Fish house floor construction?

[mnhunter2]

Can you just glue 1 1/2 of pink stryfoam between two sheets of treated plywood for the floor or should I strip it every 16 " for strenght.

[hanson]

Good Question. I would recommend some sort of cross pieces for extra strength.

Here's a photo of the floor of the 7'x12' I built last summer. 1/2" plywood each side with 1-1/2" pink rigid sandwiched in between. I layed 2x4s on their sides for cross bracing every 24". Remember to space these cross pieces to work with your hole layout. The floor is rock solid in the house. It 'gives' a little bit when you are near the holes. Other than that, I am pretty happy. Even with the insulation though, the floor stays pretty cold. I'm planning on installing some electric fans this fall to help keep the warmer air near the floor. It should help.

Obviously, my house is a skid house. I would think you could attach this floor assembly to the frame of a drop wheel house also.

[Animal]

If you don't place some form of cross bracing your floor will eventually warp and/or seperate. Unless you have the proper clamping system it would be difficult to get enough pressure on the adhesive to form a uniform bond. Hanson has a good design. If you could fabricate an outer steel frame all the better.

[mnhunter2]

More info, The frame is 2x4 steel tubing with a cross member every 24" with 1/8" deck plating welded to it so there is no flex between the frame cross members and I planned on putting 1 1/2 of insulation on top of the deck plate and then 1/2 of treated plywood cover everything with pl-500 and screw it together, will the pink foam compress over time? If it will I should run a 2x2 over the cross member for support for the plywood.

[riverrat56]

Hanson how did you cut your holes after the floor was assembled?

Reason I ask is last year we did not insulate our floor, decided to sandwitch some foam between plywood with 2 by 2 joists, we would re plan the floor then. Are your holes circular or square?

Thanks for the help, just a few kids in shop class trying to pass time and we ended up with a fish house, with a few minors problems.

[hanson]

Sawzall

I outlined the holes on the floor with a sharpie, then used a 1" or so wood bit in the drill and put about 8 holes around the perimeter of the circle. I then used the sawzall to "connect the dots". I wasn't too worried about how clean the cut was because I put Catch Covers in the holes. The trim rings for the Catch Covers clean it up nicely.