Wood Floor + Keel for Avon Rover?

[tmiron]

Hello, I have a 1976 hypalon Avon Rover. They bag says R2.80, but there is no metal plate on the transom like most other Avons I have seen. It's 9 feet and has a wooden transom. My questions are:

1. I have two wood slates for the floor with two aluminum channel pieces for the sides. Am I supposed to have a third triangular piece for the front? The aft most floor board keeps pushing forward and sliding out of where it sits under the lip for the transom and I think having a a bow floorboard would solve this.

2. am I supposed to have an inflatable keel? It didn't come with one, but a few people said it should have. I got one from an inflatable that was getting thrown away, but when I put it in it cracked my floorboards after a month of use.

Thanks!
One Long Trip

[Locozodiac]

Welcome to Ribnet,

If you have an empty deck space at front, you need a extra floorboard. If that Avon has a lower flat deck fabric which doesn't form a tent shape when pushed downward without wooden floorboards on, that model doesn't use/need a inflatable keel.

Happy Boating

[raymillard]

The 280 and S60 series didn't have an inflatable keel. They just had a flat floor and they skidded along reasonably but wetly.
I mess about with inflatables, and I've had a Redcrest on the plane on 3.5 hp, just by putting an oar lengthways under the wood floor and sitting well forward!

My old 78 Rover 280 has a wooden floor, and, like yours, is missing the front bit. For some reason though it stays in place at the stern.

Last Summer I decided that there was plenty of slack in the floor fabric so I trimmed one of those swim sausages to fit between it and the floorboards. It gave a nice vee to the bow and although I didn't get it on the plane it sat and handled much nicer and was drier in the waves. I've now got hold of an inflatable keel from a 310 which I'll have to shorten and then I'll fit it (loose) and see how far I can inflate it. The Sausage thing didn't overstress the floor or push the tubes out of shape so if I don't go too mad it should be ok. I think that 35 year old tubes have done all their stretching by now! Time will tell.