That would be the rear brace. The others will be progressively shorter since this is the nose of the boat. The deck size is quite small, maybe 36" X the width of the boat.

 

[BassBlaster]

How much should I be paying for aluminum angle? I got some pricing from a local fab shop today that can have what I need by Mon afternoon but they want 2.64 per foot for 1X1X1/8" aluminum angle. This sounds really steep to me. I checked HD prices to compare since I know they are way over priced and theres came out to 3.18 per foot.

 

[JMichael]

I picked up 75 feet of 1x1x1/8" 6061-T6 angle for just under $1 per foot at a bulk metal sales business. You might also want to check with a salvage yard/scrap metal recycler. They will usually sell aluminum for around $1 per lb. but you have to pick through what they have available so you have to take what you can get.

P.S. I stopped by a machine shop to see if they sold aluminum like I was looking for and they're the ones that gave me directions to where they buy their metal from with was the bulk metal sales I ended up at. I doubt I would have found them otherwise.

 

[BassBlaster]

Thanks for the reply. I stopped at and called several scrap yards in town this morning. Only one will sell to the public and they didnt have anything that wasnt allready processed. The fab shop I went to isnt going to give me thier supplier since they sell metel to the public. Sure would be nice though. I did a little more looking around after I made that post this morning and found a place called online metels, They seem to have really good prices, less than $1 per foot. I'll have to pay shipping but it looked like less that $20 for shipping for what I need. Thanks again!!