wooden floor a complete mare

White2505 · 31 August 2011, 16:57

picked up my first SIB yesterday.
it's a cheapie Oceanline 2.77m. I'm totally made up and I'm really looking forward to getting an outboard and finally getting out there.
It's got an inflatable keel and 6mm ply floor which comes in 4 panels. With plastic H shaped joiner pieces and two U shaped plastic edge pieces which covers three of the four panels.
I'm following the instructions for fitting but it is an absolute mare.
took me nearly 30 minutes to get it in and fitted today and nearly 45minutes yesterday. The really hard part is fitting the outer U shaped pieces as the floor doesn't want to sit flat. If I put weight on it to keep it flat I cant get the u shaped bits on the edge.
I'm not sure whether I'm sweating or swearing more!
Am I missing something or are these floors just a general pain?

prairie tuber · 31 August 2011, 17:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by White2505

Am I missing something or are these floors just a general pain?

If you are doing it right it should only take you about 2-3 minutes to put the floor boards in with the stringers locking them in place. Make sure you slide the oars lengthwise and parallel beneath the fabric floor of the boat and the ground before fitting in the stringers so that you have the edges off the ground. This will give you some finger space to slip the stringers over the sides of the floor boards.

There are lots of you tube videos showing how to assemble inflatable boats with floorboards. It is definitely worth looking at a few to get some good ideas from there. A good electric pump will save you alot of time as well.

Are those the original floorboards? 6mm (less than 1/4") sounds incredibly thin!

White2505 · 31 August 2011, 17:30

Thanks
yep, original floor boards.
likewise, seems a bit thin to me as well but it is a cheap boat built down to a price.
Depending on how it handles once on the water I may fit a two piece 9mm board with turn buckles in due course.
will scope out u tube.

prairie tuber · 31 August 2011, 17:55

The beauty of wood floarboards is that it is easy and relatively inexpensive to make new ones. The one large rectangular piece with turnbuckles spreading the bow board set up makes a lot of sense if the thrust board is starting to get loose and you will be trailering the boat. If you are assembling & disassembling with each use I doubt it would be more handy than the standard -multi-board system.

White2505 · 31 August 2011, 18:07

okay, I'd love to trailer but that isn't an option currently.
intention is to assemble at home then drive to launch site with it on the roof.
fortunately I've got several launch sites within about 20miles

LWman · 31 August 2011, 19:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by prairie tuber

If you are doing it right it should only take you about 2-3 minutes to put the floor boards in with the stringers locking them in place.

Whether this is just me being slow or not im not sure, but i honestly dont know how you can seriously say it would only take 2-3 minutes to put a solid floor into an inflatable. Is that one person or do you have help? When i put mine together, with the oars on the underside (this does make all the difference when putting up), it was still impossible with two people to put together in 2-3minutes. Rushing it was possible in about 15 minutes to make sure they are all lined up and stringers properley in place. I can imagine with practice it could come down to 10minutes. We did it lake side.

White2505 · 31 August 2011, 20:30

Will try the trick with the paddles.

the manual suggests assembly with the boat completely deflated but the videos all seem to show boats partially inflated.
What does everybody else do?

prairie tuber · 31 August 2011, 20:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by LWman

Whether this is just me being slow or not im not sure, but i honestly dont know how you can seriously say it would only take 2-3 minutes to put a solid floor into an inflatable. Is that one person or do you have help? When i put mine together, with the oars on the underside (this does make all the difference when putting up), it was still impossible with two people to put together in 2-3minutes. Rushing it was possible in about 15 minutes to make sure they are all lined up and stringers properley in place. I can imagine with practice it could come down to 10minutes. We did it lake side.

With 2 people, it should be about 1 minute from the time you grab the first board to the time that both stringers are engaged. I don't understand what all the ruckus is about installing the floorboards.

frankc · 31 August 2011, 22:42

Try putting an oar or board under the florboards when you put the stringer in place as someone said. We once had a Zed which was a bugger to assemble until we learned that if the floorboards were held on the level by an oar under the boat, it was easy to align the boards when installing the stringers.

You will pick up how to do it quickly.

Hightower · 01 September 2011, 00:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by prairie tuber

With 2 people, it should be about 1 minute from the time you grab the first board to the time that both stringers are engaged. I don't understand what all the ruckus is about installing the floorboards.

I'm yet to try it, but assembly on board a 6.2m RIB might present a few problems. I'll let you know how it goes when I've tried

prairie tuber · 01 September 2011, 01:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hightower

I'm yet to try it, but assembly on board a 6.2m RIB might present a few problems. I'll let you know how it goes when I've tried

That will definitely be more tricky!

frankc · 01 September 2011, 03:10

Is it not unusual for a 6.2 meter RIB to have floor boards similar to a SIB?

prairie tuber · 01 September 2011, 07:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by frankc

Is it not unusual for a 6.2 meter RIB to have floor boards similar to a SIB?

I believe Hightower is referring to assembling a SIB while aboard a 6.2m RIB while asea. Definitely worth making a video of the process.

Hightower · 01 September 2011, 11:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by prairie tuber

I believe Hightower is referring to assembling a SIB while aboard a 6.2m RIB while asea. Definitely worth making a video of the process.

A Video, now that would be interesting! plenty of bleeps I'm sure.

White2505 · 01 September 2011, 14:41

thanks for the tips people, partially inflating the tubes and using the paddles under the boat for the side stringers is definitely the way forward.
There's no way it's a two minute job though.
I reckon it took about ten minutes to get the boards in, lined up and the stringers on.
That I can cope with.