NOT a great way to do the hatches! A better method is to do the hatches first and leave a 1/4 - 1/2 inch lip over the edge of the hatch where you can, this provides a clean square edge either by a virgin board with only the tongue cut off or a nicely clean cut piece. If the hatch is slightly out of square, which most are not you may have to sand the edge slightly flush to the hatch. Then butt your adjacent pieces against those edges with a thin piece of poster board as a spacer to allow some even space around the hatch. Once you match the floor around the hatch the edges will be very clean and look much better than using a saw, grinder or vibrating saw to cut open around the hatches. Hatches are a necessary evil within boat floors but you can make them look much cleaner than this method.
Not a great way, but nothing has shifted in 3 years and I don’t even notice the 1/8 cuts I made. People that see it in person love it since it blends into the floor.
When I laid in a board I measured underneath it, then drilled a small pilot hole. After the floor was down, I used the pilot holes and made lines, then used the metal cut off grinder to cut the hatches out.
I really like how the floor came out. You did a great job detailing the hatch covers and complex angles/curves. I did a similar job last year and I wish this video was available becuse my floor didnt come ouy as well as I wanted. Thank you for taking the time to document and post for the rest of us hackers to learn from. Hope the rest of the boat looks (and works!) as well as the floor.
This was way easier than routing out a new hatch and marine grade plywood was EXPENSIVE when I did this project. Old hatch worked just fine. After almost a whole season, it’s done really well.
Looks great. I'm about to do this in my boat. Thankfully I have no hatches in the floor but there is a lower section on the floor. I hope to fill that area to bring everything level. Great video. Thank you for the tips. I do this work in houses but I already knew the boat was a new beast.
We are renovating our 37' Silverton MY. You've made up our minds on what flooring to install. I've installed floating floors in my house but I was unsure how to do the floating floor over the hatches. Great work. Thanks for the video.
We didn't notice a change in sound very much. Boats are loud, lol. I think the cork helps with sound deadening and a little softer board. I'm not sure on the color and I can get back to you on that. It's a very worthwhile project and after 2 seasons the floor is holding up very well.
Looks great…I just did a very similar project on my boat, not easy with angles and water proofing elevation differences. What product did you install to lift your hatches?
Good question. He hasnt responded, but from what I understand these floors are supposed to be "floating" so no glue needed. However, I would think on a boat you'd want to glue them down and maybe even seal the seams to keep water and moisture from building up underneath them since the environment is more humid and damp than a resedential install. Just my $0.02.
I mention it in the video, but in such a small space I didn't leave much, Usually in spans that are way longer, you should leave 1/4", but since we are talking 5-6', I kept it tight. Floor did great this whole year with 90 degree temps and 80% humidity!
Nice video. This is the first time I've seen the planks installed in this direction. Every other installation has the planks running the length of the boat from bow to stern. IMO looks better this way. Did you finish off the steps? If so, how did you complete those?
Thanks! I feel this direction also looks better and in theory makes any cabin look bigger. Skinny long lines make a space look smaller going vertically. These horizontal lines make the cabin look bigger and a few of my boating buddies that did their own cabin did copy my approach. I did the stairs in Cherry. I purchased some cherry plywood and some 1x, traced out the old stairs and put it together that way. I still have to stain them and they are currently sitting in my garage, lol. I'll get to it before spring.
@@TodayIWorkOn Pretty funny that it never occurred to me to align the boards that way. What color rigid core vinyl plank did you use? I couldn't make it out from the boxes in the video. The interior color of my 2000 SeaRay 380DA is identical to your boat.
@@SCFoster www.flooranddecor.com/nucore-performance-flooring?start=0&sz=48 It's a Floor and Decor line. They are beefy! Very rigid and strong, lol. It did add about 300 pounds to the boat, but I didn't think that was going to bother a 20,000 pound boat like mine.
