Floor ideas?

[sonny.barile]

I want to put a floor in two compartments of my 13 foot v hull. Im thinking about just using some birch or oak 1/2 inch plywood from the depot. Because of the shape of the bottom I only need about 16 inches wide by about 42 inches long in each compartment. I won't be leaving them in because I use the boat in brackish water. They are just going to lay in there and be removed to hose off and and to dry out. I can probably use 18 inch wide bunk carpet on them because I can get that locally from the marine store cheap. Question is, since I am not leving it in all the time, do I need to epoxy coat the ply? Can I just paint it a few coats with latex or poly? Would bed liner waterproof this enough? Like I said, I plan to remove them when I cover at the end of the day.

Here is a link to some pics of the boat and I would appreciate any thoughts or direction.
There are pics of the floor area in question near the bottom.


https://forum.tinboats.net/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=37700


Sonny

 

[minuteman62-64]

The birch/oak stuff from HD is intended for interior cabinetry. Since you are going to carpet, why not 1/2" exterior ply? Probably cheaper and most certainly more durable for outdoor use. Even then, I'd seal it with something (my personal preference is epoxy, since I have it and like working with it).

 

[richg99]

Like the man said, some 1/2 exterior ply with the bunk carpet on it.

However, if you do decide to coat one side of the wood with a finish, you should coat the opposite side the same. That diminishes warping. If it is exterior plywood, you shouldn't NEED any coating IMHO.

How are you going to grab the wood to pull it out after each trip? Perhaps you could drill some one-inch holes or add a tab of some sort.

richg99

 

[sonny.barile]

I wouldn't need to coat or paint the exterior ply? I was worried about it getting water logged while I was fishing and when I pull them out I want to be able to hose the salt and fish slime off. I catch some pretty big slimy Blue Fish sometimes, and you can't lip them. Not if you want to keep your fingers. :LOL2:
They tend to throw up everything the ate that day when they hit the boat floor. It is kinda gross, but if you want warm weather stripers in the salt, you will have to catch a few of these guys too.


As for getting it out, the benches don't go all the way to the floor. There is a keelson in the middle of each that does. I measured from keelson to keelson and it is about 48 inches. From bench to bench is 36 inches. I figured if I use about 40/42 inches just laying down in there i could just twist it and pick it up. The pull tab sounds like a good idea. I could put a strap on it to pull it up.

You can see what I mean in this pic....16 inches will just be a little wider than where the rivets are.


Sonny

 

[richg99]

Won't hurt at all to paint it to keep the slime off. I would paint both sides to cut down on the warp potential.

Personally I'd be happy with any left over exterior latex paint. They use it on wooden boats these days.

 

[sonny.barile]

Hopefully I will have some time to get this done before the next weekend.

 

[gettinback]

I used marine grade ply 1/2 in. and coated the top with Olympic One exterior enamel from Lowes, with the first coat I added an anti skid additive. I coated the underside with polyeurethane. It has held up awesome.

 

[sonny.barile]

Gettinback Your floor has some timber ribs going across. I am only doing about 16/18 inches wide laying down in the boat. Do you think 1/2 inch will be thick enough if I don't put ribs?

 

[sonny.barile]

Here is what I ended up going with. I built 2 removable floors. They are 36" X 18". I had three pine 2 x 4 ft. 1/2 inch ply in the garage so they are two piece in the 36 inch length. I wrapped them individually with rug and then used a strip of rug on the underside to make a hinge for the 2 pieces. This way I can fold them to get them out. I painted them good on all sides with some latex paint. I got the rug at Wmart. I know these materials are not the best but I had everything but the rug so I spent a wapping total of about $10 and was able to complete this quickly. If it gets me through to when I hang up my rod in the late fall I will be happy. During the winter, when I am going crazy with cabin fever I will build a more permanent aluminum version. It started pouring just as I put them in the boat so I threw the cover on and took 2 pics.

I will get better pics when the Almighty turns the lights back on......


This is the front compartment. The vertical pole is my cover post....


Here is the back compartment.


I will be out on the water tomorrow for the first time this year........I am all fired up.

Sonny

 

[richg99]

Ah, Well done.

Function over form.... I wouldn't worry about re-doing anything in aluminum until you wear these in a little. You might not change anything. richg99

 

[Kris]

I used exterior grade plywood in the bottom of several boats I have redone. In the first one i primered the plywood and then covered it with outdoor carpet from a local home supply store. In the second I used one coat of primer and two coats of color. In the first coat of color I used white play sand mixed in the paint to give me traction. it has worked well for me.

 

[sonny.barile]

I got to try out my floor boards today. Fished the outgoing tide this morning. I only got one bite and it went bad. I was fishing a Berkley Salt Water Mullet on a 1/2 oz. Offshore Angler jighead. As I was on the retrieve one took it right at the boat and immediately dove under the boat and my line got cut. Darn-it. At least it got my heart racing.

The floor seems to be strong and stable enough. My wireless TM pedal stayed right where I placed it. Was worth the effort.

 

[richg99]

Good news on the boat fixing. Bad news on the fishing, but a bite is better than no bite.

 

[sonny.barile]

deleted because my video wasn't working right.