stainless and composite swim gr

[willisworms]

I did a lot of research on the internet when looking to build a new swim grid for my boat. I did not find any information or images on this topic, so I hope this post will help anyone looking to build a no maintenance swim platform. I am not very talented at fiberglass, so I had an idea to use composite deck boards and stainless steel for the frame. Some composite deck boards say they are fine for docks, but this use is a little more "in the water". I was also a little concerned about the expansion and contraction that most reviewers complained about, but decided to throw caution to the wind and just dive into this build. I chose eon brand decking from home depot as it was the right colour, and offered a good location for screws on the the bottom side for attaching to the frame. I used 2x2 square stainless tubing for the frame along with some 2x1 channel. Total cost for this project was 275 dollars, 100 in stainless and 175 for the eon decking. I have one season on the lake with this platform and am happy to say that there are no issues with the water contact or expansion/contraction problems.

 

[willisworms]

The following photos are of it mounted on the boat. the last photo shows it after my throttle cable broke and I slammed into the dock

 

[GA_Boater]

Nice platform, Willis. Did you knock the dock over, the platform seems unscathed? :smile:

 

[willisworms]

I hit the dock pretty hard! we all laugh about it now, but it was really lucky that no one got hurt. If you look at the last photo you can see that the stand offs I used that attach the platform to the boat are bent. I think that if I had made those points more solid, I would have ruined my transom.

 

[jigngrub]

I hit the dock pretty hard! we all laugh about it now, but it was really lucky that no one got hurt. If you look at the last photo you can see that the stand offs I used that attach the platform to the boat are bent. I think that if I had made those points more solid, I would have ruined my transom.

I'd check and reseal the hardware that holds the platform to the transom when you fix it, the last thing you want is a transom leak.

 

[willisworms]

I'd check and reseal the hardware that holds the platform to the transom when you fix it, the last thing you want is a transom leak.

I did go around all fittings right after the crash with sikaflex just in case, but yes, When I take it off to straighten it I am going to remove and inspect then reseal all fittings. The plan is to make this platform drop into the lake with hydraulics, but I don't think I will get that project done this year. More about that in a later post.