Greetings all!
I'm looking to build a drop-in plywood floor for my 14' crestliner aluminum utility.
I've been doing alot of digging around online, but I haven't been able to find anyone that has done a drop-in floor for a standard aluminum boat - most of the posts and information online are for replacing decks and soles of boats that came from factory with floors, but I haven't managed to find anything on building drop-in flat floors for a standard utility.
Lund actually makes an optional product for it's Wilderness (SSV) series of boats (pictured) that is close to what I want. But, while my crestliner is owned by the same parent company as lund, they are not built of the same dimensions - so the floor won't drop in.
Lund's Drop-In Vinyl floor
Lund's floor is very simple, it's really just a sheet of plywood covered with vinyl. Rather than designing it around the floor ribs, they've just cut large "V" notches to go around them. Crude, but effective.
My first concern would be the fact that there is no support underneath the plywood.. but this would probably work fine for most people.
I'd like to build something similar, but extend the plywood to the extreme sides (rather than leaving a 4" gap between the walls and the floor as in the lund), and that probably means building some supports in underneath it.
I was thinking making supports out of plywood or solid wood, and running them fore to aft. Is there any reason to go port to starboard, rather than fore to aft?
Anyone ever done a project like this? Would love to get some hints and tips or see some pictures.
My boat is pictured here for reference;
I'm looking to build a drop-in plywood floor for my 14' crestliner aluminum utility.
I've been doing alot of digging around online, but I haven't been able to find anyone that has done a drop-in floor for a standard aluminum boat - most of the posts and information online are for replacing decks and soles of boats that came from factory with floors, but I haven't managed to find anything on building drop-in flat floors for a standard utility.
Lund actually makes an optional product for it's Wilderness (SSV) series of boats (pictured) that is close to what I want. But, while my crestliner is owned by the same parent company as lund, they are not built of the same dimensions - so the floor won't drop in.
Lund's Drop-In Vinyl floor
Lund's floor is very simple, it's really just a sheet of plywood covered with vinyl. Rather than designing it around the floor ribs, they've just cut large "V" notches to go around them. Crude, but effective.
My first concern would be the fact that there is no support underneath the plywood.. but this would probably work fine for most people.
I'd like to build something similar, but extend the plywood to the extreme sides (rather than leaving a 4" gap between the walls and the floor as in the lund), and that probably means building some supports in underneath it.
I was thinking making supports out of plywood or solid wood, and running them fore to aft. Is there any reason to go port to starboard, rather than fore to aft?
Anyone ever done a project like this? Would love to get some hints and tips or see some pictures.
My boat is pictured here for reference;
