Pontoon Flooring

[Russell48]

I going to be putting a new flooring down on my 27ft pontoon an just wondering if I could just go to Lowes an get 4X8 sheets of 3/4 pressure treated plywood an seal the top an all edges good with a sealer,, An use all stainless screws an bolts & nuts,, This should give me a good flooring shouldn't it ?? I keep my toon cover up good thru winter an rainning days,, Just wondering if it would hurt or be ok,, Thanks,,

 

[5150abf]

Re: Pontoon Flooring

You will need to get something between the aluminum and the wood, they don't get along very well btu as lomng as you get something down to keep them apart you will be alright.

We use a thin foam tape at work.

 

[Russell48]

Re: Pontoon Flooring

Oh ok,, Well what if I use that bed liner stuff an put it where ever the Alum will be touching the wood??I was wondering how the bed liner stuff would do on the top of the floor then put carpet over it, It's a 1970 Rivera Cruiser 27ft an the toons an all alum is in in great shape,, But the top layer of the floor is rough but is solid so just thought I would replace it,, But was thinking about trying the bed liner stuff over top of it an smooth it back out then put carpet over it,, But really don't know how the bed liner stuff will hold up to the wood,,, An thanks for the info,,

 

[EGlideRider]

Re: Pontoon Flooring

I'm no expert on decking by any means, but if the wood is solid, I think I would consider fiberglassing the deck. That would be much less work and money. I think carpet glue would adhere to the fiberglass quite well, especially if you roughed up the fiberglass.

But don't take my word on this. Other more qualified posters will comment soon.

 

[Russell48]

Re: Pontoon Flooring

Sounds like a good idea tho,, But I don't know a lot about fiberglass work,, I have seen some done but not seen anything like doing a hole floor on toon,,

 

[VaGent]

Re: Pontoon Flooring

Read the information at this link & see if you can find this anywhere close to you. I as well as many others have bought this plywood & are very pleased with it. It costs much LESS then what Lowe's or Home Depot sell is is much better quality too. Inland games & Fisheries are using it everywhere to build docks & landings. http://www.amelialumber.com/index.html

If you can't find it anywhere close to you then get the self sticking rubber tape & self drilling deck screws from pontoonstuff.com. I used both of these together along with the BORATE treated plywood & it worked great for me & the deck turned out fine. Hope this helps. DO NOT lay the treated plywood directly on the cross members as a galvanic reaction WILL take place a lot sooner then you could expect.

 

[EGlideRider]

Re: Pontoon Flooring

Sounds like a good idea tho,, But I don't know a lot about fiberglass work,, I have seen some done but not seen anything like doing a hole floor on toon,,

I fiberglassed the top wooden deck of Party Hut once. It was a piece of cake with no problems. I glued a rubber roof on and it still looked good when I sold it 5 years later. And I saw the boat about 8 years ago and the top still looked good, but unfortunately the new owner did not maintain the love and care of 'Island Escape' as I had. The rest of the boat brought tears to my eyes.

 

[Russell48]

Re: Pontoon Flooring

Ok thanks VaGent for the imfo an I sent a email to them cause I can't hear on phone to call them An thanks EG I will look into the fiberglass an see about it,,

 

[a1nowell]

Re: Pontoon Flooring

Russel48,
I rebuilt a 24" JC Tritoon in 2008. I did a lot of reading about marine plywood ($$$$$) and came to the following conclusion:

If you trailer your toon and DO NOT STORE IT IN THE WATER, I think any treated exterior plywood would do. I used a 3/4" BCX grade of plywood and coated it with Water Guard from Olympic paint company. I used the BCX because it gave me a smooth sanded side to lay my carpet on. My boat is trailered after use and kept in dry storage.

