Tinny underfloor floatation and removable floor?

[Hodad3230]

Gday all, any ideas on whether this is possible? Or safe?

I have a flat floor in my 4.45
tinny, at the moment the floor is screwed into ally joists, which are screwed into timber bearers, which are screwed into bulkheads at each rib. All voids are filled with polystyrene.

I am gonna take out all the beams because the screws holding my seat post down failed, and there is corrosion in the joists that received the stainless screws. The supporting structure will all be welded.

Another problem I have at the moment is that if i were to drop a sinker on the floor, and it were to roll through one of the gaps between the ply floor and the hull, I have to unscrew the whole floor, or at least half of it, to get it out - and to remove build-ups of sand and other crud (beach launches only).

So I am after a way to anchor the floor so I can pull it up relatively easily but should I be swamped, the floor will stay put. I want to achieve this without any stainless contacting aluminium, if that's possible.

Any-one got any ideas or comments?
Cheers Ian

[pedrodepacus]

hey ian sounds like the project is getting more involved now did the seat screws just go into the timber or did they pick up on alloy plate underneath the floor and duralac is a good product to put on the screws that hold the floor down to help reduce the corrosion from the dissimilar metals cheers phil

[Hodad3230]

Gday Phil the seats screw down into ally joists - the posts are made from lengths of ally angle so I was gonna have them welded in, just working out what to do with the floor.
I am gonna have to make up a new one regardless , so I was thinking I could hold it down using ally angle and pins, or maybe tie-downs.

I have rung quite a few boat builders down here, and none is able to supply me those sheets for the gunnels. Would you have a guesstimate of freight costs from up there? Around $300 is the cheapest price I have got so far for the sheet I need. One guy I spoke to said I don't need marine grade, because it's not in the water, not so sure about that....
Cheers Ian

[pedrodepacus]

hey mate il check it out for you and see wat i can come up with for you

[moater]

With the sheet you're talking about do you mean a sheet of aluminium??I bought a 2400 x 1200 x 3mm sheet of marine grade aluminium from Metalcorp less than a year ago,cost about $240 with GST..I presume they're nationwide?-I'm here in bloody cold Victoria:(

Reagrding holding the floor down,it's a bit of a vexing thing & I've often wondered whether there could be a better product than,say,stainless screws to alloy.Wonder if there isn't/couldn't be some sort of poly/plastic screws,fasteners..or disposable blocks etc that could sit in the alloy and be screwed into?One thing for sure is that you don't want your floor loose,much less too easily lifted up as I've seen rub lines in alloy where the floor edges have worn away a substantial amount of metal over time.Also with carpet directly in contact with the hull it's a good idea to make sure there's no sand particles trapped in the carpet as it'll speed up any wear.

Another thing with underfloor floatation is that if a boat tips it'll float upside-down...it's really better up high and that's what I'd like to have enventually on my 4.55m tinny.

Just some thoughts.::) ...I don't profess to be any sort of "expert" that's for sure!

Darren

[Kleyny]

In my rear casting deck i have kept a piece of it in place using plastic door latches. They clip into place nicely and you can use alloy poprivets to hold the clips to the ribs in your boat.

neil

[dnej]

floor anchors are the go.
David

[Hodad3230]

Gday guys, thanks for replying

dnej they are ideal, except i want to eliminate as much stainless as I can. Extremely cool fitting though.
Honky I dunno if they would be strong enough to hold it down in a swamping, but I'll think more about that
moater I'm in vicco too, and to avoid welds, I need a 3.6m length. I may well reconsider though, as I saw some flush welds in ally today that were perfectly smooth, and as far as floatation goes I am gonna fill the area under the new side decks/gunnels with pool noodles, might help me stay upright. Not too worried about scuffing, the squashed bait and bloodstains would offset that nicely....

Thanks again
Ian

[Jono_SS]

Hey Hodad - just thought I should tell you that my boat is also called Hodad! Might see you out there one day.

regards.

Jono - skipper of Hodad (4.5 m AMM tiller steer)

[dnej]

Now,how did that used to go again
Hodad,who say Hodad,when I say Hodad.
Was in an old movie.
David

[Hodad3230]

I've only ever heard it used on "Big Wednesday".... as in 'that ain't no Hodad, that's Matt Johnson'....

[Jono_SS]

that's right squid lips! it's a big wednesday thing for me.