Intrex Excursion 5 Floor Board

Hi. I have an Intex Excusrion 5 and was wondering if there is anyway to put a hard bottom/floor in this boat. Its so hard to move around in the boat with the stock floor which has air in it and its like you're riding on an air mattress. I know of a guy who has made floor boards out of 3/4" plywood but I would like to use something lighter and something that eliminates any kind of risk of damaging the floor air chamber from splinters etc.

Is there any kind of firm foamy or plastic material out there which is light and strong yet won't damage the boat? It would be so easy to cast when fishing if you're standing up vs having to sit while casting (the way things are now).

Placing the 12V battery for the trolling motor (when I ge tone) will also be so much easier with a floor board or firm flooring.

If anyone knows of anything or is using anything please do share. Open to any kind of suggestions.

Re: Intrex Excursion 5 Floor Board

Hey kwmir,

I'll be interested in this as well. I"ll let you know if I come up with anything that works.

Do you use the seat or you leave them out?

Re: Intrex Excursion 5 Floor Board

I leave the seats as they provide some support for the back. I am thinking about leaving the seat in the center out next time I go on the water. If you send me your e-mail I could forward you the pictures I got from the guy who used plywood floor boards to give you an idea of what it looks like. Personally, I'd rather use something lighter and one that poses less of a risk of damage to the boat.

I just ordered a motor mount from Amazon.com for $29 plus S&H.

Re: Intrex Excursion 5 Floor Board

the pics will be great, send to mike94gt@yahoo.com. I was thinking of some kind of stiff plastic flooring and sand around the corners and make the round so it does not poke a hole in it.

I'll order the motor stand when i'm about to get a motor, I'm working on some deals now. I got max $300 to spent on a motor, looking for 2 to 5 HP motor. I've seen a few 2.5 and 3.3 hp on craigslist

Just a tough!

Re: Intrex Excursion 5 Floor Board

I wish Intex made floor boards for their boats like Sevylor does. Also Sevylor makes a protective boot that you can put on the outside of the boat to protect it from stuff like branches, rocks etc in the water.

I am looking into an electric motor. Found a guy selling a 36-37lb thrust motor for $75. A 30lb thrust Minnkota at Walmart costs $99.00.

Are you looking for a gas outboard motor?

I agree that some kind of hard plastic which is portable (eg two pieces) when you're done, would be ideal. Sevylor's floor boards come in 3 pieces and two beams for structural integrity. I might do something of the sort.

KM

Re: Intrex Excursion 5 Floor Board

I haven't looked into the electric motor, are they fast? I'm not looking to race but I don't want to be flexing man power all the time I jump in the boat lol. I only use my boat in lake when I go camping, and it can get to like at least 5 people in there at a time, so now sure how much pounds electric motor I need, and how long the battery will last.

Since I been here in this forum, I am not wanting a Saturn at least 11' with a 20HP motor

Hopefully by next summer.

EDIT: Where did you find the Electric motor, new or used?

Re: Intrex Excursion 5 Floor Board

Personally, I think that a 30-40lb thrust motor should suffice. Of course its not going to win you any races but will provide better directional control and will keep you moving through the water. I saw a guy in a Zodiac with a 36lb motor and 3-4 adults and 2 kids and he was moving along. Most of the electric motors have 5 forward and 3 reverse speeds. Go to youtube and search Intex Excursion 5 and there are a few videos of guys with Minnkota trolling motors on the same boat as ours. One guy has a 55lb thrust motor on his and sure is moving. Only thing is that the larger the motor, the bigger battery is required which means its gonna be heavier. That's why I am not going to opt for anything more than 30 or 37lbs thrust.

Gonna call that guy who is selling the used 37lbs thrust motor shortly. I'm sure you know but the 12V battery has to be a Deep Cycle battery. The cheapest Deep cycle batter I found at Walmart was for around $55.00 . I believe Sears also has those.

I found it on craigslist.


KM

Re: Intrex Excursion 5 Floor Board

Great info man, I might do just that for this summer and probably next summer and save up for a nice Saturn with at least 20-25HP gas motor. That's my aim.

But thanks for the info. If i come up with anything for the floor board i'll let you know.

