Aluminum Boat needs floor replaced

[Woodonglass]

Re: Aluminum Boat needs floor replaced

4x8 3/4" Marine Grade Plywood for $15 bucks. Hmmmm. Could I get the address of this place. NEVER heard of such a price.

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: Aluminum Boat needs floor replaced

Hookup from a local production boat builder at their cost? Still seems low, even for an incredible hookup from a friend.

Typo? $45/sheet would still be a good deal............

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Aluminum Boat needs floor replaced

$15 a sheet won't even get you a good grade of OSB.

 

[jtw37]

Re: Aluminum Boat needs floor replaced

Hookup from a local production boat builder at their cost? Still seems low, even for an incredible hookup from a friend.

Typo? $45/sheet would still be a good deal............

Nope, no typo. This friend could buy from his work, what they termed as used. But they are in great shape. He can't get them anymore, but he told me the company gives them to "Habitat For Humanity" and they can write them off on taxes (?) and Habitat sells them to the Contractors or whoever comes in the "Restore" as it's called and buy what they want. And yes it is MArine grade as it comes from Starcraft (I think), but from a Boat Mfg in our area. Lowe's had 5/8 for $59.99 and 3/4 for $69.99 ea., and I got three for $47.00. Then another friend gave me 4 sheets of what he called 1/2 inch, but is really 7/16. Anyway the wood floor problem has been licked.

Yesterday, I spent the day dismantling all that needs to be removed in order to get the old floor and carpet out from under it. Also took the steering console apart and am looking at doing the rest of dismantling toward the rear and may be able to get started on the floor Monday or Tuesday. Lots of rivets to drill out. Funny how things work out, as I've had one of those Gallon Ice Cream buckets for several years, full of the exact size rivets I need for the majority of the rivets to do the job. Sometimes it pays to keep some stuff. I plan of posting pics as I get a few taken. It's going to be a little more work then I had anticipated, but in the long run not as bad as it could be I suppose. Oh well, onward and upward. We do have three Mfg's in our area I think. Starcraft (Monark MArine), Smokercraft & Sylvan.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Aluminum Boat needs floor replaced

Seal your decking before you install it, you'll be glad you did.

Epoxy resin (not polyester resin) is the best sealer, but exterior grade spar urethane or varnish will work too. Use multiple coats (3 or 4), pay special attention to the edges.

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: Aluminum Boat needs floor replaced

I shop the Habitat Restore here every now & again, they've never had any marine plywood :cold:

Congrats on the good fortune!

Good luck on your project.

 

[jtw37]

Re: Aluminum Boat needs floor replaced

Seal your decking before you install it, you'll be glad you did.

Epoxy resin (not polyester resin) is the best sealer, but exterior grade spar urethane or varnish will work too. Use multiple coats (3 or 4), pay special attention to the edges.

If it's Marine Grade, why would it need to be sealed. Isn't it already?

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: Aluminum Boat needs floor replaced

Marine grade specifies the species of wood (Western Larch or Douglas Fir), the quality of the wood laminations (void free, minimal or no defects, no knot holes, few if any visible repairs on the outer face grain [football shaped repairs]), and the type of adhesive glue used in it's construction.

Sealing the plywood gives you a longer service life, and a better substrate for your final deck finish.

Spar varnish or porch paint is a lower cost alternative.

Epoxy is much better, IMHO

 

[kfa4303]

Re: Aluminum Boat needs floor replaced

+1. You still need to seal it even if it's marine grade. As jb noted, Spar Urethane/Varnish work well, but 2-part spreadable epoxy is best, if you can get it.

 

[jtw37]

Re: Aluminum Boat needs floor replaced

Marine grade specifies the species of wood (Western Larch or Douglas Fir), the quality of the wood laminations (void free, minimal or no defects, no knot holes, few if any visible repairs on the outer face grain [football shaped repairs]), and the type of adhesive glue used in it's construction.

Sealing the plywood gives you a longer service life, and a better substrate for your final deck finish.

Spar varnish or porch paint is a lower cost alternative.

Epoxy is much better, IMHO

Don't know a whole lot about the differences in the plywood, other then being treated for construction and marine grade. I did plan on painting (sealing) it. Was looking at some Epoxy yesterday for this. Guess I didn't realize I was close to doing something right (?). I know one thing for sure. There are one heck of a lot of rivets. Test fitted the first sheet of plywood this evening and got a good fit. Problem was is it was really hard to get it shoved in. There are aluminum shelf mounts that run down to the floor. They are all riveted to the hull with the peened rivets and not pop rivets, for obvious reasons. But I don't think I want to mess with those. Don't think I have the tools to deal with those. I was able to slide it across the deck rails, with some difficulty, but got it done. Fits pretty good. Need to cut a notch for it to but against the transom and then make an access door for the Bilge and Live well pump. More work ahead.

