I just got my hands on a cute little Avon Rover R2-80 and I'm struggling to get the 3 floorboards in. Any tricks? I figure I should partially inflate the tubes first, then place the boards, but they don't go in easily and it's a heck of battle to squeeze them into place. Any help is much appreciated!
Depending what type,
If it has side stringers / channel pieces to lock the boards in place its sometimes easier to roll them into place when you have the boards installed ,, sprinkle of Talc or french chalk helps too .
Ahh OK... I have the 3.1m version in lovely condition.
The original manual says...
Partially inflate boat... in my experience that means only very slightly so it's still very crumpled... perhaps about 30% filled.
If required use chalk dust at the point the floor edge sits round the boat... I don't as it isn't needed and makes a mess.
Drop the bow board into position and push right forward.
Fit the rearmost 2 floor sections together, drop in and push right to the transom under the battern... If you are butting up to this battern not getting under it then it will be too tight.
Then lift up the front of the middle board and the rear of the front board high enough for the channel to start to engage and push down hard when it will flatten, slot in and tighten the boat.
Take care not to trap or pinch the tube material at any point.
With such a small boat and no side stringers this should be really easy... unless you have the wrong floor or someone has remade one (or more) section a bit oversize.
Hard to find manuals, mine is tatty but all pages readable. There are 21 pages in all. If you wanted and PM'd me an email address I could take a photo of each page and send it to you as jpegs??
Oh and by the way this question is in the RIB section and next time you need to head over to the Inflatables forum to get the most viewings for an inflatable issue.
Not much help but I struggled for 18 months getting the floor boards into my first rib until I had to scrap it as the tubes had split from the transom(but it was an old and first purchase)
Turned out I was putting the boards in upside down, doh
Oh and by the way this question is in the RIB section and next time you need to head over to the Inflatables forum to get the most viewings for an inflatable issue.
A trick worth considering is fully inflating the Sib minus the floor.
Leave it sitting in the midday sun for a few hours thus letting the tubes expand.
Let 70% of the air out and fit the floor.
Sib floors are a pig to get in if the fabric is cold.
Much easier on a warm day using this method in my experience.