Re: Intrex Excursion 5 Floor Board

How handy are you, do you have a good set of wood working tools?

I've never owned an inflatable, but have installed a couple of decks in boats with thin/wobbly decks. My latest was a 14' jon boat that I installed 3/8" thick decks. It feels rock solid now, but I did fill the void between the deck and hull with expanding foam.

I'm kind of shooting in the air here, 1/2" plywood (5 ply) should be more than enough to give you a stable deck, plywood is pretty rigid and I don't think you are going to find a plastic that will match it's strength,,, for a reasonable price. I'd cut the plywood to fit in the inflated boat snugly, round off the corners (2-3" radius), glue 3/4" strips of pine to the bottom edge, route all edges with a 1/2" 1/4 round router bit and seal the whole thing with epoxy, polyurethane or just paint it with a good exterior gloss paint. I doubt the 1" bull nose edge will poke through and the plywood will give you a stable platform to stand on. Since the decks might get slippery I would apply some sand to the last coat of finish, but mask off the deck 2-3" from the edges so the non-skid is only in the top-middle of the deck.

Since you're going to be using a trolling motor, glue a couple of 3/4" x 3/4" strips to the front of the deck that fit the foot print of your battery. This will keep the battery from sliding around and help balance the boat by putting weight up front, you will need longer battery cables for the trolling motor if you do this though.

The only thing that concerns me is keeping the decks fitted firmly inside the inflatable hull, if you were to step to the edge of the deck (where there is an void/air pocket) the deck could flip up and send you into the drink.

Hope this helps,
Dan

Re: Intrex Excursion 5 Floor Board

That is some good info to work on there.

But I want it to be removable, I don't have a trailer, an I use dump this in the trunk of my car and pump it up when I get to the lake. It It will have to be something that is removable.

Any ideas for that, though I think I can make something work from what you said, I'm try to work it out in my head and see what I come up with.

Thanks

Re: Intrex Excursion 5 Floor Board

Oh yeah, they (it) would be removable, just a couple pieces of plywood that you would push into place once it's inflated, though I don't know how the removable decks would fit into your car trunk, depends on how big the deck(s) need to be to fit securely and how big your trunk is. I saw a guy with removable plywood decks in his inflatable a while back, didn't look at how they were fitted though?

If the inflatable only takes 1 deck (no center pontoon) then the deck might be too big to fit in the trunk, you would have to get creative with the construction so it would break down or fold up,,, but then you would need to be concerned of the safety or structural integrity of a deck that is pieced together...

Re: Intrex Excursion 5 Floor Board

Well the Excursion already have a deck, but it's air pumped deck, makes it hard to walk on. So this ply will rest right on top of it. So it can be folded.

Re: Intrex Excursion 5 Floor Board

Dan, thanks for your detailed account on constructing the floor board for the Intex inflatable. I appreciate it.

My idea to make the floor board portable is to have it in either 2 or 3 pieces (preferably 2) and connected by heavy duty hinges. The idea would be to enable me to fold it for transportation and unfold it when ready to install in the inflated boat. However once installed, I was planning on using 2x4 or 2x2 and run it along the edges of the 2 or 3 pieces making it a rigid floor. Now there can be a few ways to anchor the 2x4 (beams) but I am open for suggestions.

I am limited by space in my house so can not have a one-piece floor board. Hence the 2-3 piece concept is going to be the way I go.

I had bought an inflatable from BJs a while back but it did not have 3 chambers nor was it NMMA certified so I returned it. Anyway, that boat had a foamy material sandwished between thin plastic type sheets which interlocked locked like a jigsaw puzzle. I never tookthe boat on the wate so i don't know how good that would be. It had an antislip surface and once installed was snug.

KM

Re: Intrex Excursion 5 Floor Board

Hey KM,

I can't find my papers for my excursion.

Do you know the proper amount of air to put in each chamber?

Re: Intrex Excursion 5 Floor Board

kwmir said:

Hi. I have an Intex Excusrion 5 and was wondering if there is anyway to put a hard bottom/floor in this boat. Its so hard to move around in the boat with the stock floor which has air in it and its like you're riding on an air mattress. I know of a guy who has made floor boards out of 3/4" plywood but I would like to use something lighter and something that eliminates any kind of risk of damaging the floor air chamber from splinters etc.

