My 1985 PolarKraft project (HELP, I BROKE my boat! page 13)

[dixie_boysles]

Here is general layout, trying to find out what to use to support floor where the beams u-shape.

 

[Johnny5]

Looking good man, waiting to see whats happens next, i was thinking about doing the same thing with the bench seat in mine

 

[russ010]

If you use aluminum, just run a piece of angle from one side to the other, and use a piece of square tubing in the very center to support it (I would honestly use tubing for the hole thing... but that's just me).

Or you can do the same thing with 2x2 wood

 

[dixie_boysles]

UPDATE:

Im picking up 25' of 1"x1" aluminum angle today. Im having it precut, so all i have to do is rivet it in. Im just going to do like russ^^^ said and run it from one side to the other on each rib. Then ill try to get some more alumiunum next week to fabricate my casting deck. then I should be ready for carpet and paint!

 

[dixie_boysles]

UPDATE:

Me and my buddy got the support system for the metal floor im putting in. The boat ribs are not flat which poses problems when putting a flat floor in...lol. So I bought some 1x1 aluminum angle and ran it side to side capped on the ribs. It was still giving in the middle some (more than I liked) so i also put som vertical angle in to support the middle . The flooring system is very stout now! I am using a 3/16"-1/4" thick roadsing i bought at the local salvage yard for my floor. It is being covered in gray marine carpet i bought at Lowes. My friend there got me a deal on a remnant he had that was 8'-9 3/4" x 6' for $20!!! that is enought to do my middle floor, and back bench! I still need to buy about 10 more feet I think. on to the pics:

here you can see the vertical support in the floor, this made it VERY stout.

Also, where the floor butts up to the face of the back bench, there was no support, so i riveted some angle there to support there

 

[Rat]

Nice, that should be good and solid; nothing worse than a springy floor! Are you gonna foam under it?

 

[dixie_boysles]

Nice, that should be good and solid; nothing worse than a springy floor! Are you gonna foam under it?

yep! but im torn on what to do. I want foam board, but is like $12.50 a sheet! It would take 2-3 sheets to fill in that space up to the bottom face of the floor. I thought about using the expanding foam. What do ya'll think? Has anyone ever used the Great stuff foam for this application? How is it or should i stop whining and get the foamboard.

 

[Rat]

Don't use Great Stuff, besides not being USCG approved, it will probably be more expensive than foam board. I would go with either a two part foam or foam board. If you want to keep the limber holes open for drainage to the stern of the boat then I would use foam board; if you use two part foam you will need to blank off the limber holes/channels so you don't fill them with foam.

 

[dixie_boysles]

I have a ? for you guys. I am torn if I want to paint the "whole" boat or not. I know I'm painting the whole outside, but im not sure if i should paint the inside bottom as well. I mean it is going to be covered in a carpeted from front to back. So should I just paint the whole boat or just the outside and the inside sides?

 

[Rat]

I am just going to paint the parts that are exposed from under the decks/sole. I will probably hit the interior of the lockers with an off white color to brighten them up a bit as well, but that's all.

 

[Brine]

That's looking really good, and I like Rat's thought on paint.

 

[russ010]

You did it right man!!! =D>

I wouldn't worry with painting the bottom of the inside either.. it's not going to do any good.

 

[dixie_boysles]

Saturday, me and the future father-in-law worked on the boat some more. We got a big step done! We got the floor and sides cut to size! That metal roadsign i bought now makes a nice floorboard! I have to cover it in boat carpet now that i have in my building. Also the sides that you see will be covered in boat carpet. The sign wasnt quite long enough, so we butted a trimming from the sign when we cut it up the the end we needed extedned and then put another peice under is and pop riveted it all together. Its VERY storong and will never rot!

i wanted to go with all metal floor, but i think im just gonna go ahead and make my front casting deck out of 3/4" plywood. I have to have a piece anyways to go on the back bench so that i can mount my swivel seat to it. Pretty much the whole inside of the boat will be carpeted except for the area behind the back bench. It sjust about ready for paint. I have to go this week to get some 1x1 alum. angle to frame the front deck.

^^^here you can see where we riveted it together

 

[Troutman3000]

looks great man

 

[dixie_boysles]

Update 4/12/10:

Yesterday, the future father-in-law and I got some more work done on the boat. We framed out the front casting deck/storage area using 1x1 aluminum angle. It turned out real nice and is VERY strong. We used 3/16" x 1/2" grip aluminum rivets to hold it all together. As you can see, there is plent of bracing. Also had the front seat pedestal i got from Sara's daddy sandbalsed by neighbor. I primed it with etching primer and painted it with Krylon Fusion Satin Black (LOVE THIS PAINT) I have to go this week and pick up a full sheet of 3/4" plywood to cap it off now and also to cap off the back bench. Everything that you see in wood and metal is going to have gray carpet on it. Im also going to carpet the inside under the casting deck in the storage area so that when things are in there, they aren't banging on metal.

To do this now:

-mount plywood for casting deck (all plywood will fiberglassed for waterproofing)
-mount plywood on back bench so i can securely mount a swivel seat
-carpet entire inside of boat (excluding the area behind back bench)
-install both seats
-wire up fishfinder and running lights
-have front of boat reinforced with 1 1/4" aluminum tubing (you can see where we had to cut the old reinforcing off because it was ragged.)
-paint boat
paint trailer

so as you can see, we've made alot of progress, but still have alot to do

 

[Froggy]

Man, you guys did great looks like a plane wing with all the screws, tres cool!

 

[dixie_boysles]

Im so tore on how I want to go about painting it. I have one more step to do before paint now. All i lack is fixing the very front of the boat where we had to cut the gunwhaler (or whatever that lip is called) off. Then its time for paint! Now my problem is how do I want to go about painting it. Ive said before that I was was just going to prime where the bare metal spots were and then paint the whole boat. The whole boat has been sanded in 120-150 grit sandpaper top to bottom. Im only painting the outside and about 4" down on the inside (all the rest will be covered).

Now here is the inward struggle I'm having with myself. A part of me is just wanting to go ahead and prime the whole outside of the boat using Nason etching primer (Dupont brand). I recently used it on my seat pedestal followed up with krylon fusion and it truned out GREAT. But im also looking at the 5-6 dollar per can it will cost on top of the $45 for paint. Ive never rattle canned a boat. How many regular size spray cans will it take to prime a boat with two coats? I guess if i knew this number, i would feel better. The reason im wanting to do it this way is to insure the paint looks good. I know its a jon boat but still! But at the same time, the factory paint could still be used as a primer. what would you guys do!!!!????

 

[dixie_boysles]

bump

 

[perchin]

It took me 3 cans to primer two coats on my 14'. I didn't do the very bottom on mine though.

 

[Ictalurus]

Dixie

Your PK is looking good. The open floor plan is nice, I kept the middle seat in mine hoping to add a livewell someday. Good find on the aluminum sign!