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Permalink Reply by Randy Dersham on May 6, 2011 at 10:07am

Yes that is the standard.  I use Port Orford Cedar to cut down on weight.  Some use plywood and encapsulate and cover with bed liner or other traction epoxy. I've seen some use a large piece of plywood so there are no gaps.  That seems to be pretty good for the dogs.

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Permalink Reply by Dave Z on May 6, 2011 at 11:54am

1/2" oiled.  Contrary to what one might think, oiled doesn't make them slippery.  I use 1/2" doug fir or cypress.  go for it!

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Permalink Reply by Lawrence E. Long on May 6, 2011 at 3:05pm

Jordan  :

On my peapods, skiffs I use eastern white cedar planed hit or miss to 1/2".  Floors-ribs are 12" to 18"OC.  No finish whatever- knots and all (can't find clear WC).  As Dave Z suggests you can hit them with the turps/blo/pine tar and Japan drier and they won't be slipery.  I don't worry about knots- or knot holes as long as they are on the small side. We leave spaces between the slats so whats the problem with a few knot holes?

Good Luck

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Permalink Reply by Don Hanson on May 9, 2011 at 6:46am

Suggestion:  Be sure you can get under the floorboard, however you 'lay them out'.  Nothing more frustrating than dropping something and have it go between the floor boards then not being able to get it back out from under easily.

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Permalink Reply by AJ DeRosa on May 6, 2011 at 3:24pm

Oil is traditional and it still works.  Dave Z and Lawrence know what they talk about.  It's always good advice when it comes to old time solutions that have stood the test of time.  Sevearal varieties of goo might work as well.  Let's revisit those in 10-15 years.

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Permalink Reply by Jordan Davis on May 9, 2011 at 11:38pm

Thanks all for the advise!  Does anyone have a oil recipe they would be willing to share via e-mail?  I like the idea!!

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Permalink Reply by Lawrence E. Long on May 10, 2011 at 4:12am

Jordan:  Deck Oil:  1 quart turpintine, 1 quart boiled linseed oil, 1/2 pint pine tar, 1/4 pint Japan Drier.  some add a little varnish.  Pine tar is not  needed but it darkens the mix a little and I love the smell of the stuff.   Get the boat out in the hot sun if possible,  Put on the mix   let it sit for an hour or so and wipe up all the excess oil with rags  untill the surface is free of any wet oil.  If you don't wipe it up the stuff will stay tacky for years- don't ask how I know this.

Good Luck

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Permalink Reply by chris towles on May 10, 2011 at 11:03am

Here's my musings on floors, if you plan to do any amount of fishing, save yourself alot of trouble and tangled lines by going with plywood. And make the floors level, nothing worse than casting up or down hill. Slatted decks look great, I have them in my boat but if I were to do it again I would go with plywood. Fly lines will find their way into every crack and get caught on every hard edge in the floor. It's a pain and not what u want to be dealing with when you have a big fish on the end of the line.

For finish, oil is fine. It does require reoiling often but that's generally quick and easy, and an oiled finish is fairly no skid. Looks great too. Don't be scared to try something differant either. Your making removable floorboards that will prob cost $50 or less altogether, the finish doesn't need to have tradition dating back to the Viking age. Guys have been using things like bed liner in their work trucks for a long time now with good results. Those trucks see more abuse than your floorboats would ever see, and for quite a long time bedliner has proven to be resilient to wear, non skid, and most importantly durable. I was also talking with the guy at the paint store about an additive they have called shark grip. You add it to epoxy paint or straight epoxy to make a rubbery grippy surface. Depending on your interior finish scheme this could work well under pianted floors.

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Permalink Reply by Don Hanson on May 10, 2011 at 12:53pm

  Hey, how about that stuff they sell as "garage floor paint"..a two part epoxy finish..some with little speckels, some not?  I was just at the hardware getting some oil finish and I saw that in passing.  Might be good on the outer bottom, too.

  Or Gel Coat, if your boat has been epoxied.

 

  Don Hanson

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Permalink Reply by chris towles on May 11, 2011 at 12:04am

i was trying to sell my roomate on that stuff last month. he was making running boards and dance floors for his raft for a grand canyon trip. he hemmed and hawwed on the finish. i told him just oil it and forget about it, but he didn't seem too keen on the idea. i then tried to get him to paint with that epoxy garage floor paint with the speckles or with just straight oil base with either grip tape or a non skid finish. he didn't seem as key on that either. then i told him about the rhino liner and he seemed to like that idea. he used an oil based paint for the bottom. the boards are very black..i wonder if they will be too hot in the sun come summer, but we'll see. they do look very nice, and are very non skid. he said after the trip the bed liner did show some signs of wear but mostly that all the big high spots just wore down to level with the other texture. it seems fairly easy to recoat afterwards should you wear the liner down more than you like. he used herculiner which had alot more texture and blobs than i like. of all the products i have seen the linex really looks to be the best texture, but that stuff requires paying a dealer. apparently, alot of the s&g guys have used durabak liner with good success.

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