Can I Successfully Hinge My Plywood Floor?

[Divecoz]

I have a US Boats Inflatable.. Big Issue is ? Storage On The Mac.. Bigger Issue is? Installing the 3 Plywood Floor Sections on the deck of the Mac.. I have an Inflatable Keel Tube. It pushes the Bottom down, by pushing against the floor.... This makes the boat Much More Directionally Stable..
My desire is to Hinge The floor for easier installation. My THOUGHT? Cut The Panels OFF CENTER ... Use SS Piano Hinges and SS Slide Bolts to keep the floor from Folding UP ..
What are your thoughts and ideas? Worse case is? I have to make new floors.. humm not bad but not good.. and I would still be dragging that inflatable which is less than desirable..
( BTW ) The Contact Cement seems to be working for my Light Mount on this boat.. Only Time Will Tell.......

[Russ]

It's hard for me to visualize your hinge idea, but it sounds reasonable. Not sure I'd do a piano hinge though. How do you fasten that? Screws? Seems like a hole waiting to happen. My old inflatable had floorboards that were hinged with some kind of thick strap as a hinge. I believe they were glued to the boards.

[Divecoz]

Russ, I think I need to, think this through some-more..Humm Cloth or Kevlar Hinge Material?? That might well work.. Any Ideas on what they used to adhere the fabric to the floor boards??
The screw's wouldn't be an issue, as I can grind and buff them smooth as a babies butt.. My concern is when I hinge the floor panels ( cut down the middle) I am afraid that will put to much force on the hinge and it will fold and POP out.. My Thought with offsetting ( the hinge) from center , was maybe it would make it less apt to fold at the stress point? HEY!! Maybe the board will take up a collection and buy me a new air-deck for my birthday ??

[dive4it]

The only issue I see Coz, would be the inflatable keel pinching between the hinged floor boards. I have several of the "ragbottom" boats like yours and the tongue and groove points don't have a pinch point. I recently purchased a "fastroller" style just so it would be easier to roll up and put on deck. PM me is you have any questions as I've owned and repaired zodiac style boats for years now and have several projects going right now.

JT

[Divecoz]

Thanks
Dive I will do that soon .. Busy here .. Pool season and I have 8 grand kids... o m goodness am I out of shape!!!

The only issue I see Coz, would be the inflatable keel pinching between the hinged floor boards. I have several of the "ragbottom" boats like yours and the tongue and groove points don't have a pinch point. I recently purchased a "fastroller" style just so it would be easier to roll up and put on deck. PM me is you have any questions as I've owned and repaired zodiac style boats for years now and have several projects going right now.

JT

[mastreb]

Dive, why not just leave the sections separate with no hinges? If you cut the floor separately into three horizontal sections and they fit under some tension in the dinghy, they shouldn't move at all with respect to one another when they're all installed.

[vizwhiz]

I have a little inflatable with a "foam" hard bottom that comes in two sections, and it has a dovetail joint for the two pieces...you could do that so they wouldn't slide sideways relative to each other...

[Divecoz]

What I have is 3 sections. Rear Middle and Front.. They divide The floor area side to side ?? Front to back .. Each piece fills gunwale to gunwale / Tubes.. They are Very tight and hard to get into place. Basic geometry suggest to me, that NOT .. having the hinge over the middle / separate inflatable tube for the keel, will reduce the floor boards desire to hinge up and pop out, there by making the boat, all but useless.. probably dangerous?
There are 2 splines that connect all three boards to form a solid (?) floor.. 1 between the rear and the middle and another between the middle and the front board. ( think stacking blocks 3 high and then laying them down to become my floor? ) I guess I would need to cut these splines as well..
This is starting to get scary.. I can only imagine what those Cheap Plastic One Of a Kind Splines would cost to replace if this whole project fails

If You Google: BAD IDEA? The definition comes up as ? Any dummy trying to sail a 26 while dragging a 10' rubber boat with a 6 HP outboard on its transom
I now have a 50 ft-lb trolling motor to replace the Outboard and I just need a better way to transport the rubber boat..
I might look into finding a Air-deck of the right size and buying a replacement floor for one of those..
Its an Excellent Inflatable as Inflatables go and I only paid $100 for it..

[Divecoz]

The more I give this hair-brain idea some thought, the more ideas there are that seem plausible.. By ditching the 6HP and using a trolling motor the less stress I should be exerting on the floor/ integrity of the rubber boat?

