Aluminum Lund Rebuild

I have a 1973 17' Deep V Lund that I am completely redoing. It is my grandfathers and he passed so I bought the boat from my grandmother and trying to refinish the way I know he wanted to. Anyway I have the boat stripped to the plywood now which I plan on replacing. When looking at the floor to the top of the boat it angles down. Should this run parallel with the top of the boat or should I just spray paint a line where the old floor ran and figure use the same line? I want to build up the front for some storage units and thought it would look goofy if it were not following the same line as the top of the boat. My thought is the old floor was put in on the trailer instead of the water? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Tony

 

new floor

I rebuilt a 17' alum boat w/wood floor & closed cell foam floatation under, raised front deck w/pedestal seats, live well etc.. Was the floor put in by grandfather or was it installed from the factory? If from factory then follow the original floor lines. If gramps put the floor in, it my have been installed slightly off. In that case I would sugest floating the boat in the water to obtain the correct water line. Walk around the boat and use some type of eraseable marker and mark the exact water line on the outside of the hull. Try to have the boat loaded with the correct weights in the correct location according to how it will be when all work is completed. This will probably require a best guestimate. You want the correct water line if you get my drift. The floor must be installed acording to the correct water line and it should not follow the top of the hull (shear line). Be sure to encapsulate all wood with epoxy coating. Then when installing final carpet floors there will never be any rot or deterioration.
Have a Great Time with your project!
Earl

 

new floor

I forgot to mention that a simple way to get the exact water line marked on the inside of the hull is as follows: Place the boat on the trailer and fill it with water to the water line and use the trailer to raise or lower as needed untill the water line is correct around the entire hull. Use a majic marker to permanently mark the interior water line to the very precise level.
Earl

 

The floor can be built a few inches higher or lower than the water line but it must be level with the water line.
Earl

 

Further Question

Couple of things if you are going to fill the inside of the boat with water how do you know where the water line is? Also if it needs to be within a few inches of the water line how can I have a raised platform on the front? I am not sure if the floor is factory but I know my grandfather did not replace it himself. It looks like the previous owner may have though since there is still some polished stainless screws in it. I really appreciate your comments. I was going to take the bare hull and float it anyway to check for leaks so that will be one more thing to get the waterline while I am there. Thanks again.

Tony

 

savicka
Fill the inside of the boat with water to the level that you want your floor to be. Then look outside at you water line marks and measeure inside so your floor will be parallel all the way around with your water line. Do this by raising or lowering the toung of the trailer with a jack. It's OK to put a raised platform in the bow but make sure it is level with the water line. The water line is where the boat naturally floats. When walking around inside the boat you want the floor to match the surface of the water or another words level. You don't want to be walking around on an inclined floor inside the boat. That is the point and what your main objective is so that you have a level floor no matter what height it is. Choose any height you want.

 

Thanks

Thanks, excuse my ignorance a little, this is the first boat I have ever owned. I guess I will know the boat building process from beginning to end with this bad boy. Thanks again

Tony