BYYB Forums

I'm looking for ideas and photos of what others have done for the cockpit floor. My Vacationer has that 1x4 panel joiner going across it from side-to-side, so it's a little bit of an obstruction.

It was dirty and needing some work in this photo, I'm posting it to show the 1x4.



Suggestions welcome.

Hello, Konrad

I never enclosed the bench seats on the bottom, I wanted more room for my feet.

I did have a problem with that section of ply delaminating, and cut it out and sandwiched another section of ply in. I have always worried about these joints, but I haven't had any problem with them so far. As a precaution, I did lay another layer of Marine ply long ways on either side of the keel. Stiffened up the bottom. Adding minimal weight.

Mike

I am building a smaller boat then yours, the Triad, but it has a larger cockpit area. I intend to paint it then go around the cockpit floor area forming a border and make a cross pattern using 1 1/2" tape. I will then paint the 4 panels, the tape off makes, with a grey non-skid paint. I also intend to have a small wooden seat that will ride in the back of the cockpit area so I can sit on it and not in the puddle that will most likely find its way there. You don't have that problem as yo have seats.

My plans also called for the 1x4 panel joiner but I opted for an invisible butt joint. Thats the one where you use 2 layers of fiberglass with resin on each side of a butt joint. I removed enough wood for both sides and pieces of ply that I didn't have much of a bump to fair after joining. Everthing I read said the joint is strong enough to withstand the rigors it will endure. I certainly hope so.

Another idea might be a 1" thick mahogany or teak grate that rests in the bottom of the cockpit. I think someone on this forum did something like that if I remember correctly. You could make matching grates as covers for the holes in your seat fronts. I intend to make some mahogany grate covers for the holes in my for and aft bulkheads. They let the areas breath and will visually hide the "things" I will messily store. Nothing to fancy. I will thought I would use valcro to hold them in place.

I had thought of using a piece of carpet in the bottom or a rubber pickup bedliner, cut to fit, but changed my mind after imagining that either would trap water against the wood. Just some ideas.

I'm just finishing up a 17'er for a fellow a few hours south of here. Instead of painting the air chambers, lockers and underside of the decks as most do, I'm using pigmented epoxy.

The pigment is added to the epoxy after mixing and it does nothing to the epoxy other then color it. I roll and brush it inside the enclosed spaces. I'm doing this because it will be very difficult to repaint these areas once the hull is sealed up. The air chambers only have a 6.5" hole to access these spaces. The fore peak is only accessible through a 15" deck hatch. I can just see someone with a paint brush, hanging upside down through the hatch, trying to get all the nooks and crannies of the fore peak.

The colored epoxy will act just like epoxy and protect the surface from moisture, plus it'll always be there. It can't peel like old paint and doesn't need to be sanded down and redone every so often. You can fair right over it or bond directly to it.

I'd can also imagine that many years in the future after a couple of owners have had fun with the boat, someone will think to change the colors of the lockers (currently they're white). Or maybe they'll have to repair some damage affecting one of these colored epoxy areas. Thinking it's paint they'll start sanding, then they'll start cussing and wondering about the truly tough "paint" used in these areas.

So if you have areas that will be difficult to repaint, then consider pigmenting your epoxy instead.

I made a grate. It is removable so I can soak up any water. It was a little tricky to get it to curve along the bottom of the boat so that it didn't rock. You could make it fit around the pannel joiner. My main objective was a salty look, but it is also quite practical. I built it with a simple jig and and dadoed it with a router.

And she is still beautiful, Phil 8)