16' Alumacraft

A search didn't reveal anything on this topic so I thought that I would just dive in. In my youth - going way back into the '50s - our wooden bay boats, on the Gulf coast of Florida, had slatted wooden floors. Now, a "bay boat" referred to a 14' to 18' flat bottom skiff, powered quite commonly with an air-cooled Briggs and Stratton, Onan, or a 5 or 10 horsepower outboard. The slatted floor served to keep your feet reasonably dry, during a day of fishing, as most of these boats leaked considerably (---especially the livery boats), and a bailing bucket was standard equipment. My 16' Alumacraft Yukon is reasonably dry for a 45 year old boat, but spray, fishing activities, and the occasional loose rivet will add a bit of slop in the bilges, not to mention making them slippery. With respect to the latter, i.e. "slippery," I would prefer to use a smooth finish when I repaint the bilge - simply to facilitate an easier washdown. I intend to make the floor flat, leaving just enough thickness at the outer ends of the transverse stringers (cut to fit the contour of the aluminum floor ribs) to provide strength. I'm thinking that I might start and stop the longitudinal slats at the seats - but the jury is out on that decision and I may butt the floor sections together under the seats. One thing that I haven't figured out yet is how to tie the floor sections down to the hull to prevent their banging up and down when the boat is up on plane. For the record, this is a tiller-steered 15 hp Johnson. We didn't have that problem with the Bay boats because they seldom got up on plane. (Lightweight plywood hulls were just beginning to dominate the market and fiberglass was almost unheard of!) Easily removable floorboards are essential to retrieve the myriad of bait, tackle, and other small junk that slips through the slats. I would appreciate any and all suggestions - but especially those relative to securing the floorboard sections to the hull.

My last boat had some drop in floor sections between the bench seats. I used bolt latches, like on a tool shed, to lock into drilled holes in the bench sides front and rear. My benches went all the way to the floor. Worked great for me

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Yep - it would be a tad easier if the seats went all the way down.

Gotta be some kind of way to make something hinge up and brace to the seats

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Bracing against the underside of the seats would work - but it would have to be a flexible connection to permit compression (i.e. - movement) between the seats and the boat bottom.