Advice needed for yacht sole.

[coopec]

I have 6 pieces of 8 mm ply for the floor of the yacht I am building (all removable)
QUESTION ONE I need to secure them in the event of a knockdown. There are screw type devices that can be undone with a coin which have been designed for purpose but the price of each is hideous. Maybe finger latches would be OK since there would be enormous amount of weight?
QUESTION TWO How do I stop small items (eg a wedding ring) falling down between the slight gap between the ply floor panels. Maybe a rubber strip along the gap overlapping on one of the panels. Of course, in the event of an emergency the rubber strip would "give"as I removed the ply panel. (I really don't want to be removing water tanks to retrieve something valuable from on the ballast).

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

I have 6 pieces of 8 mm ply for the floor of the yacht I am building (all removable)
QUESTION ONE I need to secure them in the event of a knockdown. There are screw type devices that can be undone with a coin which have been designed for purpose but the price of each is hideous. Maybe finger latches would be OK since there would be enormous amount of weight?
QUESTION TWO How do I stop small items (eg a wedding ring) falling down between the slight gap between the ply floor panels. Maybe a rubber strip along the gap overlapping on one of the panels. Of course, in the event of an emergency the rubber strip would "give"as I removed the ply panel. (I really don't want to be removing water tanks to retrieve something valuable from on the ballast).

The gaps ideally need to be small enough that a wedding ring can't fit down... maybe 1mm is a good tolerance.
On the former point, if you are planning on using the bilges for storage, then bear in mind that weight also needs retaining. I have pondered the same question, and still haven't decided what to use yet, but have found that extensive googling can find the various catches etc at much lower prices than the normal 'marine' outlets.

 

[vyv_cox]

Dzus fasteners don't seem to be excessively expensive. http://www.idealprice.co.uk/compare...cpc&utm_campaign=D_9&utm_term=+Dzus +Fastener

 

[Kelpie]

On my previous boat, I had one sole board that was 'harmless' (small enough that it wouldn't matter if it flew around in a knockdown) and with nothing loose able to escape from under it. By removing this, you could reach in and undo the catch for the neighbouring, much larger, board. Having the catch located underneath the board meant it could be a big, chunky, crude thing.

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

On my previous boat, I had one sole board that was 'harmless' (small enough that it wouldn't matter if it flew around in a knockdown) and with nothing loose able to escape from under it. By removing this, you could reach in and undo the catch for the neighbouring, much larger, board. Having the catch located underneath the board meant it could be a big, chunky, crude thing.

I've considered that approach too.... certainly saves money, and allows, as you say, for really secure fittings. My concerns were/are speed of access, but I guess that's just me being overly cautious.... I do have the added challenge with mine, that the sole boards are 2" thick, so something like a Dzus fastener doesn't really work.

Good question OP.... is creating some useful and interesting discussion thus far!

 

[prv]

Ariam's boards are screwed down, with a small access trap into each division. Maybe more appropriate to a flat-bottomed AWB than a full-bodied steel yacht, though.

8mm seems a bit light for sole boards to me? I'd have expected 12, maybe 18 depending on the gaps it's being asked to span.

Pete

 

[CFarr]

8mm seems a bit light for sole boards to me? I'd have expected 12, maybe 18 depending on the gaps it's being asked to span.

Pete

Must admit that was my first thought too.

 

[coopec]

prv "8mm seems a bit light for sole boards to me? I'd have expected 12, maybe 18 depending on the gaps it's being asked to span"

I have a rib every 17 inches so it is fine.

Phoenix I'll see if I can narrow the gaps. I have marine carpet so maybe I can crib a bit with that too? I won't be using the bilge for storage other than 7 water tanks and I'd like to put the 60 lb plough anchor down in the bilge when cruising. I could use a "D" shackle to keep that in place.

"extensive googling can find the various catches etc at much lower prices than the normal 'marine' outlets"

I buy all my S/S fasteners, latches, clips etc online. I have lots of miscellaneous nuts/bolts/washers now so I ordered 3X plastic compartmentalized boxes (they arrived today- cheap!)

Vyv I've heard about dzus fasteners so I'll revisit those.

