The Floor

The floor of this boat had suffered years of unprotected exposure to the Minnesota elements, and was completely rotten. My first step was getting everything out of the boat (seats, etc.) so I could remove the flooring. It was pretty disgusting and mold infested under the carpet. I was able to pull up most of the wood intact, but once it dried out it did not want to hold together. I found some pretty interesting artifacts buried in brownish Styrofoam underneath that flooring. There were fishing supplies, such as bobbers, hooks and line. I also pulled out a needle-nose pliers that was so rusted that it fell apart in my hands. After I gave it a good washing, I found that the boat was very solid underneath all of that rotten wood.

I then used the old pieces of floor as best as I could to make a template for a new floor. I didn't go with marine plywood; just green-treated to prevent water damage. I used some left-over pink foam insulation between the floor joists for flotation.

Before I put the new pieces of floor in, I gave them a couple of coats of polyurethane on each side. For the topside, I put a texture in the last coat, as to prevent slippage.

All-in-all, it's a pretty good floor. The black strips are non-skid tape, and work to both hide the seams of the plywood pieces and further prevent wet feet from sliding all over the decking. The striping sort of matches the striping of the seats, so that came together nicely. The seats are something else I'd like to get to eventually, but that's another post.