Is there any kind of firm foamy or plastic material out there which is light and strong yet won't damage the boat? It would be so easy to cast when fishing if you're standing up vs having to sit while casting (the way things are now).

Placing the 12V battery for the trolling motor (when I ge tone) will also be so much easier with a floor board or firm flooring.

If anyone knows of anything or is using anything please do share. Open to any kind of suggestions.

Click to expand...

Years ago I had a cheep (plastic) inflatable that I made a rigid floor for out of ? plywood.

It was cut into three sections that I connected with strips of a old truck innertube riveted with washers to the wood sections, so I could just fold it up for transport but it was still stiff when in the boat.

I made it slightly larger than the space available and it fit pretty snug once in the boat. I would inflate the boat about ?, lay the boards in and then inflate it the rest of the way.

To keep the plywood from having direct contact with the inflatable I took a cheap garden water hose and cut it down one side then glued it in place along the outsides of the plywood with silicon.

I also made a small box section out of quarter round molding to keep the battery from sliding around the boat.

Because the boat was not set up for a motor, I also made a small motor mount out of aluminum tubing and a small piece of ? inch plywood attached to the floor running over the tube in the back. It worked really well at distributing the stress over the entire boat rather than only on several spots on the tube.

The plywood was then painted with a rubberized paint that is similar to that used on tool handles and made it all a bit better for traction when wet.

It worked for years without problems and ended up out lasting the boat. Years after the boat was gone, it stood in the weather next to the garage waiting for the next cheep inflatable that never came.

Hope this helps.

Re: Intrex Excursion 5 Floor Board

Thanks for the input Snappin Turtle. Will keep the info in mind when building the floorboard.

KM

Re: Intrex Excursion 5 Floor Board

Hi, I had a similar problem,

When I bought my first inflatable, it came with a slatted floor so that it could be rolled up without removing the slats, the problem was that the slats would break when stood on (i only weigh 10 stone) so I bought a sheet of 9mm plywood and made myself a sectional floor.

its a four piece floor painted with grey garage floor paint, i chose that paint because my dinghy is grey and also its floor paint so it should be hard wearing and resistant to the odd petrol spill.

I connected the floor sections together with this:-

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/HYGIENIC-WALL...Ceilings_Walls_Roofing_ET&hash=item27ad197dbf

it works very well as a connector as its flexible, it holds the plywood secure and its PVC so it will never rust,

The floor and connectors work great together as now two people can easily stand up and its very stable,

Re: Intrex Excursion 5 Floor Board

you can also look at how zodiak puts their floor joints, i have 2, and they both have a channel on the ends the pieces fit into. one is aluminium similar to the previous post, the other was just a couple of wood strips running the length of the seam, overhanging abouit 3/4 inch. takes a lil work getting them in as the last section you have the seam up a little, then have to push them down after lining thiongs up. helps to lock things in place as when you put the last section in, its a tight fit front to back.

Re: Intrex Excursion 5 Floor Board

Hey just seeing if you added floorboards to your boat and if so how it turned out. I just bought an excursion 5 and i am looking to add a floor as well.

Re: Intrex Excursion 5 Floor Board

I have done it. I used 1/2 inch Plywood cut into 4 equal sections. The Bow and stern rounded to the contures since they taper. the width is 2 feet 9 inches, length at 3' each. I probably could have gone 2' 10" but I also used foam pipe insulation around the edges to protect from the edges rubbing against the hull. They are all loosly connected by sandwiching each end with 3' 8" L x 6" W 1/2" Planks. I measured to half then Bolted one side of each so the other just slides in like a puzzle piece. Doing it this way gives pretty good rigidity and it's easy to put together and take apart. The ends have a piece underneath that was glued with water proof wood glue . didn't need to bolt a piece on top. I also rounded all the edges on the planks and sanded them so there is no risk of a posible bind compromising the hull. I took it for it's 3rd test last week on the lake. My daughter and I were both able to stand and walk on the deck without to much wobling, it was very stable. one note though with the wood deck and a hot sun make the inflatable seats kinda suck so I'm going to get some foam padded seats to replace them. hope it helps with anyone else trying to make a deck for this raft.