Redoing my floor... NEW Floor is IN! *Road signs*

I put a plywood floor with carpet in a couple months ago and am pleased with how it turned out, but i found a deal on some old road signs and for $60 i can have an all aluminum floor in the boat and much less maintenance down the road.

here's the floor


i ripped out the plywood floor (wasn't screwed down) and am going to use it as a stencil. I would like your input on how you would go about piecing these signs together to make it look the best? Should i overlap the signs whole? cut them down to fit? i have foam between the ribs, as well as some rubber matting for support. I plan on putting rubber bike tire tube between the signs and the ribs to keep down on noise. i will rivet the signs down to the ribs for a nice clean look.

here's a pic of the signs laid out on top of the old floor, the best way i could come up with.


any input would be greatly appreciated

I thought I could help till I saw your pic. I'm also using road signs for my flooring and decking but my signs are 48 X 48 and 48 X 60 so I wont have to piece any of them together. Mine are also very close to being 1/8" thick. I had to bend a piece last week and nearly gave myself a hernia. That stuff is stout!!

Your layout of the signs looks like the best fit for the shapes you have. Why not rivet them together, using rivets spaced out maybe every 2". Then rivet the whole thing to your ribs, or maybe just lay it on. Are you going to carpet it after?

Sounds like a good idea. Yea I was either going to put rubber mats or hydro turf down

Road signs? Clever idea. I'll have to hit up some flee markets this summer for sure and stock up. I like that idea. Though have'nt really priced out aluminum decking yet

Not to hijack your thread but...Where did you get the signs? I would like to try and get some for a boat I'm working on :roll:

well i had some free time today after clinical so i decided to put the new floor in. I had no idea it would turn out this good. Looks very clean and is solid as a rock. Best $60 ever spent!







Now i think im gonna rough up the floor with a wire wheel and put some self etching primer on and then paint it with the rustoleum green jon boat paint at walmart. I may put down hydroturf down the road, but dang that mess is expensive and I've got a lot of floor space to cover in the Alweld.

*Question: Will aluminum painted a lighter color such as beige still be hot as crap in direct sunlight? I would think it would be, but im sure someone knows the answer from experience.

I don't know about paint, but the tan sprayed on bedliner on my highwaysign mod stays cooler than the dark painted boat in hot sun. I went w the lighter color hoping it would help, my bare boat's decks will burn my butt in summer and i'm thinking about bedlining the rest or those expensive neoprene pads would be nice!

turned out better than i expected with all those over lapping pieces Good Job. i personally would probably put some sort of no slip stuff on the aluminum, paint doesnt seem like it will hold up to the abuse well.. but i havent tried it so dont trust me.

another longterm or short term option is to get some of the cheap indoor/outdoor carpet at lowes or homedepot.. they sell it in 6x8' rolls quite cheap, im not sure what size your deck is but it looks like 1 roll may fit nicely. i used it all in my boat and love it. i fish barefoot all summer now, washes pretty easily and looks good too

That turned out nice. I'm glad I dont have to piece mine together like that though. I havnt started my flooring yet and I'm allready getting tired of popping rivets, lol.

For those thats asking about signs, check into a construction safety rental place. There are companies that do entire construction setups and the construction company pays rental for the signs, barrels, arrowboards, etc. Thats where I went and asked if they had damaged signs that I could buy cheap. The guys was so interested in how I was going to use road signs to make a boat that he gave me an entire skid of large signs for free. I just have to bring my boat to him when its done so he can take pics. I guess he didnt realize that when its done, no one will ever know its road signs but eh, I'm not complaining about a truckload of free sheet aluminum!!

yea i posted a add on Craigslist and a fella contacted me and i worked out a deal for 8 Large signs for $60. Not too bad when a 4x8 sheet of well over $100 and i'd need at least 2 to do this project. Some of the sheet aluminum isn't as thick as these road signs.

*I wonder if anyone has ever been questioned by the warden about signs being used in their boat? I wonder if they would write u a ticket for it?

I dunno. I'm not gonna worry about that as I know my signs arnt stolen. I picked them up personally from the rental place. Mine are all construction signs, not standard road signs. Mine will also be carpeted so no one will ever know its signs. The only place that it will be visable will be in my battery box and they would have to remove the battery to see the orange in the back of the compartment.

my dad used to work for VDOT in the sign department years ago, when the signs lost their reflectiveness they would replace the sign. we used to have a ton of them! i also know that the signs have a warning label on the back (atleast in Va) about the penalty for stealing/being caught with one of their signs. i am sure it wouldnt be the first time the warden has seen signs being used. i had a dog box for my truck that was made from them. state trooper didnt question where the signs came from.

I work for the City of Columbus. I dont work in the traffic department but Ive been to thier building numerous times. They have a mountain of old signs out back. I dont know what they do with them but I'm sure law enforcement has to know these things get replaced periodically so there are used signs out and about. They have also made it illegal for scrap yards here in the Columbus area to buy any public property such as signs, man hole covers, catch basin grates, etc. The scrap yards also have to report anyone that tries to sell those items. That has just about stopped all theft of those items. I dont think its anything to worry about personally but I do understand your concern.

I was thinking Hydro-Turf also but went with Nautolex and am glad I did. Easy to glue. Easy to clean.

I will have to check that out. Is there any price difference?

Love this idea, i need to go talk to my buddy in the town road dept!

What did you use to cut the signs with around the ribs? Thanks!

I got lucky and found a HUGE sign and took it all down and salvaged 5 4×8 sheets of it. Still don't know what I am going to do with it.

I used a grinder with a thin metal cutting blade. Very easy

Ive been cutting my signs with a jigsaw and a metal blade then buzzing the edges after with a flapper wheel on my grinder. Leaves a nice smooth edge.