Wood floor

[1989gls]

Replaceing floor in my boat have lots of ash that i can use it will just need coated with some sort of water proofing. Will this hold up better tha the old 1/2" plywood that was in it?

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Wood floor

What kind of boat?

Do you have any pics of it?

Is this 1x? ash dimensional lumber?

Tell us more.

 

[1989gls]

Re: Wood floor

1989 sea nymph great lakes special 19.5 ft. Sorry no pictures yet. Thr ash can be what ever i want as i will plane to the size,i use most likey 3/4" will glue up to the size needed

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Wood floor

Some people have used different dimensional lumbers and stained/epoxied/varnished them and they look good.

It's your boat and you can use whatever you want, and if you have a bunch of free ash laying around why not? The ash will be more prone to warping and twisting, but if it doesn't work out you can go back to plywood later.

Is the ash "green" or has it been kiln dried?

 

[1989gls]

Re: Wood floor

i had the trees cut three years ago and have built lots of things with no trouble and cost was 20 cents a board ft. I think going across not long ways will help as the center has to be able to move for access to fuel tank.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Wood floor

Which way the boards will lay is determined by how your deck is framed, if you have lengthwise stringers going fore to aft that supports the deck you'll be fine. If you have elevated ribs that run port to starboard that carry the deck you'll have to add additional framing to support your planks.

Have you removed the old decking yet?

Another thing is those old SN's use the floatation foam to support most of the deck, one of the reasons your deck rotted... resting on wet floatation foam.

You can install your planks with rivets or stainless steel self tapping screws and be able to remove any part or all of it if you need to, then reinstall it like it came out without messing up your planks.

 

[Chris1956]

Re: Wood floor

Gee, I think gluing up smaller pieces would be a bad idea, as you will need to use waterproof glue, and you will have all those seams that can come apart. I would bet the floor would fail, even if you use a plate joiner. Use some dry 1/2" plywood and seal all edges with poly resin and put a couple layers of cloth over the plywood.

 

[chriscraft254]

Re: Wood floor

I agree, I would replace with marine plywood and coat with epoxy and finish with what ever your finsh will be. Less joints, less water intrusion. No matter what size boat you have, moisture will always be an issue. Stick with the tried and true way and it will last for years.