Other Tom - replacing the floor

[Bigshrimpin]

Other Tom . . . how the heck did you do such a great job on the floor?

Before:

[warthog5]

Really! That sure is nice. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[other tom]

I "cheated" a little bit. I knew I wanted a livewell in the floor, long fishboxes/storage, and gutters around the hatches. I wanted the design to be similar to SeaVee, Whitewater, and Intrepid with the hatch lids. I agonized over how much work it would be to build a mold or fabricate the gutters and perfectly fitting lids from scratch, so I asked Norman at Whitewater and Ariel at SeaVee how to do it...after a few beverages it was decided to just buy a molded piece from Whitewater that is used in the 28'. If you look closely, about 2' in from each side of the liner is a seam, as well as a seam 3" fwd of the transom. This "insert" contains hatches for both long fishboxes, the bilge hatch, and the livewell hatch. The livewell "tub" is glassed to the bottom of this piece which measures about 4' wide by 7' long (fore & aft). The rest of the cockpit and stringer width was designed anbd built to accept this "drop-in" piece. The floor was built, and the edges faired, primed, and sprayed with awlgrip just as if it had been popped out of the whitewater mold, and then this "piece" is layed in and set with silicone and self tappers. Intrepid uses this method and it allows access to the inards of the boat if you ever need to do some serious surgery. The aft bracket of the leaning post is mounted through this piece as well. I chose the cap/floor color and Norman matched it in gelcoat. The result is an aesthetically - good floor with very functional hatch drains and a really good livewell/bilge access hatch system which can all be removed. The option is to build a totally flat deck (ply, divynicell, corecell, etc) and then sit there with a router, sawzall, and circular saw to fabricate the hatches (which I did on the foredeck).

[Tashmoo2]

Other Tom,

I want to put gutter hatches in my boat. Would you have the contact informtion from the company you bought them for

Thank you

Ed

[warthog5]

The $46.00 question for other tom is How Much $ was the molded part?

[Trayder]

not only the $ but Tom has the boat the molded piece is designed for so very little mod. had to be done for that peice making what ever $ it cost much more worthwhile.

[Ed]

I can't believe that flower pot of a hull in the first picture is the same boat that I rode on last year while in Ft Lauderdale.WOW! Tom's Whitewater is first class all the way......

[other tom]

pulled out some old invoices, I think the floor piece was $400, each "long" hatch cover was $175 and the livewell and bilge hatch cover were $95 each.

I would imagine Norman could mold some hatch rings (basically pieces of deck with about 6" around each hatch opening) and then sell you a hatch cover. Or, some enterprising glass guy in Calee-Forn-ya could probably splash a mold off someones boat and build a few....

Norman at Whitewater Boats, 280 NW 73rd street, Miami, Florida 33150 (305) 756-9191
email;whtwtrboat@aol.com
www/whitewaterboats-mia.com

easy on the flowerpot references....there were no "flowers", only weeds.

[warthog5]

The $ you payed sounds reasonable. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[strick]

I've always marvled at what a great job you did on that boat. Looks like you have the perfect set up now with the Bertram and the Whitwater. I think you made a good decision with the deck on the Whitwater. Saved you tons of work and the cost was more then worth it.

Strick