Replacing my Galley floor

[Wanted]

A job that I am not looking forwards to, but I need to replace the floor in my galley, the wood is borked and is actually dipping when I walk through. (Yeah yeah..)

 

So, who has lifted and replace the floor on their boat, was it a big a deal as I think it might be and can I just ply on top and worry in a few years..

 

Any thoughts appreciated

 

Ta

 

Rob

[Tony Brooks]

On a wooden or GRP cruiser its usual just lift the floor panel (may have swelled so can be a bit tight) and cut/fit new one, usual no fixings are involved. On a narrowboat the floor usually goes in first so to get the whole floor sheet out bulkheads and fixed furniture needs to come out. I can see a Ferm type multitool could be very useful to cut around the "walk on" area. The floors often have fixings. You may find it was an economy job and is something like OSB board.

[romarni123]

When we did ours we couldnt get the same thickness ply .I think over the years the sizing has changed ,We had to lay the new floor then build it up with thinner ply.

[Wanted]

Yeah, I'm thinking of a multi-tool, cut out job, I still think I'm going to have to take the kitchen out though

[RLWP]

Yeah, I'm thinking of a multi-tool, cut out job, I still think I'm going to have to take the kitchen out though

 

I'n my experience - if you think you are going to have to take the kitchen units out, bite the bullet and do it.

 

I tried to do Tawny's rear bathroom floor the first time by keyhole surgery. It didn't work, I had to take out more and more bits until I had a clear floor to do the job. Second time (I didn't put the supports back right first time and it bowed) I took out all the structure at the start and did the job much more quickly

 

Richard

[Wanted]

I'n my experience - if you think you are going to have to take the kitchen units out, bite the bullet and do it.

 

I tried to do Tawny's rear bathroom floor the first time by keyhole surgery. It didn't work, I had to take out more and more bits until I had a clear floor to do the job. Second time (I didn't put the supports back right first time and it bowed) I took out all the structure at the start and did the job much more quickly

 

Richard

I do indeed have that niggling feeling, I have to put new worktops on at the same time so that's more coming out anyway.

 

I have never seen under my floor before, am I right in thinking that there will be steel ribs with wooden support joists for the ply?

 

No doubt I will work it out when I get digging, but how does one fix the wood to steel, or is the structure supported by gravity as it were?

[Guest]

I do indeed have that niggling feeling, I have to put new worktops on at the same time so that's more coming out anyway.

 

I have never seen under my floor before, am I right in thinking that there will be steel ribs with wooden support joists for the ply?

 

No doubt I will work it out when I get digging, but how does one fix the wood to steel, or is the structure supported by gravity as it were?

They are normally steel ribs across the baseplate (with gaps/holes to allow for any water in the cabin bilge to run to the stern) and then wooden bearers/battens to which the flooring is attached are fixed to the top of those.

 

Not sure though how they fasten the wood to the steel but I doubt they just rely on gravity as any tendency for the floor to bow wouldn't be curtailed and it would 'spring'.

 

ed - I did have a photo of the Dog House at that stage of construction which showed the under floor quite nicely but I'll be blowed if I can find it now. However this image grabbed from the 'net shows exactly how ours were done in a Colecraft shell.

 

Edited March 19, 2016 by MJG

[Guest User]

I've done a couple of floor replacements. As Richard suggests, it's best to bite the bullet and replace entire sections rather than doing cut outs. It also means you can sit the replacement sections properly across the bearers.

 

In terms of what's revealed when you take the floor up, it can vary enormously. I've seen some that look pristine and some that look scary-flaky. In the latter case I double-checked with the owner about when they'd last had the hull surveyed before proceeding, but it all was ok in the end. Just a lot of gentle scraping in order to tidy up (I try to never hammer or drill downwards once I'm working directly on the baseplate!) followed by a requested waxoyling. Oh and there'll likely be a load of ballast - I sacrificed many fingernails trying to shift lumps of piggin' pig iron ingot thingies.

 

When I replaced the boards I drilled and tapped the bearers and used countersunk stainless machine screws so that the boards could be lifted easily if necessary. You could do a 'floating' floor but things on boats are rarely perfectly flat and you'd most likely end up with an annoying bounce somewhere. Try not to fit the panels too tight to each other to allow for expansion.

 

LCx

[koukouvagia]

Yes. Bite the bullet.

When I ripped out the former fitout the baseplate was pretty rusty. I decided to lay the transverse bearers on top of the three longwise strengtheners. In this way the wood was only in contact with steel at three small points. I drilled through the timber and steel and anchored each bearer with three stainless steel nuts and bolts.

I've got removable inspection sections in the floor and so far, after eight years, the baseplate looks pristine, although rather dusty.

 

[Wanted]

Nice job.

 

Cheers all, that's a,decision made. Now need some time..

[Neil Smith]

When we did ours we couldnt get the same thickness ply .I think over the years the sizing has changed ,We had to lay the new floor then build it up with thinner ply.

When we did ours we couldnt get the same thickness ply .I think over the years the sizing has changed ,We had to lay the new floor then build it up with thinner ply.

Or the ply may have swelled up due to dampness or started to delaminate.

 

Neil