What to use for replacing the floor in my Hews?

[RustyMonkey]

I am replacing the floorboards in my Hews SeaRunner. I would like to know where to get marine grade wood, and what is the best coating to use on it. I thought I saw last year that someone used a bed liner (like Rhino Lining) on their floor. I would like to do it all myself so any places to get materials, ways to apply coating would be AWSOME!

[spoiled one]

How about diamond plate? It will last longer and won't absorb moisture.

[akdube]

I ripped out the floor in my boat and put in diamond plate. Works great easy to clean up and looks sharp. If I had to guess I think it weighs less as well. It is hard on bare feet though.

[Swissy]

how about slippery-ness? Is the diamond plate good when it's wet, and covered in fish slime & blood? or did you rhino-line the diamond plate? And who in Anchortown willdo the mod or has diamond plate like that?I also have a Hewes (24' Alaskan) and have thougt of changing the floors out.

[spoiled one]

The diamond plate is not nearly as slippery as the plastic covered plywood that I had on my Hewescraft from my experience. You could pick it up from Alaska Steel and do it yourself I suspect.

[akdube]

Weld air in wasilla will have what you need as well. And if you dont wanna do it your self I could do it for you. It isnt that hard and I have all the tools to do it with. Maybe even do a trade for a fishing trip or two. Who knows. It is not slippery at all even when wet and covered in fish slime.

[RustyMonkey]

Hmmm......akdube. I might take you up on that. I am taking out the front section tonight. Let me get back to you on that!

[Swissy]

nice to know it's not slippery. My biggest issue with the wood is it swells around the in floor fish box and makes it hard to open occasionally. But it is nice and quiet... I'll have to look into the cost and whatnot...

[akdube]

If and when you do this SAVE the old floor as it works as a templete for the new one. Although in pieces you can still use it as a templete

[akdube]

nice to know it's not slippery. My biggest issue with the wood is it swells around the in floor fish box and makes it hard to open occasionally. But it is nice and quiet... I'll have to look into the cost and whatnot...

Why not take the lid off the fish hold and replace with diamond plate and a piano hinge?

[Swissy]

Why not take the lid off the fish hold and replace with diamond plate and a piano hinge?

The lid already is Aluminum... it's the wood around it that jams it some times. But I might be seriously interested in doing this as well...

[RustyMonkey]

I got all of the deck out in three peices (thats how it was originally installed). Looks like I am going to go with marine plywood and something to go on top of it. The girl and I sleep inside of it when we go to remote spots. Any ideas on what would be good to use?

This project is moving along faster than I thought!!

[MacGyver]

On my boat I use regular plywood and painted it with oil base paint. The area where you walk I put down a coat of paint, cover it with sand blasting sand, let it dry and put on a 2nd coat. You will not slip on the floor…..if it too course you can scrape it off.

There is no weight saving when using aluminum, 1/8 inch diamond plate weighs the same as ˝ inch plywood.

[Akgramps]

I had mine sprayed with Bed-liner, top sides and edges, its a good floor. Maybe not as durable as tread plate but will expect 8-10 years, maybe more. From what I have seen so far. If you drop something sharp it can cut it.

Mine are cdx plywood, they are holding up fine. They were already cut and so I reused them. If starting over I would use some AWW plywood, cheaper than Marine and I think they would last a long time.

Somewhat depends on your use, I am in the interior and try to put a 100 hours a year on my outfit, relatively dry climate here in Fbks, so things get a chance to dry out.

This would be a whole different scenario if your boat is in the water a lot, either using it (hopefully) or tied to a dock, much wetter environment and things don't dry out as fast or ever..........

[ccs]

I replaced the floor in my Seaark last year with marine plywood from SBS in Anchorage. It was fairly inexpensive and I just cut it to the exact dimensions of the old piece of junk wood floor that the previous owner had in it (regular plywood, not sealed at all). I primed it on both sides and the edges with an all purpose primer to try and seal it. I then coated the top and sides with two coats of Herculiner which is a roll on truck bedliner that I picked up at O'Reillys I think. So far it's worked awesome, quiet, non-slippery, and comfortable to walk on with bare feet...