new jon boat

Just bought alumacraft 1546 jon .I want to floor it but have never done this type of project. Here is what I plan to do. The last rib up at the bow is 1/2 in above the rest. I guess this is because the mod V part starts here?? Any way I plan on using 1/2 in plywood from back of boat to this point. I then am going to back over this sheet with another 1/2 in sheet. This will allow me to cover the last foot of the floor by the bow. I am going to use contact cement to bond the 2 pieces together then screws. I plan on attaching the floor to the boat with 1 1/2 in self tapping stainless screws #10 in size. Any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks.

 

Nice Idea... No, Really!

How ya gonna keep the plywood from gettin' wet and rotting away on ya'?

This is not a question about a wooden deck in an aluminum boat, directly. It's about how are you going to seal the wood to keep it dry.

CDX plywood sucks and it isn't all that waterproof, anyway. You can use marine ply, but it's suggested that you still seal the perimeter of open end grain to protect the sheets from water take-up. It's also good to drill the pilot holes for the screws oversize, fill them with thickened epoxy, let cure and then do the correct pilot hole through the epoxy fill. This isolates the wooden core from the natural seepage point in the plywood. Yeah, it's more work, but what is your time worth?

Your approach is good if you follow a few simple rules to isolate the wooden deck from the metal ribs as this boat WILL get wet.

Chris Ostlind

 

Rick;
Why must the floor be solid sheet, like plywood ? Everyone seems to do it that way and then they cover it with outdoor carpet to make matters worse. All that stuff adds useless weight, it encloses areas under the floor where you can never quite clean out all the dirt, fish guts, and stuff that smells bad including fuel drippings from the outboard.

A alternate way to do this is with a grating. You can use lumber yard grade wood for building the grate. The open spaces will allow reasonable cleaning, will be less apt to trap water, and will not weigh as much as plywood, nor soak up as much water as ply. Make the openings about two inches square. Then you can retrieve the fish hook that you dropped.

If you are determined to have a ply floor, take the advice that Chris has offered. Also ....do not use contact cement to glue your wood pieces together. Use epoxy or at least Titebond II glue. Contact cement is for putting down the carpet and has little, if any, other legitimate uses on a boat. When you have cut the ply parts to fit, DO, by all means seal it top bottom and especially the edges. Sealing the screw holes, as Chris mentioned, is worth the effort in the long run.

 

A question or rwo. What is the primary use for the boat? Being a jon, I'll assume fishing. Go with the grate type , removable floorboards. A bit more time & effort BUT...., in the long run, you'll actually save time/effort. The boat is WAY less smelly if you can remove the floor & spray out the bottom.
How long will you own the boat? Is this just a stepping stone boat? How often will the boat be used? Knowing these things will tell you how high a quality material to use.
If you still use ply then DON'T use pressure treated woods. Instead, use a "penetrating epoxy to pretreat the marine OR "high quality" outdoor ply. By all means predrill & epoxy line the holes but use "bugle head" screws. A couple of years from now you'll thank me for this little nugget> Ply is soft & the bugles will draw down flush. Thing is they will be easier to remove later(when the boat smells bad from crud building up underneath.
I'd buy a tube of 3M 5200 to stick things together (things you never want apart again).
Cypress is the BEST floorboard wood. White oak, Mahagony, Southern yellow pine or.... teak.
However you do it, make sure the water can drain all the way to the transom drains.

 

GEE A lot more to this than meets the eye.The boat will not see heavy useage. The water is 500 ft from the back proch. Mostly a few hrs in the afternoons and weekend use. It will always be kept inside. Unless I really get hooked on this I will be a fair weather fisherman haha. Chris suggested something between the ribs and wood. What would I use?
I will use a better glue to bond the wood. I was going to use glue to join the boards because I figured all the wood needed to have adhesive on it?? I figured someing in a tube would be impossible to spread evenly?
Thanks to all for the advice it really makes u think about stuff.

 

Rick,

Welcome to the forum.

A Suggestion: Use the boat, as is, for a period of time, and see if it meets your needs, before undertaking what you propose.

Keeping things as simple as possible is always the best route when boats are concerned.

With any secured flooring you would have trouble getting at water needing to be bailed out.

The weight of the flooring will deduct from your safe payload limit.

If motoring, you will need a little more power to get planeing. This means worse miles (kts.) per gallon. Less range.

The rot/ smell factor is another negative, as stated by others.

Why not try a small portable wood grate for the critical area gennerally under your feet. With small short removable legs put at the corners, it could double as a fireside camp table, if skiff camping is in your future. I am partial to skiff camping myself. You must choose your waters & weather carefully though.

To paraphrase Water Rat " There is nothing, absolutely nothing, even half so much fun, as simply messing about in boats".

Have a good Easter.

TGoz

 

Another thought.

If you take on water with a solid & secured plywood floor, the weight of said water could be significant. As a Jon Boat has a high amount of floor area oppossed to a V-Hull of the same length, this water is more of a concern.

An inch worth of water under the floors will add approx. 40lbs. for every 12sq. ft. of floor space. You probably have around 24sq. feet, or the potentail for 80lbs. of unwanted water. You would need a pump to remove it. The framing could inhibit this removal, even with the pump.

The nice thing about Jon & V-Hull aluminum skiffs is there utter simplicity & versatality.

TGoz

 

====="I will use a better glue to bond the wood. I was going to use glue to join the boards because I figured all the wood needed to have adhesive on it?? I figured someing in a tube would be impossible to spread evenly?"==========(
Titebond III is good & cheap if a lot of gluing is needed. A "caulk tube" type (many brands) is less messy to use. You just lay on a bead & it spreads as it is joined.
An aluminium boat is a big base drum that floats. If you "still" fish you will carpet the sides & put in some type of floor to deaden the little "oops" we all make.
I have 2 aluminium boats (1 is a big jon, 24' L X 8' W.), they have a aluminium floors (double hull), covered with carpet. At the transom there is a 12" area where the floor stops & only the hull is left exposed. This is for bilge pump & drain plug access. My sides have 3/4" styrofoam glued to them. Then carpet glued over.

 

Thanks for all the info. I wound up using plywood with carpet. ripped the ply inro 2 pieces. made me some supports to tightly fit between front and back ribs. Floor fit thightly without any screwing. Floor removes eaily. Have not done the sides yet. I did mount a homemade bracket to front of boat so I would have something to attach a trolling motor bracket to. Does anyone know what color green alumacraft uses. I would like to touch up the areas where the adapter bracket was welded to boat. I e mailed alumacraft but no response and its been over a week? Surely they have the paint codes so one could have it mixed???? Thanks to all.

 

You're talking about a boat manufacturer who makes thousands of these things, They buy the paint in huge lots,probably in 55 gallon drums. Color, i'm sure they order by a catalog number rather than a color code. Just take a stab at matching it. Hey we're talking about an aluminum jon boat, not a 50 foot yacht. What do you need? A quart? Go to the nearest marine supply place and buy a marine grade paint, or even use an outdoor grade house paint.

 

BPS Matches pretty good