Re: 1985 lund laker 16ft flooring question.
Hi Boatman,
Welcome to iboats!
Can you post some pics of your boat? That way, iboats users will have a much better idea of what you are dealing with.
I went to take a look at what a 1985 Lund Laker was, and located the
catalogue from that year. It didn't list the Lund Laker as a model. I'm guessing that a Lund Laker is a tiller steering aluminim boat, but am not sure.
Underneath the plywood floor are stringers, which are aluminum or wooden or a combination of aluminum and wood 'joists' running all or part of the length of the boat. There is usually floatation foam under the plywood floor. This foam provides flotation in the event that the boat floods or sinks, preventing it from going to the bottom. To lift the plywood floor would require you to remove the carpet/vinyl, take off the fasteners that join the floor to the stringers, and then lift the floor. This isn't necessarily a simple job, and the process of removing the floor will probably irreparably damage any carpet or vinyl you have.
To get a better idea of what is involved, take a look at the restoration threads on this page.
Why are you wanting to run cable or wire from back to front? What do you have in mind? There may be other, less difficult options than lifting the floor.
I'm currently restoring a tin boat. It had cables running from front to back. They were ran through an aluminum conduit that ran for a significant length of the boat. They were unobtrusive and were not noticeable to me....until I started tearing the boat apart for the restoration. The picture below shows how they were installed on the boat. The conduit is circled in red.
I don't know if something like this might work for you - I did a google search for 'aluminum conduit' and came up with a number of possible options. My conduit was fastened to the boat with bolts and clips.
