aluminum tie strips under the floor

[bob johnson]

I didn't take my boat apart, but I did get MOST of the parts. Plus I have taken my islander apart and StarCraft used thin aluminum strips about 2" wide to tie the tops of the stringers to each other.. I am installing 3/4 flooring and am wondering how much affect those strips of aluminum are really going to be doing for me. Most of mine are bent up, and full of holes. my boat has four stringers... I guess I could buy a sheet of 1/16th" thick aluminum and cut it into 2" strips. do you guys think its needed with such a thick floor?

thanks

BOB

 

[dozerII]

I personally don't like the aluminum strip your referring to. Instead I put a ply doubler on the underside of the deck that protrudes out 6 or so inches for the next sheet to sit on and be screwed to. If you place these in the right spots they also stiffen the deck greatly for your seat pedistals

 

[jbcurt00]

I think most of us generally accept that the strips were to tie 1 sheet of decking to the next. Sort of like the tongue and groove floor plywood used in house construction. When you step right next to a seam, 1 sheet could deflect if none of your weight is on the adjacent sheet. T and G plywood, the aluminum strios or Dozers ply doublers all distribute some of your weight to the adjacent sheet.

Not sure when SC installed them, but they could certainly also be attached to the stringers before the decking goes down to tie them together and keep them aligned so its easier to rivet/screw the deck to the stringers.

Strips/ply doublers are important. If you plan to use pedestals, the ply doubler would be a great choice, if they fall near where you plan to mount the pedestals

 

[GA_Boater]

The strips don't tie the stringers together. They connect the edges of the floor plywood so the floor stays even and the joint is smooth. You could do what a few of us have done and make some joiners out of plywood. The ply backing works better because it's a stiffer arrangement than the AL strips. I made strips about 6" wide out of leftovers from trimming the floor because I only had one AL strip. And where the AL strip was used, the floor joint is uneven - Not so with the ply backed joints

 

[bob johnson]

I have seen several photos of projects and after the floor is up you can see these strips going SIDE TO SIDE and are screwed down to the STRINGERS.. they are so flimsy as to make it hard to believe they are any kind of support for the floor. I was thinking they keep the stringers from swaying...but I was also thinking a ling of rivets down the length of the stringer in the wood , would also do that. for those that added a brace under neath at the end of one piece of plywood and the beginning of the other....were those "braces going OVER the stringer....or just stayed BETWEEN the stringers and attached to the underside of the plywoodonly??

bob

 

[GA_Boater]

The strips are riveted to the stringers only to hold in them in place before the floor was riveted to it. The doublers fits between the stringers.

 

[Watermann]

The "stringers" won't sway once you pop in new blinds.

 

[djpeters]

I personally don't like the aluminum strip your referring to. Instead I put a ply doubler on the underside of the deck that protrudes out 6 or so inches for the next sheet to sit on and be screwed to. If you place these in the right spots they also stiffen the deck greatly for your seat pedistals

I did it like this also... ^^^

 

[bob johnson]

how about ( because I have plenty of stock) a 4 " wide strip of 1/8th aluminum under each joint where the sheets of plywood meet?? or should I only install it on the underside of the plywood BETWEEN the stringers? thus not causeing an un even contact of the whole sheet of plywood to the stringers??? I could do the plywood lip, as I have plenty of that left over as well.

bob

 

[GA_Boater]

how about ( because I have plenty of stock) a 4 " wide strip of 1/8th aluminum under each joint where the sheets of plywood meet?? or should I only install it on the underside of the plywood BETWEEN the stringers? thus not causeing an un even contact of the whole sheet of plywood to the stringers??? I could do the plywood lip, as I have plenty of that left over as well.

bob

Yeah, that will work.