Flooring on Jon Boat-

Can the floor of a jon boat hold a persons weight?
I would like to replace the 3/4 plywood with pink foam between the supports (not sure what their called). I'm not sure if you would be able to put weight on the floor then. This would drastically reduce the weight of the boat. I would like to stand on it without messing up the boat.

Thanks

So, just to make sure I'm following you, you want to remove the plywood floor, and lay pink foam down in it's place?

There are several problems with this, first being that the foam is not designed to withstand the the weight of walking around on it. Second, I can't imagine it would be UV resistant. And besides being horribly unattractive, it probably won't stay in place, unless you're standing on it.

If a lightweight setup is what you're after, then laying the foam down in the spaces between the supports, and then laying a piece of .125 or 1/8" aluminum sheet down over that is what you want. Of course you would want to rivet the sheet of aluminum down as well.

In my 1648, I used 1 & 1/2" foam board between the ribs and covered with a piece of 3/8" thick rubber horse stall mat sold at Tractor Supply. It works great and provides a really solid floor. It does have some downsides though in that the mat only comes in black so it gets really hot in the summer and the mat itself is fairly heavy and not resistant at all to gasoline.

I think the best option factoring in weight would be to do foam between and flush with the top of the ribs and cover in a very thin sheet of aluminum. I believe 0.060" thick would be fine. I emailed Alumacraft once asking what thickness they used for the floor of their MV1648 and they replied it was 0.080". Either way, a 4'x8'x0.125" aluminum sheet would be about 60 lbs, there fore a 0.060" sheet would be about 30 lbs. I think a sheet of 3/4" plywood is about 70 lbs.

I was going to cover the foam with indoor outdoor carpet-The pink foam is sturdy stuff I have small piece and stood on it didn't move.

I guess I was worried that the standing on the floor of the boat could cause issues

I would suggest you layer the top of the foam with some thin material like 1/4 plywood just to give it some protection and the ability to secure the foam in place in the event water gets into the boat. It would not be cool if the boat sinks but the foam floats away! LOL

Placing the foam on the hull should be fine.

A bare hull can definitely support your weight. It seems like that's what you're after. As others have said, if you add foam, you need to cover it with something and secure it, otherwise it's useless.


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JigglyJohnson said:

A bare hull can definitely support your weight. It seems like that's what you're after. As others have said, if you add foam, you need to cover it with something and secure it, otherwise it's useless.


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Click to expand...

Thats what I'm looking for.

Thanks all that have replied-

Throw a sheet of FRP shower wallboard covering between the foam & carpet & you'll be golden.

I've done a similar project, tried 1/4"... Don't do it, 1/2" is perfect provided your foam is level with the ribs