First off, let me say that I like my floorboards. makes the ship look sharp and keeps my bottom end dry even after I ship some water. BUT. I keep losing things in the bilge through the gap between the end of the floorboards and the bilge. It's like a magnet. Just the other day I was re-attaching my seats, and after getting nut and washer started on underside of the bolt, I decided I no longer needed the towel stuff in the edge of the boards to keep stray nuts and washers slipping in there, I LOST AHOLD OF MY LONG HANDLED RATCHET on a particularly hard to reach nut, and like a jackrabbit, it flew into the bilge. AND the gap is big enough that I can just get my hand under there that I can confirm the tool is in fact under there, but not enough to actually grab it. Fortunately in this case I was able to contort myself to cajole it enough over that I was (eventually) able to pull it out. This, and many, many other stories of things slipping into the bilge have worn thin for me.
Anyway, has enyone sorted a good way to prevent this from happening? I thought of getting that foam stuff you can put in gutters that lets water through but stops things like pine needles. maybe shove that along the gap between the outer boards and the hull. But I am open to suggestions.
A recent WoodenBoat article on tips for a better small craft recommended having at least one section of floorboard that is removeable without tools. This is why.
in my Sassafras canoe the floorboards are one unit, and not attached. Works well enough, as the boat is used solely with a smalll electric motor on sheltered waters.
My Peapod will not have a centerboard trunk, and I will have a removeable plank to fill the gap where the trunk would be. That will at least give me access to the two center bays between frames.
Likewise on my Rhode Runner. I modified floorboard plans such that I the whole set of floorboards is a one piece unit held together by screwing the longitudinal floorboards into to 3 cross-sticks (one near each frame, just slightly offset so the unit can't slide foreward or aft). The unit then just rests on the top of the frames. I even put a finger hole in the center floor board to make it easy to lift them up. And shortened them so that I created a place for the battery in the bilge area up in front of the foot rest.
So for whatever design, I think removable floor boards (or just one removable board) is a good idea. If you're really worried about them flying around when you tip over (it happens in small boats) you can figure out a quick hold down method, even if that means just one or two screws.
I made the floorboards in my LHTPP into four separate units (P, S, Fwd and Aft) that are held down by cleats at the forward end of the forward set and the aft end of the aft set and by a common bolt with a very wide wooden washer where each P and S sections meet amidships. The sections are held together by frames that run athwartships that are off set from the hull’s frames. This also had the advantage of NOT having a gazillion screws into the hull frames. Remove two bolts amidships and all four sections come out. Good for retrieval and maintenance.
The time I lost something (a Brummel clip) under my floorboards I was able to retrieve it by tilting the boat bow down (it was on its trailer) and blowing a blast of air from my leaf blower. The clip, along with a whole lot of dust and dirt and some leaves and other flotsam, worked its way through the limber holes and ended up in the bow.
Laszlo
Steve,
Any pictures to inspire the rest of us?
Sure, here they are. They show the floorboards as assembled into units, the retaining cleats on Frames 1 and 5 and the last one is a picture of the device (one port/one stbd) that secures them all.
The cleats at Fr 1 and 5 are fashioned to hold the extreme fwd and aft ends of each P/S set of floorboards. The floorboard assemblies each have a triangular shaped cutout at the midship frame to surround the diamond shaped pedestal (the pictures taken BEFORE these cutouts were made). There is a large circular plate of 6 mil ply that goes on the bolt that screws into the pedestal and holds both the fwd and aft portions of the P/S set of floorboards down. Only two bolts needed to keep floorboards in place for ease of removal for fallen parts and maintenance.
1 Like
