North River 22Ft Scout Floor replacement

[steelie69]

I am looking at options for replacing the marine flooring in by boat. I have been thinking about replacing the current marine flooring or possibly putting in the 1/4 inch horsemat in my boat. First if any of you have some thoughts about the horsemat I would like to hear them. I know it heavy but i don't know the total weight yet. If you know of any other option out there I would also be interested in hearing them. I am not interested in Diamond plate at this point but my mind could be chcnaged if it is affordable.

Thanks

[alanmikkelsen]

On my prior boat I went with diamond plate and it was ok, but I recently seen a fiberglass/foam sheet that Idaho Boats was using for flooring material. Very impressive. Super light weight, very durable, water proof. Not really cheap, but not much more than diamond plate, either. The company was Space Age Synthetics, Fargo, ND. You can google them for a web site and contact information. I'm going to use the material in a year or so. I really liked it.

[firefisherman]

I run the diamond plate floor with the horse mat on top in my 24' North River Scout. I have been very satisfied with this setup. The horse mat or stall mat is really nice. I like to stand up all day and the mat is nice on my back and joints. You don't slip on it and it is easy to clean up. The only problem I had is I had a section of mat blow out of the boat going down the freeway. Lucky I didn't kill anybody. A section of mat weighs a ton. I got the stall mats at Les Schwab.

[steelie69]

ttt

[wetaline]

I had the Matts that Les Schwab sells in my 22ft Scout - on top of the original floor. It was very comfortable, non-slick, quite... .But HEAVEY!!! like i'm estimating 500 - 600lb heavey. I ended up taking it out.

They do make a much thinner version now (1/4 inch or something.) Mine was 3/4 inch.

[1pump]

Our spill boat at work (21' Scout) was ordered with diamond plate. It was an $1100 option, mainly because the plate requires more support underneath. We had a Rhino-type lining sprayed on top of that. It's worked out pretty well so far.

[Bluto]

I've got diamond plate on this boat and is great for maintenance & cleaning. I also had the matting from Les Schwab for about a year. Very heavy and hard to remove for cleaning. Also found that it held in the moisture - it was always wet underneath. Also became very brittle and cracked easily when rolled up after the first six mo. Ended up replacing with the 3x3 perforated interlocking matts from Lowes. Much easier to remove for cleaning and much nicer on the feet.

[Elkhunter14]

You need to watch out for electolisis under the horse matt if you put it on top of bare aluminum. It will trap moisture and begin to eat away the metal floors more so if you fish in salt water!

[reelfine]

You need to watch out for electolisis under the horse matt if you put it on top of bare aluminum. It will trap moisture and begin to eat away the metal floors more so if you fish in salt water!

uh, I may be wrong here, but electrolysis is corrosion between dissimilar metals- not sure how you would experience it between a rubber horse mat and aluminum.

[steelie69]

Thanks for all the help. I think I might just stay witht he Marine vinyl for now. I think it just might be the easier thing to do for now. I think I will do the Diamond Plate on my next boat or when the marine wood flooring goes in my current ride. I do appreciate all the advice. Thanks again!

[firefisherman]

I agree with Reelfine. I do get moisture under the mat, but no electrolysis or corrosion. There would have to be a foreign metal in the mix.

[tetra]

uh, I may be wrong here, but electrolysis is corrosion between dissimilar metals- not sure how you would experience it between a rubber horse mat and aluminum.


There's another type of corrosion to consider that has nothing to do with electrolysis - crevice corrosion...

http://www.ifish.net/board/showthread.php?t=110222&highlight=crevice+corrosion

[firefisherman]

Wow! Thanks for the info Tetra. It makes you think twice about putting your boat in the salt.

[tetra]

It can actually occur without any exposure to the salt, just the absence of oxygen seems to be the problem, and it's only if it stays wet in the crevice.

[firefisherman]

Tetra do you think there is enough air flow under a stallmat over a diamond plate floor? With the diamond plate the mat is not laying completely flat due to the raised bumps.

[tetra]

I think it's just a matter of somehow getting oxygen exposure to the surface (will form protective oxidation layer) of the aluminum. If you have a rubber mat over the top of a diamond plate floor I would expect there to be very few areas of complete contact that might initiate and propagate the crevice corrosion. It has to stay wet, as soon as it dries up and oxygen reaches the surface the corrosion stops. You may want to store your boat at a steep angle to facilitate drainage if you have any pooling or persistently wet areas under the mat.

I think a bigger issue is if you have a boat less than 20' it's got foam under the floor, can be a bad deal. Gets pretty ugly under there sometimes. I strongly suspect there's been some improvements in the foam used for flotation, so the corrosion that occurred on Aye Fsh's (from previous corrosion thread) hull under the foam may not be an issue any more.

[HereFishey]

I took my boat down to North River. They cut a new floor for me at a cost not much higher then I would have paid for the material alone. I assume they probably get a good deal on the material since they buy it in truckload quantity.