Floor matting ideas to protect air floor.

[Fenlander]

My last Zodiac had floor matting that rolled out to fit the whole shape of the floor. It was about 6mm thick, quite heavy, rubbery and blue. It was a ribbed mesh design so water would drain through it.

The guy I bought the boat from said casually it was caravan awning flooring.

So today went to a large camping supplies place to get some for the new Zodiac Fastroller only to find what they were selling as awning flooring was a far lighter material. Looked like it would soon be scuffed up by peoples feet.

Has anyone any ideas for a type of waterproof rubbery flooring that might do the job?

[kerny]

Originally Posted by Fenlander

My last Zodiac had floor matting that rolled out to fit the whole shape of the floor. It was about 6mm thick, quite heavy, rubbery and blue. It was a ribbed mesh design so water would drain through it.

The guy I bought the boat from said casually it was caravan awning flooring.

So today went to a large camping supplies place to get some for the new Zodiac Fastroller only to find what they were selling as awning flooring was a far lighter material. Looked like it would soon be scuffed up by peoples feet.

Has anyone any ideas for a type of waterproof rubbery flooring that might do the job?

Hi Fenlander, martini rigged his floor up with this stuff on the pic .I will try and find the link he put on where he got it from.
http://www.rib.net/forum/attachment....1&d=1304761482

[theboysmiffy]

Hi.

I am going to used closed cell foam and make a mattress like the RNLI do. You can buy it in various thicknesses and have it cut to size. If you do a search for closed cell foam on ebay there are a couple of sellers who stock it. We are going to use it in 100mm thickness to sit on and give a drier, more comfy ride. might not be what your looking for though.

Good luck with the new setup, it looks cracking! I hope the new owner of the mk1 takes good care of it. I was tempted for a bid but it went above my budget and I think I have enough collections without adding boats to them.

Adam

[martini]

Originally Posted by kerny

Hi Fenlander, martini rigged his floor up with this stuff on the pic .I will try and find the link he put on where he got it from.
http://www.rib.net/forum/attachment....1&d=1304761482

Rubber Mat with Small Holes

[kerny]

Originally Posted by martini

Rubber Mat with Small Holes

Ah!! right on cue martini

[Max...]

David -the stuff you had was indeed awning matting (I had a huge roll but sold it some years back) - but like anything now there is good and bad, thick and thin - have a check at various caravan/camping dealers for better quality as it is out there.

[kerny]

I think what martini has put down in his sib will last for many more years compared to the caravan awning groundsheet that's been recommended. Also it won't ride up on deck.

[Fenlander]

Thanks for ideas.

Martini's matting is the business for a hard floored, trailed SIB but it would cost over £200 and add another 55% to the Zodiac's weight so not ideal for me!

Thanks for the comments Adam, sadly I'm not sure the Mk.1's new owner is going to carry on keeping it tidy and original as I did and the owner before me had. I'd looked at some closed cell foam today as well at the caravan place... it was in 60cm interlocking tiles and about 12mm thick. My worry with that was that it looked to want to keep flat and even a "flat" air floor isn't completely flat.

I just want to take out the immediate wear of sand embedded feet and minimise other direct hazards to the air floor itself.