I have decided to raise the floor in my jon boat. I am going to use aluminum sheet for the flooring. I want to put hatches in the floor but I dont want the plastic hatches sold at bass pro or one of those places. what I am looking to do is cut out holes in the floor and use a piece of aluminum for the cover. my question is how do i go about making this waterproof?I thought about putting a channel around the cut out acting as a water trough from there connecting hose to it and running it over board. does anyone have any other ideas on how to go about keeping water out of the storage area?
I have decided to raise the floor in my jon boat. I am going to use aluminum sheet for the flooring. I want to put hatches in the floor but I dont want the plastic hatches sold at bass pro or one of those places. what I am looking to do is cut out holes in the floor and use a piece of aluminum for the cover. my question is how do i go about making this waterproof?I thought about putting a channel around the cut out acting as a water trough from there connecting hose to it and running it over board. does anyone have any other ideas on how to go about keeping water out of the storage area?
You won't be able to keep water out completely. No matter how good of a job you do it or try. You absolutly will need a bilge pump if you put a floor in your boat. Also remember putting a floor in the boat will raise the center of gravity thus making it more prone to captsize so be very careful. I think you would be better off to make side compartments. You could configure the length and size to fit your needs. You could even line them with carpet for noise reduction and protection of your gear.
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1986 Four Winns, Horizon 190
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Thanks for the reply. Im not to concerned with stability its a jon boat and its 24ft long 6'0 beam at the bottom of the boat it is very stable. I am putting two bilge pumps under the floor just case but my main concern is keeping everything under the floor dry. I have a large family 5 kids myself and my wife and even with the biggest jon boat they sell its still not enough room. I am just looking to keep everything out of the way.
i think cabela's sells (and maybe iboats) aluminum hatches that are designed to be covered with carpet so you can add a hatch and only have the outline of the hatch. they might be worth looking at to see if they would work.
how do you plan to attach the floor to the side of the hull to keep water from running down the side and underneath. most aluminum boats with floors allow the water to follow the hull till it goes under the deck and in to the bildge. inthe boats i have had with hatches most of the storage is damp storage at best, wet storage at worst. the only dry storage i have had is when you put the plastic box in that seals between the floor and the hatch and the hatch is a waterproof hatch. i think most manufactures use the plastic hatches with the o-ring if they want true dry storage. i found it has been a lot simpler to match the hatch to the floor and then use waterproof boxes and bags rather than try to seal all the water out.
My plan is to run aluminum sheeting down the sides of the boat im thinking 1/16th of an inch for that. I am using deck bars from a tractor trailer to support the floor some 18 inches off the original floor. now where the floor and sides meet I am using aluminum channel to catch the water and drain it out the thru hull fittings. when complete the floor and the side of the boat will be almost seamless. this is still in the thought process everyday i think i change something about it. my intention is once the floor is laid to my standards I am going to have it rhino lined mainly because of slipping when wet. I would carpet but with all the kids carpet wont last long. I have a carpeted floor now and it already has holes in it.But i will look into those aluminum ones you are talking about. thanks for the reply
Sealing up hatches is pretty simple. I take a piece of 1/2" "z" bar and make a lipped frame then rivit it to the bottom side of the opening. I glue a piece of automotive weather stripping to the lip all he way around.
When closed and latched, the cover contacts the seal and you are waterproof. Mine don't leak even when I wash the boat down.
If you wanted to get really trick, you could add a knife edge to the cover and make it a submersable seal.
sschefer thanks for the reply I was having the same idea and was wondering if anyone else every tried it before I go and spend the 1500+ on the aluminum needed. I am glad to hear that it works doing it this way. thanks for the reply
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Aluminum floor in jon boat
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