Design for DIY wooden floor

[Swell]

I've just bought an inflatable boat, a 13 ft Metzeler Juca. It has an inflatable floor, and came with 2 home made ply floor boards. These have been designed to fit tightly right into the edges of the floor prior to inflating - they fit into the seam where the floor meets the side tubes. However, when the floor and tubes are inflated, the boards are pushed up so they no longer fit within those seams, and instead are squeezed between the tubes. This does create a tightly fitting floor, but I'm not convinced it's right since its essentially distorting the tubes and inflatable floor. Should the floor be designed to drop into the boat when inflated rather than the current design which needs to be fitted prior to inflating with the boat sort of inflating and forming its shape around the boards?

Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated!

Roger

[lockieboi]

I would of thought that you shouldn't be able to put the floor in once inflated.
My ali floor is held in by the inflated tubes and will not come out once the boat is inflated. Air decks work in the same way so I wouldn't of thought a wood floor would be any different.

[m chappelow]

I agree, i dont know of any that you can put a wood/hard floor in without deflating the tubes .or certainly hafl full at least .

you say that its distorting the tubes in what way ,they are a close fit but as long as they are not too tight and stretching the seams .

[Swell]

Originally Posted by m chappelow

I agree, i dont know of any that you can put a wood/hard floor in without deflating the tubes .or certainly hafl full at least .

you say that its distorting the tubes in what way ,they are a close fit but as long as they are not too tight and stretching the seams .

I've drawn what I mean by the tubes distorting in the image below which shows the floor inflated without the floor board, the current positioning of the board before inflating and where the floor ends up when inflated. As you can see it's forcing the tube to take up a shape around the board which I think is not right. I'm thinking the board probably needs to sit tightly into the natural join between the inflated floor and the tube as in the first diagram, so it can be fitted when partially inflated. Does that make sense, or does it need to fit another way? (there's also a photo of the join between inflated floor and tube)

[m chappelow]

looking at the diagram /pics, i dont think that this model ever had a woodfloor ,all the ones that i have come across havent ,
though metzler do have a wood floor version i dont think its to be used with your type of inflatable floor.

i could be wrong , i dont think one could be bought as an upgrade or extra , you say its a home made one from the previous owner ,so it could be a bit unknown of what damage it could perhaps do .

[Swell]

I'm guessing that the boat didn't come with a floor originally, and I'm doing this because I feel it would be of benefit but I want to get it right. I suspect that a floor which sits tightly under the tubes but not right into the seams as the existing boards do will work well, provided it has stringers to make sure it matches the bottom contour. Does that sound like a good basis for the design?

[m chappelow]

As far as i know the metzler boats with wood floors are a different type and have just a single inflatable keel down the middle of the hull ,
because yours has the multi tube inflatable floor its as you say going to cause stress on the joint if you try fit a board in .
i suppose as you say you could cut the boards a bit smaller so that they rest on the bottom but not protrude into the tube/floor joint seam .though you will have to stop them from floating/moving about perhaps causing more wear/chaffing on the boat fabric.

[Swell]

Originally Posted by m chappelow

As far as i know the metzler boats with wood floors are a different type and have just a single inflatable keel down the middle of the hull ,
because yours has the multi tube inflatable floor its as you say going to cause stress on the joint if you try fit a board in .
i suppose as you say you could cut the boards a bit smaller so that they rest on the bottom but not protrude into the tube/floor joint seam .though you will have to stop them from floating/moving about perhaps causing more wear/chaffing on the boat fabric.

I'll go ahead on that basis. My only worry would be if the floor wasn't fitted securely enough and the boards dislodging while at sea, so I'll do some tests with varying widths of board and find the ideal width which doesn't chafe but is held securely in place. I'll probably fit some sort of edging to the boards where they come into contact the tubes e.g. tape or hose pipe.

Ta for the helpful comments - I'll post pics when finished!

[woodcheck]

I have had an inflatable floor for years and I cant figure out why you would put in a wood floor. Why not buy a boat that was designed and has a wood floor rather than distorting the boat that you have?

[Swell]

Originally Posted by woodcheck

I have had an inflatable floor for years and I cant figure out why you would put in a wood floor. Why not buy a boat that was designed and has a wood floor rather than distorting the boat that you have?

Money! I don't like the way the boat bends with every bit of chop. It's 13 foot so does bend a lot when fully loaded, so i'm just trying to give it more stiffness so it rides over the chop better. It did come with a home made floor which was designed completely wrongly and distorts the tubes,.....hence the post. I,m trying to redesign it so it does the job but without distorting the tubes..