Need some flooring ideas

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mbweimar

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Fellas, the 1752 Weldbilt I have came with a paper thin diamond plate floor. I believe its 1/32 thick. The problem I'm having is the 3/16 rivets that hold it down are constantly loosening up. Right now I have a center console mounted in the middle with two group 27 batteries mounted inside. I think the weight of the batteries and the vibration is loosening the rivets. Will replacing the floor with 1/16 or 1/8 diamond plate will solve this issue? What about a stronger alternative to 3/16 rivets?
 
mbweimar last summer, in our 1648 I put down 1/8 alum. flooring with #10 stainless stainless screws every 8 in. across the ribs. Very strong floor but a little pricey.
 
What is underneath the floor? Any foam or other type of support? I installed a 1/8" aluminum sheet floor in my boat with the blue foam from Lowe's underneath and held down with 3/16" blind rivets. Very solid and I've yet to have a rivet work loose.
 
Are the rivets all aluminum? I have no personal experience with this but was researching rivets on this site for my build and there was a guy saying that using all aluminum rivets, they started to loosen up so he replaced then with aluminum rivets with a steel shank and those held tighter. Or maybe an all stainless rivet?
 
These are all aluminum. Aluminum is such a soft metal though. I would expect them to back out eventually. But I have to replace certain rivets every few months. Its getting old. Plus the console shakes back and forth in anything but glassy smooth water.I think the thicker floor is the answer.
 
The closed end blind rivets I used on my build are all aluminum with an aluminum mandrel. I haven't had any issues with breakage or rivets working loose. I even used these to support my pedestal seat on my bow deck. I used 1" square tubing running "crossways" on the first two mounting holes of my pedestal base to reduce the torque from my 6'8" 270# butt. The tube is attached to the bases under my deck with bolts and nuts through the pedestal base mounting holes and then attached to my deck with a run of blind rivets. Really made my pedestal seat a lot more solid. I have lost a few rivet heads on my bow deck here and there, but they were the factory Tracker rivets from 1996.
 
I think I'm gonna stay away from rivnuts, at least for the floor. From what I can tell they have a slightly raised head so laying a floor down on top of that may not work too well. Plus the boat is used almost exclusively in salt water, so I try not to use stainless fasteners in the aluminum.
 
If that's a factory weldbilt floor I can guarantee its not .031" thick. If its flexing the foam boards under the floor have cracked. Especially if its a modV hull. What I did was pull up the floor and shim the foam with more foam (glueing in place) until the foam is level to the ribs. You want them exactly level or the foam 1/16 or less below the ribs. Not higher. Rivet floor back on with aluminum rivets. You'll be glad you did it
 
Thanks for the input yall I think I've made up my mind in going with the 1/8" floor. However I have a new idea for the floor:

Once I remove the factory floor, I want to weld some aluminum square tube on top of the ribs to raise the floor 1-2". The advantage to doing this is that it will raise the floor, allowing more foam under it. It will also give me a wider floor, but only 2-4 inches wider. One problem I have now, is the G3 console in it is a little too wide. It makes moving around the boat difficult at times, so having a floor that it 2-4 inches wider will make that a little easier. Adding more foam never hurt anything, plus I plan on removing a little bit from the rear bench to make a storage compartment. I can't see any disadvantages to raising the floor, except having a slightly higher center of gravity. But still, I wouldn't think that would be enough to affect the stability.

Any thoughts? Here's the current setup.
 
I've thought about this same thing. I want to add storage in my rear deck and have nowhere else to add foam.
 
Just a curiosity question, what is the advantage or reasoning behind wanting to add more foam?
 
Foam adds positive buoyancy in the event the boat takes on water. It's cheap insurance if you take on a large amount of water. It keeps the boat from ending up in Davy Jones' locker.
 
I fully understand the reasoning behind having at or near the minimum USCG standard for safety floatation foam. What I'm unclear about is adding more beyond that. Especially in a floor.

I have never seen an un-encapsulated foam that was regularly subjected to extended periods of water contact (a near certainty under a floor) that did not absorb water and take on additional weight. It then in turn also typically provokes corrosion of your aluminum. Seems counterproductive to me.

Was wondering if someone found benefits that out-weighed the risks.
 
Hmmmm, that's something I didn't think about. My boat is used exclusively in salt water. When I rinse it off after use everything is soaked. Maybe adding foam there isn't such a good idea. But I'd still like to raise the floor to get as much width as I can out of the floor. Does anyone have any opposition to this idea?
 
^^^
Some responses to my posts in mods [16' Monark] have me concerned too. I have a welded deck though and no evidence of a problem - yet.

I've got to pull the engine off sometime this season for other work. So I'm looking at a way to tilt the bolt up and inject solvent to clear foam from the keel area at least.
 
mbweimar said:
Hmmmm, that's something I didn't think about. My boat is used exclusively in salt water. When I rinse it off after use everything is soaked. Maybe adding foam there isn't such a good idea. But I'd still like to raise the floor to get as much width as I can out of the floor. Does anyone have any opposition to this idea?

I don't see any reason why a modest raise like you are thinking about is any problem, if tackled right. If it were me, I'd only do it on aluminum fastened to the existing stringers. Preferably welded on.

I will say tho, it seems like an awful lot of work for small gains. I'm guessing here, but I'd think a whole new, narrower console may cost less and be a lot easier. Others may have good ideas that prove me wrong?
 
Unfortunately. the console idea will be the more expensive route. I upgraded my factory console to a G3 outfitter console about a year and a half ago, and it was EXPENSIVE. Plus, right now that console houses 90% of the electronics on the boat.

 

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