Avon floorboards

Why would you say that? The boats are very old, but they can easily made better than many owners bother to.

Unless you meant your remark ironically, in which case, carry on. In fact, make floorboards anyway, then burn them to dry your sopping feet. ;)
 
Good work Dan. My daily driver dinghy has a 5mm ply floor, and isn't an inflatable- that's all there is. So no reason why yours won't work.

I have a love-hate relationship with my Avon. For years it was my only dinghy and it's still going strong. For simplicity it's hard to beat. I don't know if I could justify the space that a larger dinghy would take up, when I only use it as a backup.

But on a choppy day when I'm getting absolutely drenched, I'm cursing it all the way to the dock...
 
Kelpie said:
Good work Dan. My daily driver dinghy has a 5mm ply floor, and isn't an inflatable- that's all there is. So no reason why yours won't work.

I have a love-hate relationship with my Avon. For years it was my only dinghy and it's still going strong. For simplicity it's hard to beat. I don't know if I could justify the space that a larger dinghy would take up, when I only use it as a backup.

But on a choppy day when I'm getting absolutely drenched, I'm cursing it all the way to the dock...
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Having been with wife on boat in bad weather sitting out alongside .... the Avon was best thing ever. Yes it filled with water from the waves inside the harbour while getting ashore ... we were wet and needed to dry out by the fire in the pub each time ashore ... but being an inflatable - it was never going to sink .....
 
Refueler said:
Having been with wife on boat in bad weather sitting out alongside .... the Avon was best thing ever. Yes it filled with water from the waves inside the harbour while getting ashore ... we were wet and needed to dry out by the fire in the pub each time ashore ... but being an inflatable - it was never going to sink .....
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"Never going to sink" is a pretty low bar to set for a tender!

With the two tenders I now have, it's just night and day. We got the big dinghy back out the other day for the first time in months. Huge smiles all round. Using the same motor, it's twice as fast and far drier. An absolute joy to row too, although an Avon isn't bad for an inflatable.

It's horses for courses. I'm happy to have one of each.
 
Kelpie said:
"Never going to sink" is a pretty low bar to set for a tender!

With the two tenders I now have, it's just night and day. We got the big dinghy back out the other day for the first time in months. Huge smiles all round. Using the same motor, it's twice as fast and far drier. An absolute joy to row too, although an Avon isn't bad for an inflatable.

It's horses for courses. I'm happy to have one of each.
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The conditions at the time were atrocious .... it was Yarmouth - IoW ... and we were moored along the outer pontoon line ... two boats near us broke free ... HM had a hard 24hrs .....
Only way for us to get ashore was by the dinghy and believe me - by time we got across - dinghy was full ....
During this - Lifeboat was out more than once rescuing some twit ......

To this day - I am still amazed how the wife put up with it !! She mentions odd times about the Lass in the pub who kept the table near the fire for us ...

Another time was my brother, son and I were caught by storm getting back into Langstone Hbr .... put boat on its mooring and we could feel the boat banging on the seabed ... normal depth at that tide over 12ft ... with a boat of just 3ft triple keel ...
That Avon proved its worth that day ... AND the Seagull kept going as well !!
 
I must admit my own use of the Avons has been largely for fun, in agreeable weather.

I found the rubber-floored Redcrest a bit disappointing under power, alone in the boat with 3.5hp pushing it; meanwhile with floorboards, the Redstart wasn't easy to row, two-up. But alone in the Redstart with the floorboards, rowing (in light wind and flattish water) felt really quick and very little effort. So I'm keen to put the bracket-rubbers back on the Redstart, to see how well it can go under power.
 
I had two roundtail Avons in the 70's and 80's; the small one and the big one. Neither came with floor boards, not even as an option, and we never thought to fit them. Much preferred the smaller one as it rowed fairly well.
The answer to the water accumulating at ones feet is to ensure that m'lady in her long dress boards first. The dress will soak the water up.
 
The standard supplied with them as new - were the boards connected by fabric pockets .... light, easy to stow ..... but to be so meant leaving ends of boat without 'floor' ....

I still have one board left from the set + the fabric ..... sometimes I think about getting some decent ply and remaking them ...

The large solid boards (its split into two) are excellent and really change the whole dinghy - but are so heavy .... also awkward to install into the dinghy ..

Without boards of course - its like walking on waterbed that's only half filled !!
 
When using the individual boards, held in place in a fabric pocket arrangement, plywood is not a good choice, and would be easily broken. Better just to use ordinary knot free timber boards. Plywood works well in broad sheets, but is not so good in relatively narrow boards - too much of the grain is running the wrong way.
 
NormanS said:
When using the individual boards, held in place in a fabric pocket arrangement, plywood is not a good choice, and would be easily broken. Better just to use ordinary knot free timber boards. Plywood works well in broad sheets, but is not so good in relatively narrow boards - too much of the grain is running the wrong way.
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Not being rude - but Avon were producing those plywood boards for decades .... and many lasted long time ... I would guess that mine must have been 20yrs old at least by time all but one cracked.

I would think the reason Ply was used ...
in single wood - the weight would have been more having to use thicker wood. I saw a later set that were produced in synthetic material ... but of course the best now is the inflatable floor (except for price !)
 
Refueler said:
Not being rude - but Avon were producing those plywood boards for decades .... and many lasted long time ... I would guess that mine must have been 20yrs old at least by time all but one cracked.

I would think the reason Ply was used ...
in single wood - the weight would have been more having to use thicker wood. I saw a later set that were produced in synthetic material ... but of course the best now is the inflatable floor (except for price !)
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Yes, Avon stopped using ply, in favour of a synthetic grey material. I wonder why? 😀
 
dancrane said:
I'm looking for an additional pair of the heavy black rubber lugs which belong on the outer underside of the Redstart's tubes, in which the engine bracket fits securely.
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I had begun to suppose I wouldn't ever find a set of these, unless I bought another whole elderly Avon. But forumite Ribtecer discovered what certainly appears to be the item, at The Chandlery Barge...

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...unfortunately the Chandlery Barge charges £16 per socket, so for a pair it might be far cheaper to buy a written-off Avon, except I don't think the boats are ever discarded. I enquired of a West Country boat-breaker, and was told they rarely see Avons.

Coverage will return to the subject of floorboards when I start making another set, for the Redcrest. :)
 
Our current Redcrest has a home-brewed set of cheap pine slats(probably bed slats) held together with what looks like seat belt material and stainless steel staples. They work quite well although they could be longer to reach right into the edge of the floor for maximum stability/stiffness.
 
penfold said:
Our current Redcrest...
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What happened to your previous one? Not malingering deflated under a tree at the dinghy-pound, is it? I claim dibs on the engine-lugs.

Regarding length (or rather, breadth) of flooring pieces, I concluded they shouldn't be shorter than is necessary to make them extend into the double-thickness Hypalon area at the edges of the floor...so that any movement of the boards doesn't chafe the tubes.
 
March 10th

Well, my Chinese-made engine-bracket lugs arrived. They're not as rubbery as the originals aboard the Avon, but I don't know if that matters.

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The next step is attachment to the aged Redstart. I know that somewhere I have an unused, very costly Polymarine repair kit for Hypalon...

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...but it's likely to be a year or two past its use-by date.

I'm wondering: a) whether despite its date, the two-part glue should be at least as strong as I need it to be for this job, and b) whether (given that it isn't Hypalon-on-Hypalon) almost any flexible all-purpose modern strong adhesive might do, if the Polymarine doesn't work?
.
 
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