building a swim platform

[superpop]

Any suggestions on how I would go about building a 7'6" wide teak swim platform for the back of my 20 foot bowrider. it has a curved deck back there now that is around 14" deep and just too shallow to do much on. wondering how thick the deck would have to be to support up to 500 pounds (worst case) Also, how I might attach it to the boat and support it. Thanks

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: building a swim platform

i assume this is and I/O. You could thru bolt some 2X2 aluminum to the bottom side of the existing platform, then build on top of that. will this allow room for the outdrive to be tilted all the way up?

 

[Gabby]

Re: building a swim platform

I built one last year for my boat. 7 foot wide and 24 inches deep. If you look online, Overton's, Boatersworld, West Marine, maybe even here on Iboats, they nake brackets. Round stainless tube that is one leg of the triangle, the other two legs are flat stainless. As far as the platform, you can go with TEAK but you'll pay. Big. I used red oak, lots of gorilla glue and stainless wood screws and clamped everything for 24 hours. Once done, I routed a few edges to make it look better and finally stained her with teak stain. Then about 10 coats of polyurethane with a final coat with garage floor sand thrown in for traction. I used it all summer and had NO issues. Still strong. Not sure about the 500 Lbs, but I am 195 and my wife is 120 something and we had no issues.​

Good luck.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: building a swim platform

gabby, nice platform. he aready has a small platform he want to extend, your would work, with a custom, mount, i like the idea of the triangular support.

 

[Gabby]

Re: building a swim platform

The nice things about those brackets is that they are already angled with the transoms angle in mind, i.e. they aren't a 90 degree angle. They will cost you though. If you know someone that has stainless stock and can weld it might not be as bad. I checked with about 5 local welding shops and they ALL wanted as much or more to fabricate what I paid for them online (65 each I believe).

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: building a swim platform

Gabby, if you go back and read the original post. he has built in 14" flberglass swim platform already, so he will have to have a custom support, in order to bolt to the transon, and extend past the present platform. thats why i suggested aluminum. cost.

 

[Gabby]

Re: building a swim platform

Makes sense. I caught the curved part, just didn't catch the 14 inch platform part. I saw an episode of Do IT Yourself (DIY) Boater on the discovery or travle channel a few years back that actually added on to the back of an existing integrated platform. Lots of wood and glass work involved. Not sure HOW I would go about tackling his issue without using wood and glass re-working the back end of the boat.

Good luck.​