I've made a couple of single piece 3/8 inch plywood floors for my inflatables. I split lengths of garden hose for the edge to reduce risk of chafing.
Dinghy flooring
- Thread starter Brian D
- Start date
You can greatly increase the strength of any marine wood, and keep its approximate dimension with epoxied glass. The trick is to epoxy the material with something like 6oz fabric and after set trim the glass flush with the material using a razor knife. Then fill the weave with epoxy, or in this case leave it a bit rough for non-skid characteristic. This technique is common to the light-craft boat construction industry, not particularly difficult and produces amazing strength. It would be a good application for a wood slat dinghy floor. More here.
Brian, wonder if one of the Mercury air deck floors would work? We have an air deck dinghy and the floor is pretty solid when blown up. About 12psi I think...Defender has them
I looked at those, Mark. Pretty much half the price of the dinghy. Pricey. I'm trying not to raise the floor too much. I also looked around to see if there were other options for an inflatable floor but didn't see much. Thanks for the suggestion though.
Brian D: I have been reading all the suggestions and I must say that the one that impressed me the most was Gunni's. One of my Industrial Tech. fields is plastics and his suggestion of layering the separate panels with fiberglass material impregnated with resin is a fabulous resolution of your wimpy decking. Layering on both sides of each panel as many layers as it takes for the strength you want is ideal for your problem it seems. Chief
The other positive factor to consider is that this method does not really alter the conformity or appearance of your boat. Chief
Brian,
The floorboards that came with my dinghy would be pretty simple to fabricate. I have attached a picture from my manual so you can see how they are constructed. I only have one other picture of the bow piece when I brought it home to re-varnish and apply some non-skid particles mixed with the varnish. I made stripes by masking the boards. That works quite well as the wood is very slippery when wet.
The key to assembly is the H-shaped rubber joint connectors that fit into the scalloped edge of one floor section to keep it centered while attaching it to the adjacent section. The scallops are as deep as the center of the H-connecter so the floorboards butt right against each other tightly. Starting with the bow, the triangular piece is inserted as far forward as possible. The next section has a hole for access to the inflatable keel. We call it an "elephant trunk". As there is a batten attached to the transom, the last two sections are installed in an inverted "V" and then pushed down to slide under the batten. All the edges are rounded and well varnished.
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Longitudinal stiffness comes from "L" shaped pieces permanently attached to the top surface of three of the floorboards. The two loose "L" shaped stiffener bars on each side are slipped under the floorboard supports and centered over the joints. The back side (outboard facing) of the stiffener bars are beveled at a 45 degree angle so the inflated tube keeps them in place and they don't chafe on any sharp corners. It's actually a pretty clever design.
Hope this gives you some ideas for your dinghy.
Allan
N6ZWL
The floorboards that came with my dinghy would be pretty simple to fabricate. I have attached a picture from my manual so you can see how they are constructed. I only have one other picture of the bow piece when I brought it home to re-varnish and apply some non-skid particles mixed with the varnish. I made stripes by masking the boards. That works quite well as the wood is very slippery when wet.
The key to assembly is the H-shaped rubber joint connectors that fit into the scalloped edge of one floor section to keep it centered while attaching it to the adjacent section. The scallops are as deep as the center of the H-connecter so the floorboards butt right against each other tightly. Starting with the bow, the triangular piece is inserted as far forward as possible. The next section has a hole for access to the inflatable keel. We call it an "elephant trunk". As there is a batten attached to the transom, the last two sections are installed in an inverted "V" and then pushed down to slide under the batten. All the edges are rounded and well varnished.
\
Longitudinal stiffness comes from "L" shaped pieces permanently attached to the top surface of three of the floorboards. The two loose "L" shaped stiffener bars on each side are slipped under the floorboard supports and centered over the joints. The back side (outboard facing) of the stiffener bars are beveled at a 45 degree angle so the inflated tube keeps them in place and they don't chafe on any sharp corners. It's actually a pretty clever design.
Hope this gives you some ideas for your dinghy.
Allan
N6ZWL
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