 

[jtw37]

Re: Aluminum Boat needs floor replaced

Been working the boat over pretty good. Putting in some long hours in the shop and the wife hasn't grumbled but maybe twice. As I was replacing and repairing things, I also made mods to the RV mentality way of building boats. I have to say, the main hull looks to be pretty sturdy. Think they could have used a thicker flooring. The foam below deck is plentiful, almost to a fault (RV thinking again) but it surely won't sink. Nothing on the boat was square or level (?) and to correct some of this, I'd have to remove some of the hull rivets and I'm not going to do that. So I have to live with the uneven side selves, which can be compensated for. Unfortunately I didn't get a lot of photo's taken, but have a couple and will post them when I'm done. I did find some paint that I thought ought to be good for the deck. It is non-skid paint meant for pool side walking area's and/or Deck's in general. Hope this works out. If not, then it will give me another opportunity to correct a few things I didn't realize would make any difference in the rebuild, but probably would have been a better alternative. I have seat pedestals to install, hopefully today and the side panels and it may be time for a test run. Back at it again today.

 

[kfa4303]

Re: Aluminum Boat needs floor replaced

Glad you're making progress jt. Keep us posted.

 

[Bamaman1]

Re: Aluminum Boat needs floor replaced

You cannot get real marine plywood at Lowes or Home Depot. They simply don't sell the stuff. And 3/4" 4x8 marine plywood is more like $75 per sheet, or two times what other 3/4" plywoods are.

Most medium and large cities will have a specialized lumber yard that carries marine plywood. They'll also often carry other products like wood timbers. Such stores will often carry plywoods in irregular sizes, like 5x10'. Most pontoon boats are now using 8 1/2' plywood installed crossways.

I used regular CDX 3/4" plywood on the rear of my pontoon boat, and it only lasted about 5 years. The rest of the marine plywood on the same boat is 28 years old and still in good condition. It's all covered up with carpeting.

The new heavy vinyls are far superior for fishermen and it's getting increasingly popular on pontoon boats. The vinyls for marine use are very expensive, however.

 

[rivermouse]

Re: Aluminum Boat needs floor replaced

Water needs to drain through the floor on a boat. I used wooden slats and never have standing water on the floor. see pict.

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: Aluminum Boat needs floor replaced

You cannot get real marine plywood at Lowes or Home Depot. They simply don't sell the stuff. And 3/4" 4x8 marine plywood is more like $75 per sheet, or two times what other 3/4" plywoods are.

Not entirely true. Generally, yes, accurate, most don't.

Graded, marked & certified British Standard 1088 (BS1088) Marine 3/4" plywood was available on the shelf @HD in the Parkersburg, WV store this past week. Had almost an entire bunk of it. EXPENSIVE? Yep, very! It does not show up online in their inventory.....

Since I travel the state frequently, in a truck or van capable of carrying multiple sheets of decent 4X8 plywood, I almost always check HD, Lowes & any local yards, when I have time.

 

[jtw37]

Re: Aluminum Boat needs floor replaced

More work completed yesterday and today. But I do have a question. The boat is powered by a 50 hp Johnson (1975 which runs great) but the cables for throttle and shift are a bit long I think. They curl up in the air and then to the motor. I measured the distance from the control and it measures 10 ft to the back of the boat. Then what ever the distance would need to be to work the motor, I'm guessing 14 ft max. But not very sure of this. Can anyone tell me what length of cables that I should be running? Not sure I can even find them if I knew what length.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Aluminum Boat needs floor replaced

This will help...
The Best Way to Measure Your Next Steering Cable for Your Boat from FirstChoiceMarine

 

[bonz_d]

Re: Aluminum Boat needs floor replaced

jtw, 1st thing to know is if it's a single lever control or a duel lever control. they use different connections inside the control. Easiest way for now to determine the length needed would be to disconnect both cables and measure them. then w/o connecting them try to position them to length on the engine to where you have the loop taken out. My best gues w/o seeing them would be that they are at least 2' too long and the control cable assemblies are only sold in full foot lengths. So it would be 10', 11', 12', 13' and so on.

But either way both style cables are still available it's just a matter of the correct length. What even makes it easier is that with that 50hp Johnson both cables connect to the same side of the engine so both can be the same length.

 

[jtw37]

Re: Aluminum Boat needs floor replaced

The control is a one lever style with the two cables. I just know that the current cable is way to long for that boat. I just wasn't sure how to go about it. I went to the sight that Woodonglass suggested for steering cable, which is the right length and in great condition and found a diagram on how and where to measure for the throttle & shift cables. Just have to figure it out. Thanks to both of you for the instructions and the web link. Getting her squared away a little at a time.