Michael's Boatbuilding Blog: Utility updates: A floor... of sorts.

Way back in September, I mentioned that one of the updates I had planned for Percy was the addition of a floor.

Originally, I didn't want to bother with a floor. But, that all changed when I rode in this boat:

This is also a splendid Glen-L Utility. This particular boat was built to 12' LOA, and as you can see, it has a plywood floor as shown in the plans. When I first stepped aboard this boat, I found it much more comfortable to step into than my boat. (Come to think of it, this boat may have also influenced my wish to use my trolling motor.)

I had one last scrap piece of BS1088 Meranti that I thought would be big enough to cover the floor from side-to-side.

Unfortunately, it wasn't quite wide enough to span from chine-to-chine, as I'd hoped. It also wasn't quite large enough to span from Frame 1 to the forward thwart, either. I really didn't want to go buy another sheet of plywood just to build a floor.

Then, the idea struck me to do this:

I could cut the Meranti into two separate pieces, and use them as individual floor boards on the port and starboard sides of the keel. They'd be large enough to make for more comfortable footing when boarding & disembarking, yet small enough to still allow a reasonable amount of access to the floor for maintenance, etc.

I'm going to give it a shot. The epoxy is curing now on the first encapsulation coat.

I also want to clean up this epoxy mess on the side of the keel before I attach the floor boards.

In other news...

Let's take a look at the ongoing cosmetic repair to the aft floor batten on the starboard side:

Before.

After.

"Making good progress," to quote a wise and talented boatbuilder. This cosmetic repair has spilled over into the adjacent part of the floor. It's coming along. Here are a few progress photos.