What should I use to build floor for aluminum boat

[FZ]

What type of material (plywood) could I use to build a floor on a 14’ aluminum boat? Where can I get it? Also, where can I buy marine carpet?

[Cliff Wagenbach]

FZ,

You should use 3/4" marine grade plywood for the floor decking. Use 2" cedar for cross ribbing if you are not replacing old decking and your boat does not already have alum. mountings for the decking.

Cabela's has many types of marine carpeting.

Cliff

[CC Hurl]

I am doing mine now. I used standard plywood and painted it with exterior paint. You can buy the wood and carpet at Menards. They have three or four colors to choose from, just looked at it last night. I am also putting side compartments in mine.

[FZ]

Thanks.

[Dragonsm]

I believe when I did my floor in my boat, I used 1/2" green treated plywood (a little bit cheaper than the marine grade) and I picked my carpet up at fleet farm. They had some outdoor carpets in the 4 or 6 foot wide (can't remember) that were a lot nicer than the "fake turf" plastic type carpet. (Many different colors also)

[New Yankee]

I'd use either 1/2" or 5/8" regular plywood and paint with fiberglass resin. Marine grade is great, but pricey and heavy, perhaps a bit of overkill IMO. Don't use green treated - the chemicals will eat alumimum.

[Pat K]

Only micronized copper treated lumber can be used with aluminum. Never use ACQ treated lumber with aluminum, it corodes it extremely fast. The micronized copper rolled out in January. Even lumber yards that carry the new product still have ACQ treated on hand. Menards still carries only ACQ treated lumber. Look for MICRO or MICRONIZED on the UPC tag before using it near aluminum!

[ishgood]

Thickness depends on the span you need cover. The lighter you can go the better.

I used 1/2" ACX from Menards and worked fine to cover a span the was about 2' X 4' over the built in tank in my boat. No knot holes or gaps, exterior glue, no chemicals. Then seal it with fiberglass resin (walmart) or West System epoxy. The West system stuff costs more but it has less fumes. Use it in your garage with no worries.

About 40 bucks for a 4x8 sheet of the plywood. Cheap fiberglass resin, 40 bucks? for a gallon, West system about 100bucks for a gallon.

Then carpet as desired.

[iffy]

Regular AC plywood works fine. I have rebuilt quite a few boats and replaced several floors. I like to use 3/4" for the floors. The reason AC plywood works as good as marine plywood is that it is bonded with exterior glue. Plywood manufacturers do not use anything but exterior glue in AC plywood. Menards does sell marine plywood though, for twice the price as AC. As far as carpet goes, you will get a much better quality by going to a boat manufacturer and buying it. Check out Lund at New York Mills or Crestliner in Little Falls, or Alumacraft in St Peter. Any would be happy to sell you some. Its a little bit more money, but it lasts longer and looks much nicer. Use stainless steel fasteners only for fastening the wood down. Good luck.

[sparcebag]

ACX the x stands for exterior grade glue,the A for A grade ply no knots C for C or low grade knotty.

[hovermn]

Quote:

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I'd use either 1/2" or 5/8" regular plywood and paint with fiberglass resin. Marine grade is great, but pricey and heavy, perhaps a bit of overkill IMO. Don't use green treated - the chemicals will eat alumimum.

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Let me just clarify this. The resin that comes in those little fiberglass repair kits, and what people generally refer to as fiberglass resin is Polyester. Polyester doesn't make a very good bond with wood and would make a bad seal coat. Epoxy should be used for this purpose. If all you're using it for is a seal coat, don't bother spending all of your money on West Systems epoxy. While they're among the best resins you can buy, there are other options out there that are VERY good at nearly 1/3 the cost.

Do some research and you'll come up with a few. You'll want a resin that states good wet out abilities as it'll soak into the wood, where as a thicker resin will just coat the surface, possibily chipping off later.