Replacing Floor on Jon Boat

K

Ken

New member
The floor on my Alumnacraft jon boat has rotted out, and after two years of working around it, it's time to replace. I can't find marine plywood here, and was thinking of using exterior plywood and putting several thick coats of poly on both sides and edges, then follow it up with some Cabela's rubber stop slip paint "Tuff Coat non-skid coating"

1. Will that work?
2. Can you put the "Tuff Coat non-skid Coating" directly onto Polyurethane?



 
Ken, Northern Hardwood Products off Euclid has Marine Plywood, or will get it for you. I was in there on Wed to pick up some Mahogany.

Dave
 
Ken

I use marine ply when building boats but for a floor in a jon boat I'm not so sure you will get any real benefit that justifies the added expense of marine ply. A good exterior AC ply should do fine if you take care to prime, paint, and seal. Both marine and AC ply use the same waterproof glues but the inner plies of the AC are less numerous and of lesser quality. The label marine doesn't mean it's waterproof plywood as some people tend to think. A floorboard is somewhat disposable and not structural in a jon boat so you can get by with AC. Now when building a boat from plywood I want BS1088 marine, but for a floorboard a trip to the local lumberyard should suffice.

Eric
 
That's what I was thinking but I wanted to run it by folks with more knowledge/experience.
 
Do not use treated plywood! I made the mistake on my aluminum jon boat (before I got educated) and found oxidization and pitting at many spots where there was rubbing.
 
For making sure that floorboard will get sealed as much as possible. Let it sit in the sun and get as hot as possible baking for a few hours. Lay the epoxy on it as the temps start to drop or bring it out of the sun and put the epoxy on it while still hot. The cooling with cause the air in the panel to contract and draw it epoxy into the end grain. Sand and do it again and you will have a very well sealed piece of wood.
 
I pulled my wood floors and riveted in alum diamondplate. rot and slipping are never an issue now.
A bit more $ initially, but not in the long run and quite a bit lighter than wood.
 
Ken,
I have to agree with Eric,
I use AC fir and when it rots out I repalce it . Cheap enough to continue the program for the life of the jon. I drill holes in the plywood and cross braces and the use large aluminum rivets to attach the flooring,as when the floor rots out as it surely will quick, fast and in a hurry all I have to do is drill out the old rivets and remove the rotted wood. Next time I repalce the floor I plan to paint the ply on both sides with Lou's FME.

You know going in the exterior ply isn't going to last but it's pretty cheap and light compared to a good marine ply which will also rot over time. I've replaced too many floors and transoms on larger fiberglass boats to think that encapsulated marine ply lasts forever. Keep it as dry as you can and remove decoy bags etc. When you get home to let it dry.
JMO,
Harry
 
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