 

[bigdee]

Re: Pontoon Flooring

The treated plywood from lowes is some crappy stuff. It is rough,warped and full of voids. I have built trailers and used that stuff for the decking and have also used untreated B,C,exterior which looks better and has held up fine. I re-carpeted my toon last year and was going to use the treated stuff from Lowes but after considering how poor the quality was I just sanded and re-sealed my 20 year old deck. IMO if the deck is solid and you can estimate 5 more years of use I would just install new carpet and replace the decking at the next carpet change.

 

[BillP]

Re: Pontoon Flooring

I'll chime in on the 20' pontoon boat I had for 14 yrs. The deck was 3/4" pt cca cdx. The top had carpet glued down and the underside was as it came from the lumber yard. As you know, the underside of a toon deck is constantly spashed and stays wet. They used some type of rubber (looked like strips of tire tube) over the alum to isolate the pt. I bought the boat new in 1996 and sold it less than a yr ago. It stayed in a boat lift over the water most of it's life. No problems, no delamination, no structural issues, no electrolysis. Any and all plys warp if left to their own demise. When supported and secured to structure, warping is a non issue.

bp

 

[Russell48]

Re: Pontoon Flooring

Wow, I sure thanks you guys for the imfo for my floor,, I do keep my toon on the trailer unless heading to the lake,, An yes the floor is pretty solid an feels like it will still hold up for another few years,, But just some parts of the wood an the 1st or 2nd layer of the plywood is whats mess up on it,, Just wondering if I tore off the loose parts an try to fill it in with something then put the carpet down,, But seems like doing all the work just doing that then mite be better off just putting new plywood down,, I do feel that I will be keeping my toon for a long time, An was really thinking about putting a 470 i/o in it,, But may just put the 1984 75hp Mercury on it an let it be done,

 

[bigdee]

Re: Pontoon Flooring

Wow, I sure thanks you guys for the imfo for my floor,, I do keep my toon on the trailer unless heading to the lake,, An yes the floor is pretty solid an feels like it will still hold up for another few years,, But just some parts of the wood an the 1st or 2nd layer of the plywood is whats mess up on it,, Just wondering if I tore off the loose parts an try to fill it in with something then put the carpet down,, But seems like doing all the work just doing that then mite be better off just putting new plywood down,, I do feel that I will be keeping my toon for a long time, An was really thinking about putting a 470 i/o in it,, But may just put the 1984 75hp Mercury on it an let it be done,

Yeah, I had one sheet (on the bow) that had de-laminated so I just replaced a 3x4 foot section. The rest of the deck looked good and the underside looked like new which is surprising since it is 20 years old and decked with untreated plywood. It also stays in the water all season. I have to replace carpet about every 4 or 5 years so if I estimate that much life left in the deck I leave well enough alone.

 

[Russell48]

Re: Pontoon Flooring

Lol,, I hear that,, An I was thinking about putting a 3rd toon under my pontoon an just going from the front of the toon going back to the front of the base for the transom, But not sure how it would work out, I was just thinking about doing it to hold more weight an for the pontoon to stay more up out the water,,

 

[vergil]

Re: Pontoon Flooring

Russell 48,
hi I am from the hart and green co area, of ky, and i myself is redecking an older 24 foot riviera cruiser, (a 1965 model) and this is the best i could come up with in my area, the treated plywood will rot out the alum. pretty quick. (its the copper treatment in the wood) i also thought about trying to somehow protect the alum. so you could do that, but the quality of the treated plywood at lowes is really poor, like someone mentioned, plus if you bought it now you need to let it sit for 6 months so it can finish drying, or it will warp like something awful(that info came straight from the horses mouth) I told the lumber guy at lowes what i was doing with it, he strongly recommended advantech. I called advantech to see if what the guy from lowes said was correct as( i didnt want to redeck this boat every 2 years,) it is by all means not marine plywood, but it is not near the price, ($25.00 a sheet) it is put together with the same glue used in marine plywood it comes in a/b but the 5 sheets i picked out as i went throught the whole stack its hard to tell the a from the b side,
now to the truck bed liner stuff, i am going to go with the hurculiner,(no carpet, and finish it smooth) as it will adhere to plywood,
I am going to treat both sides of my advantech. also advantech is considered a usb board, that saying you should check it out for yourself, as it aint the same ol crappy usb board from the yesteryears, this stuff is pretty tough (comes with 50 year warrenty) and i think the trick to anything you lay down as the floor (including marine plywod)is how well you can seal it.
There are a lot of other people that have used adventech as well, to redeck a pontoon and they said it will last between 5 and 7 years.
The plywood on my pontoon was not even treated, or sealed with anything and it is 15 year old, but it is rotted out. i am sorry for the long post, and hope that i have helped someway, as i cant get marine plywood where i am at, unless i spend more then what i did on the whole boat and just cant justify spending that much on an old boat, as i got to get a new top and seats and console