Kelpie "On my previous boat, I had one sole board that was 'harmless' (small enough that it wouldn't matter if it flew around in a knockdown)"

That's ingenious!! Will certainly consider that.



Where would I be without you guys!!

[

 

[Kelpie]

It's a tricky one to get right, for sure. You don't want to end up tripping over something that isn't flush, day in, day out.
My old boat had a grp sole with hatches cut into it. The new one is a fully boarded ply sole where most of the boards lift. So my previous solution may not work, unless I'm willing to accept that you'd have to open up the boards in sequence, starting with the non-locked one.

 

[Norman_E]

Ariam's boards are screwed down, with a small access trap into each division. Maybe more appropriate to a flat-bottomed AWB than a full-bodied steel yacht, though.

8mm seems a bit light for sole boards to me? I'd have expected 12, maybe 18 depending on the gaps it's being asked to span.

Pete

My AWB has 18mm sole boards, and they even spring a little bit if you stand midway between the supporting stringers to which they are screwed. I cannot imagine that 8mm sole boards are anywhere near thick enough. On my boat access to the bilges is provided via hinged hatches which would come open if the yacht was inverted in a capsize despite magnetic catches being fitted. The edges of the hatches are braced with glued and screwed on battens, which indicates that Jeanneau thought that extra bracing was needed even with 18mm ply.

 

[coopec]

Apologies everyone!

I just climbed up into the yacht and with my eBay $A13 Chinese digital vernier gauge it is actually 1/2 inch. I worried the designer was going a bit light on the thickness but it is perfectly adequate with no springiness. Sorry!

 

[Kelpie]

It all depends on the spacing between the support beams. When you build a house, you use 18 or 22mm spanning a 600mm gap. And you can sit a grand piano on that. May be a little over-engineered for a boat?

 

[vyv_cox]

.... I do have the added challenge with mine, that the sole boards are 2" thick, so something like a Dzus fastener doesn't really work.

I think you could recess them, maybe a hole drilled through the board with a stainless steel plate attached to the underside. Then attach the Dzus through the plate, which gives you the advantage of using the short reach (=cheapest) Dzus fastener.

 

[coopec]

Kelpie

My gap between support beams is less than 450 mm and only has to take the weight of one person.

This is a bit off topic but you reminded me of a College Principal I met whose main claim to fame was that he moved a printing press up to the first floor, the floor couldn't take the weight and it ended up on the ground floor again, narrowly missing a student!

Now what is the nautical term for the "ribs" that go down to the bottom of the keel? You call them support beams?

 

[prv]

Now what is the nautical term for the "ribs" that go down to the bottom of the keel? You call them support beams?

Transverse frames in the bottom of the hull, like mini bulkheads that stop at the cabin sole, are called floors. This naturally causes great confusion with landlubbers who expect floors to be horizontal walking surfaces, not vertical structural parts

Pete

 

[rob2]

And you can sit a grand piano on that. May be a little over-engineered for a boat?

Absolutely - in a little boat like mine there's only room for an overstrung upright!

Rob.

P.S. Actually I have a roll up keyboard somewhere in the chart table...

 

[prv]

Absolutely - in a little boat like mine there's only room for an overstrung upright!

I have a copy of Uffa Fox's book on yacht design, written in the 1930s. One of the charming differences of that age (alongside the question of whether or not to have a focsle full of paid crew) is the assumption that a piano is a perfectly standard item of yacht's equipment. He advises that a racing yacht should have the piano built into a gimballed saloon table, using the heavy mechanism as the ballast and thus saving weight by eliminating the need for a separate counterweight

Pete

 

[lw395]

One boat I've sailed on has the sole boards lashed down, the lashings are non-slip to walk on and can be cut in a crisis.

Not sure about things like dzus fasteners, I'd like something that allows a section to be removed and stacked on another section without scratching it.

 

[Avalon]

Not sure if this would work for you, but on my last boat I had a bungy cord attached to the bottom of the boat (under the floor panel) with a clip which attached to a loop on the bottom of the floor panel. Normally the tight bungy held the floor down securely, but there was enough stretch for you to lift the panel and unclip it.