Floor boards

At the point where I need to make some floorboards for my 17' Don Hill FF.  I plan on using CVG Doug Fir at about 1/2" thickness.  The plan from Don Hill calls for a rear floorboard and a forward floorboard with no  floorboard for the rowers feet.  Also, the floorboards in the plan do not seem to extend all the way to the sides of the boat.  I saw a boat recently that had a plywood floorboard that seemed to cover the entire boat.  Any ideas, thoughts and constructive criticisms are fully welcomed.

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Permalink Reply by Dave Z on November 2, 2011 at 3:23pm

I use either fir or WRC for my floorboards.  I plane them to 1/2" and oil them.  I would advise against boards that go all the way to the hull sides, as it makes it really hard to retrieve things that fall beneath the boards, and remove debris, leaves, bail water, etc.

Permalink Reply by Steve Jay on April 20, 2012 at 4:34pm

i am using 1/2" cheap ply on my floor boards. I have a 14' tatman kit and have sliced the floor boards into 6 pieces; 3 horizontal pieces are then halved. This way they are removable. I am in the process of epoxying the boards to seal them and then plan to wrap them in exterior carpet. To keep them snug I'm going to epoxy some bolts into some wood that will be attached to the cross members. Tighten them down with some cap nuts and I'm calling it a day.

I am a little worried about not having the open panel in front of the rowers bench for leg comfort and rowing power but we'll see how it goes when I take it out next month.

Permalink Reply by Dave Z on April 20, 2012 at 5:48pm

That is interesting.  Do you have a system to bail the water that you'll get under those plywood floors?  I would love level floors in a drift boat like that, but two things have always deterred me.

We use boats mostly for transportation from fishing spot to fishing spot, thus felt soles in and out bring in a ton of water.  slatted floors are merely a way to stand above the water.  I have two drain plugs in most of my boats right  in the middle of the boat a few inches from the chines in front of the rower.  That way I can see it when i forget to install it, and it makes it easy to drain the boat mid fishing trip by dragging it up on a flat gravel bar while we fish. 

I tore the slatted boards out of one of my drifter prams in favor of this horse stall matting.  cut to fit in between the frames.  I think Greg Hatten used this stuff too on his 16x48.  It is pretty nice stuff, not pretty but highly functional AND you can wear studs all day long in it and not damage anything.

You could cut some heel holes for the rower in those plywood floors to alleviate your knees being too high.

Permalink Reply by Steve Jay on April 20, 2012 at 8:01pm

you mean you used to have your drain plugs right around here?

yeah, the bailing/drainage part is something I didn't give much thought to. I did think about keeping the rowers bench pane open and using the rubber mat you'd find at a restaurant in there to keep off the wood but decided against it. 

In reality though, i've only had to sponge up water since these plug holes would sometimes leak and when it rained on us. There was like 6 inches of water in the boat when we woke up.

For day trips though I think the water from wading boots will just come out via the drain plug at the take out.

I could also cut out an indentation over those plug holes or make that spot removable to see if water is building up and sponge it out. I sorta like that idea. Thanks for the feedback.

Permalink Reply by Robb Grubb on April 20, 2012 at 10:14pm

Chuck, My question may lead to a discussion inside a discussion, no intent to hijack your post, but weren't floorboards first designed to keep your feet out of the water that was leaking into the boat based on its design? Meaning that in the olden days, early 1900's, there was no new and cool sealers like epoxy, fiberglass, 3M 5200, Sikaflex, etc. to make the wood hull truly waterproof.

My experience with floorboards are that they are slippery, you lose stuff under them and they are difficult to bail around. When standing to cast, it is nice to be able to brace your heel up against the front of a rib so as to not 'gut' yourself on the flydeck after a small wave or maybe 3 or 4 beers...

Cheers, Robb

www.RiverTraining.net

Permalink Reply by Lawrence E. Long on April 21, 2012 at 6:10am

Chuck:  Eastern white cedar is my favorite.  Cheap,(around here anyway) cut right off the saw to 1/2" thickness, needs no finish whatever,  definitely non skid- easy on bare feet for the kids.  No maintenance reqired- over time it will get a "weathered" grayish color- just like cedar shingles on a house.  Dave Z is right about a full floor- hard to retrieve stuff and bail the boat.  One trick I like is to leave a short section out of a board  in the middle of the boat under a seat- just big enough for a big boat bailing sponge.  Its usually at the low spot in the boat so you get all the water out of the hull.

Good Luck

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