 

[vergil]

Re: Pontoon Flooring

and what is the quality on the hardware holdin the floor down, if i was gonna take it all apart, i would go ahead and spend the money and just do the whole thing, esp, if it was delaminating.
not tryin to high jack your thread but are the rails (playpen) welded to the sides, or do they bolt to the floor like the more modern toons? and i assume you boat on the mighty cumberland? yall ever go to green river lake?

 

[Russell48]

Re: Pontoon Flooring

Hey, Thanks vergil,, I built my home with the flooring you are talking about,, Man it is great an a hole lot more solid then any plywood out there, I let the floor of my home set in weather for about a year an a 1/2, It did not hurt it at all, I was thinking about useing it for my toon, But was worry about it being way to heavey for it,,I have a 1970 Riveria an the rails bolts at each post of the railing, An the bolt gose thru the bottom of the floor up an screws into the bottom of the post, An I don't know where the lake is that you talking about but let me know where it is an I sure me an my wife can be on it, An I do know for sure that if I use the Advantech OSB then my toon will be solid an not flimsey,, Just worry about the weaight of it,, I still thinking about maken my toon a i/o but I also have a 1984 75hp with t/t, Thanks for imfo an keep in touch

 

[vergil]

Re: Pontoon Flooring

yea , that advantech is some pretty nice stuff,(did you notice any swelling when you left it out in the weather?) as far as weight i dont think it would be that much more then other plywoods, i am gonna cover mine with the bedliner stuff instead of any carpet, it seems that wet carpet has to be heavier then anything as far as flooring goes, ill keep in touch and let you know how that turns out, as far as green river lake it is west of casey co. in cambellsville, and it would be due north of the mighty cumberland,
as far as my railing they are welded to the base (or the sides of the toon)
good luck with your flooring, as i am having to drill out and replace every bolt that holds the flooring down or the side plates on etc..

 

[Russell48]

Re: Pontoon Flooring

Oh ok,, An yea I was thinking the same thing about useing the bed liner stuff but will put indoor/outdoor carpet back on my floor,, An NO my floor did not swell up at all,, An I have a 4X8 sheet for my front pourch which was just temperary while builden my home an it is still out there with no roof over it at all,, An it is still just as stong as the day I put it out there an never been stealed or nothing,lol, So it's been there for at lease 3 years an any other wood would have warped an weaking up by now an the floor joints are 3ft apart almost,, I was even wondering if they made a thiner sheet like that cause it would be strong also,,

 

[vergil]

Re: Pontoon Flooring

wow, your gonna put both the bedliner and carpet, that will be one nice floor,
have you checked to see if the adhesive for the carpet will adhere to the bedliner? i would hate to see someone spend the extra money and it not work really well,(but i am almost sure it will) i also wonder if the bed liner will keep the plywood delaminating (coming apart in layers) when you replace the carpet, just to give us an idea in weight, i am gonna check out the lowes sight and compare 3/4" advantech to 3/4" treated, and non treated plywood.
Have you priced the bedliner stuff yet? i have tried to find a source for it here and it looks like napa and sherwin williams paint are the only 2 places that have it in colors.