I have a little inflatable with a "foam" hard bottom that comes in two sections, and it has a dovetail joint for the two pieces...you could do that so they wouldn't slide sideways relative to each other...

[cptron]

divecoz,
I'd like to know where you got one for only $100. I've been watching ebay and haven't seen one go for under $550.

[Divecoz]

Oh Sorry bud I missed your post / question.. I bought from a friend of my brothers .. he sold his sailboat and keep it for awhile and then decided to sell it.. I'm Just lucky I guess

divecoz,
I'd like to know where you got one for only $100. I've been watching ebay and haven't seen one go for under $550.

[dive4it]

. Hey Dive,

Like I've mentioned before, I have a number of inflatables (boats, not love dolls ), some ribs, some rag-bottoms. In my dilema of trying to decide what to use for my tender on the sailboat....I went with a Zodiac Cadet (fast roller?) with wood slatted ribs on the floor. These are built in and not connected to each other. I figured my 15 foot wood floor would be a little overkill. The Cadet that I bought is 9 feet or so and when deflated will roll up pretty tight and can fit in a large duffle bag. The whole thing is like 32 lbs and I bought a little 4hp outboard for it that I keep on a bracket on the sailboat transom. This way when I inflate the boat and have it in the water, I can lower the outboard bracket and just transfer the motor from transom to dinghy easily. Plus, if the wind and main motor of the sailboat ever fail, I can lower the little outboard's bracket (hinge down style) and motor the home, although slowly I'm sure. This way I can dive from the dinghy and still have enough power and range to do some exploring if need be.
. My original plan was to go with a cheapo Sevylor 5 person raft with motor mount and electric 55 lb. thrust motor. I purchased all of it and was able to fit the boat and pumps into a little rubbermaid tote. That's when I found the 4 hp motor on Craig's and couldn't pass it up (brand new for about 1/4 the price). Since those cheapo boats never really hold up very well and have such low inflation, I would hate to use it for diving. Besides, I couldn't bring myself to take it to the marine board and get it licensed to use a motor since that costs as much as the raft itself.

JT

[Divecoz]

Hi JT: I have yet to jump into this project.. When I was just about to begin the project .. we had 2 parties show serious interest in this house ... a few snags along the way and some lack of communications skills between some of those involved, has become evident..
Anyway.. Mine is a US Boats 9'9" and I got it cheap .. $100 and in "like new" condition.. Diving from it might be worth a try.. I have been using my boom with a sheave at the end to return the gear to the cockpit.. I fly my dive flag off the bow rail .. So Far So Good.. I have been warned that setup will NOT fly in the Keys or over at Pennekamp...

[dive4it]

Hey Dive,
Because I'm over on the "other" coast, it's a little colder here, requiring a lot more gear (drysuits, hoods, gloves, larger fins, etc) so space is limited on the sailboat. I really don't want to tote around a bunch of tanks in the cabin either. As a commercial diver and instructor, I have enough gear to sink her ten times over. I did, however, come up with a nice idea that I think will make life much easier. I have a couple of gas motor driven surface supply rigs (hookahs) that will get two divers down to around 80 feet or one to well over a hundred. It all fits in a case that'll go nicely under the helm seat. Of course it has it's own float tube but could be placed in the dinghy too (with extended intake snorkel to keep the fumes from trapping in the boat and sucking into the regs). It's real easy to carry a couple gallons of fuel (I have a valve that I can just drain directly from my two 12 gallon tanks in the cockpit) for hours of diving. At least that's my idea.
I would love to drag my over to Florida maybe next year and join you warm water lovers, but this summer I'm stuck on the West side.

JT

Besides, if I'm going all out diving, I'll use one of my three purpose made dive boats....I just thought it would be nice to get down under the water when on the hook to snag up some tastey dungeoness or to un-foul an anchor, etc.

[Divecoz]

JT: Wow a SSU that gets you 100fsw.. Heck of a unit. I have dove with brownies.. much shorter and where I Instructed we had Snuba hahahaha we kept those clowns on a 25' leash hahaha
Cold water? No Thanks.. I do have a custom made 5-4-3 for Deep Dives in the Gulf and a Hood.. I use it VERY Seldom.. If asked ? Yea ya want to go diving? My first question is ? Will my 3 mil suffice? If the answer is NO! Then my answer is NO as well