14 foot Gregor V Hull - Livewell, Casting Deck, Foam Floors

[xbacksideslider]

https://s814.photobucket.com/albums/zz67/xbacksideslider/14%20Ft%20Gregor/

There's a link to pictures of my mods.

Toho-Rig livewell inside center seat. Poly lids reinforced. Center lid accepts same kingpin seat post as stern and bow seats.

Floors are very light; they are madeup of layers of sheet styrofoam built up with contact cement and then hard surfaced with stained 3/16 underlayment veneer plywood. Same stained underlayment plywood that was used on the floor also surfaces the top of the livewell and the stern/tiller rear seat surface. These easy in and out lightweight/built up styrofoam floor boards offset some of the floatation removed from center seat and lost to livewell.

Forward deck is lightweight nominal 1/2 inch solid core veneer cabinet ply. More sheet Styrofoam was cut and fitted and laminated and glued under the deck, in dead space, and in facing the forward seat bulkhead. All plywood veneer was stained, not painted or sealed; this follows my theme of keeping it as light as possible; no carpet - too heavy.

To prevent chaffing of trailerable boat cover, no brackets or fixtures are on top of gunnel, that includes the bimini top; stainless brackets allow it to lay down below the top edge of the gunnel and the bimini top can flop/stow toward either bow or stern.

Trolling motor battery, launch line, and anchor reside under forward casting deck.

Floor/hull forward of livewell and on through anchor locker area is faced with fitted closed cell flexible 3/8" sheet polyethylene. Contact cement holds it to hull surface.

Boat can be returned to stock except for holes in seat tops drilled for king pin seat post seat base plates.

 

[ericogg]

Do you have any pictures of the floor? It sounds pretty interesting how you made them.

 

[xbacksideslider]

Do you have any pictures of the floor? It sounds pretty interesting how you made them.

Didn't take any pics while I was making the floor decks.

Home Depot sells 4x8 sheets of styrofoam; it comes in 3/8" 1/2" 3/4" 1" and so on. I bought three sheets, as I recall, one of 3/8, one of 1/2, and one of 3/4. They run from $8 to $10 per, depending on the thickness. They are covered with a plastic film vapor barrier which is great because that skin adds strength, holds the foam together, and most important - it is compatible with contact cement.

For me, the best way to cut the styrofoam turned out to be a free hand hacksaw blade. I used a framing square, a straight edge, and a magic marker to layout the cuts. A belt sander cleans up the edges nicely - knocks off the little loose balls of foam - also good for shaping the edges/fixing long cuts, and "wedging" the edges to shape the hull.

The low spots between the stringers/strakes/longitudinal reinforcements were filled with rectangles cut from the styrofoam. As I built it up, I used plastic shipping tape to hold the pieces in place. Because my hull is a V hull, I had to fill that V, raise the center to level, but I had to do it with parallel sided sheet rectangles of foam!?!?! To do that I knocked the corner off the port or starboard long edge of the rectangles by trimming them (no longer parallel top to bottom)with the belt sander. I cheated a bit with a can of that chemical foam "Gap and Hole" filler to fill long skinny small triangles/gaps. A final sheet of styrofoam then flattened it all out before the final thin plywood top was glued into place. Two spray cans of contact cement gave me great coverage and super adhesion.

As you can see in the pics, a piece of aluminum angle, screwed to the seat bulkhead panels, holds these floor panels down; stainless sheet metal screws hold the angle to the seat bulkhead panels.

I weigh 260 and the floors do give underfoot, like an anti-fatique mat. They have not compacted to any noticeable extent - yet. And they are very quiet. The sound of ripples on the lake, slapping on the hull, are equivalent to a glass boat.

 

[ericogg]

I might have to look into doing that with my boat when i get started. Seems like it'd work out real good for if you wanted to be able to remove the deck easily. Is there any bracing underneath of the deck at all?

 

[xbacksideslider]

No, no bracing at all. Just several layers of styrofoam glued together and fitted to the hull so you get a flat subfloor and then thin plywood glued to that - all one piece. Weighs nothing compared to a piece of 3/4" plywood.

I look at all these other boat mods with a bunch of 2x4 joists supporting plywood and I think "Not for me, the whole point of an aluminum boat is that it is light in weight . . . . and therefore efficient. So, yeah, I want more deck area, yeah I don't want to trip on those aluminum stringers, yeah I want it to be quiet, so yeah, put a deck in it, but don't add 150 pounds of studs and steel hangers and aluminum angle and pop rivets and plywood and carpet and glue to a sub 200 pound boat to do it.

Another thing, take care about raising the center of gravity. Compared to glass boats, aluminum boats don't have a lot of mass down low, so that makes them even more tippy when you put a deck on them. Stock, when you're standing in one, the floor is BELOW the water level line at the hull. it's a proper pendulum. Raising the deck too much creates instability - an upside down pendulum. A couple inches to flatten the floor is OK but 8 or 10 inches just to make it resemble a big heavy dead weight glass boat? Not good in my view. Mass above the water line? Not good. Yeah, I'm guilty of it, but as little as possible.

Jons are better than Vs in this respect but they all lack beam, and yes, put weight below deck and out to the sides; every little bit helps.