Can I put a solid floor instead of the inflatable floor in the dinghy?

[tudorsailor]

I have a 11 year old Avon Roverlite 280 dinghy. It has a air deck floor. Unlike the tubes which are made of Hypalon, the floor is PVC and is now failing at the seams, The air deck floor sits on the inflatable keel

Has anyone successfully made a wooden floor in sections that folds up to replace the air deck? If they have, could they share the design and any tips

TudorSailor

 

[prv]

The plywood floor in my old Bombard had H-shaped extrusions (probably aluminium, I can’t really remember) with one side clamped onto a board and the next board slotted into the other side. This keeps the boards edge-to-edge instead of sliding over each other.

Along the edges, in the angle where the tubes join the fabric floor, were lengths of solid timber, maybe 2x2 originally but shaped into a bit of an angle on the outboard side. These had slots cut along the length on the inboard side, into which all three main boards slotted. This kept the floor flat, preventing it folding up at the joints. The smaller bow board wasn’t slotted into the side strakes, and thus tilted up slightly with the shape of the boat.

None of this would be hard to build provided you have a means to cut the slots in the side strakes - I’d use a router but a table saw would do it and you could probably manage with a circular saw and a narrow chisel. I suppose otherwise you could use a metal extrusion instead of the wooden parts.

I will say that while the plywood floor was good in the boat, it was a pain in the arse to store and to assemble. The bundle of timber was almost as big as the deflated boat. Personally I’d investigate a replacement airdeck.

Pete

 

[tudorsailor]

Thanks. A replacement airdeck is about £600!!!

Tudorsailor

 

[claymore]

check out ebay there are 2 at the moment

 

[tudorsailor]

All I can find is a R180 with a wooden floor for £400. Is there an air deck for a R180 that I am missing? Thanks

 

[doug748]

I have just sold an old cheapo airdeck dinghy for 80 quid. Buying something like that might provide a usable replacement.
Failing that make up some boards, I actually prefer them. For much of the time you only need to design boards for the back of the boat, where you actually stand.

 

[Bodach na mara]

I made boards for a Redcrest. I had the advantage of having an old set of boards that were marked off from genuine Avon boards but made in shuttering ply. When I made a new set for a recent second-hand Redcrest purchase I found that the boards that I cut needed a lot of trimming to fir. I do not know why.

One of the problems with board floors in Avons is that aby water in the dinghy is soon on top of the boards when you stand on them, thus it is soon in your shoes. Your inflatable keel may solve the problem but in case it does not, consider the solution that I used. I bought swim aids called "noodles" of flexible foam from a Pound shop and used two towards the stern and one towards the bow under the boards. These create a space that can cope with a fair amount of water in the dinghy.