Thread: Floor for a tinny

I would n't use the ply myself for the floor, I would be more inclined to build a 'slatted' floor so that it will drain easily, if you are concerned about sinkers etc. falling through then toss a piece of outdoor carpet over it. your floor 'bearers. should sit on the alloy frames of your boat but if you wanted you could isloate it/them with a bit of rubber, Ihave found that bits cut from those pale blue campmattress things are great for padding things in boats....

I replaced the floors in 3 navy tinnies a few years back. They were done in 12mm marine ply and sat on the transverse frames. These were pretty large and heavy boats and the framing was pretty close together, so you may need to use something like 20mm.

Strip up some 3mm ply or craftwood to template out the bottom, going around all the frames where they come up through your deck. I use hot glue to stick all the bits of template together. Glue in some diagonal braces to stiffen it all up before you take it out of the boat and than lay it on top of your ply for a pattern. Cut it loose enough that it's easilly lifted out and maybe cut a few finger holes.

Make sure you never leave any sinkers or bits of copper in the bilge or you will have a large sieve instead of a boat. :eek:

Mick

Wooohooo! I got a diamond membership!

Wooohooo! I got a diamond membership!

No Mick, you got a Daimond membership....I don't know what a Daimond actually is, but I've seen what it did to Ozwinner....

Be afraid.

Be VERY afraid!!


Cheers,

P

I used 12mm marine ply to floor a 3.8m tinnie, seems to handle 3 100kg blokes without any trouble which is more than can be said for the motor. Make sure the subframe sits on some rubber or other packing to protect the aluminium and the fit is reasonably snug. We finished off with marine carpet for plenty of grip and the ply offcuts made a neat anchor locker up forward. One thing I would suggest is give the lot a coat of paint to protect the ply before glueing down the carpet, the unpainted versions seems to be subject to rot in the factory built product.

John

I am pondering a similar problem.... how did your floor turn out? I thought of making a frame that sits over the thwarts (navy talk for seats in a dinghy!) and then down to below 'floor ' level then fixing ply to this so as to make a level suspended floor.. I could possibly place small shaped blocks between ply and/or frame and the alloy ribs to provide extra stiffness.....
I'm interested in opinions re this, any takers?

I am pondering a similar problem.... how did your floor turn out? I thought of making a frame that sits over the thwarts (navy talk for seats in a dinghy!) and then down to below 'floor ' level then fixing ply to this so as to make a level suspended floor.. I could possibly place small shaped blocks between ply and/or frame and the alloy ribs to provide extra stiffness.....
I'm interested in opinions re this, any takers?

Haven't actually started yet tong, are you looking to suspend the floor because of stress on the ribs?

HH.

I have currently got 19mm marine grade ply in my tinny. Not happy at all with it, it does have carpet over it, had the boat for about twelve months now and a nearly ready to get rid of the floor.

I will be putting slats in the next time.

Originally Posted by Kris.Parker1

I will be putting slats in the next time.

Please explain how this works and why you're unhappy with ply?

HH

Slats go back a while! Ply was substituted for slats in the early days of aluminium boats, when a number of people discovered that fish hooks fell between them, and were not found.

Result: in a very short time, electrolysis severe enough to have created a drainage hole in a spot the maker didn't intend. Only trouble with those drainage holes is that they seem to drain the air out of the hull...leaving only water in the boat!

If you do go slats, make sure that the hulls are appropriately painted, AND keep an eye out for hidden metal objects that may find their way onto the electrode filled bilge!

cheers,

P

Midge mate, I used to have an aluminium runabout with a sheet ply floor. It was a paininnabum to pull the floors out to hunt for sinkers and hooks, I ran sealing foam rubber right around as much as possible but electrolytic crud seemed to find its' way into the bilge anyway. A slat floor not only gives better ventilation but if fitted using a few hold down "buttons" is easy to lift out after a day out to clean and air the innards of the hull.... my 2 bobs worth...

Don't listen to that scurrilous cur, do like I did and run a few 2 x 4s across the boat and put some (any) ply on top of that . Paint the lot with bondcrete and then some carpet, Don't ever look underneath in case you find some evidence of boat cancer.
ps Get a dead outboard like mine, then it won't matter if electrolysis does its thing.

Well I reckon if you're going to all the trouble of putting a timber floor in, you only have to add two sides and a transom and you won't have to worry about electrolysis anyway!



P

The only tinny I have ever had custody of was one with holes in the bottom as described above. It had faded lettering on the transom which indicated that it was a tender to Noah's Ark.

(It was one of the rivetted variety, and the rivets were a bit suss in some places and one of the bilge panels looked a bit like corro iron.

My friend the owner of said vessel, cut a floor more or less to size out of second hand formply, then filled the whole bilge with pouring foam. We tried to sort of trowel the stuff up the sides as it oozed out everywhere, and did a passable version of Spanish Mission Stucco on just about every surface.

Boat was rigid, and didn't sink, and ended up painted with off-white house paint and green trim..... lovely.

Don't know what happened to it...foam probably filled with water......

P