New Floors in an Aluminum Boat?

[Sorexcuse]

Hello all, new to iboats. Had my 1989 Spectrum 1900 (19' fish and ski) for about 15 years now, the last 10 of it sitting. Needless to say, lots of work to do and cash is limited since we are buying a camp which the boat will be parked at.

I have ripped out much of the flooring as it was quite soft around the storage area and below where the support punched a hole in the cover (luckily in the same area).

Couple of questions on the re-install:

What do I use to hold the marine plywood to the aluminum stringers? Was figuring adhesive and stainless screws but concerned about the holding power of the screws and if there were specialty screws for this application.

How should I treat the plywood before installing? Plan to put new carpet in for the tender feet of my three kids, but may put rhinoliner on it then the carpet.

Saw partial answers to these in my searches, but wanted to get the 'current' best practices. Besides, searched all I dare from work!

Any info or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

Ken

 

[CheapboatKev]

Re: New Floors in an Aluminum Boat?

Welcome aboard...

1st of all..Skip the rhino liner...HEAVY and messy...

Your new DECK can be pop riveted or screwed to the alum stringers your boat has now...

The time proven and best way to redo a DECK is to seal the plywood with resin & glass, both top & bottom and edges, then pre drill mounting holes and pop rivet/screw em in.
If you screw, you'll want to use some 3M 5200 marine sealant in the hole before the screw goes in.

This will help seal her up water tight..

After you have lost 20 lbs sweating, put your carpet in if you choose..

There are products for painting your deck as well...dura-bake looks really good, do a quick search on that..


Do not use pressure treated ply in your tin can...PT has a copper (i think) element that doesnt play well with alum

good luck.

others smarter than I will pop in as well

 

[ezmobee]

Re: New Floors in an Aluminum Boat?

I attached my new 3/4" ply deck to my stringers using home depot deck screws. It's stayed solid for 5 years and none of them have backed out.

 

[Sorexcuse]

Re: New Floors in an Aluminum Boat?

Thanks for the quick responses! Was hoping to hear something simple like decking screws. I'll get some stainless and should be set.

As far as the 'sealing' of the decking, I understand the fiberglass but at this point I think that would be overkill as the original floors made it 20 years and were not fiberglassed and I'm only looking for about 15 years at the most out of these. Actually, was getting ready to order some dura-bak for below the molding on my Suburban, so that might be an option.

Any other 'simple' tricks for sealing the plywood?

Thanks again.

Ken

 

[ezmobee]

Re: New Floors in an Aluminum Boat?

To be completely honest, I used unsealed PT ply for my floor. I hadn't yet found iboats so I didn't know any better. Also, that was 5 years ago which was right about when they were changing over to the new stuff which is bad for aluminum. Hopefully I got some of the old stuff! How well you decide to seal your deck is entirely up to you and what you want to get out of it. A couple coats, both sides, of a good quality porch paint will probably last for many years as long as you are careful in how you store your boat (bow high, plug out with no water/moisture laying in the bilge to rot everything out).

I went with carpet and I hate it. It's always filthy. I won't use that in a boat again.