Quickie Floorboards
Bob Smalser, Seabeck, WA
>These are incredibly important because they often become the major visual element in an open boat, yet they are done at the end of the project and frequently in a hurry.
I�m no different�.am rapidly running out of time on this project and need to move on to the next one. I was going to install sprung floorboards�boards that nicely match the curve of the boat bottom, but that woulda took 4 or so days of spiling, even at a commercial pace. Instead, I scribe-fitted the edge boards and built the floorboards in place in the boat in two long days.
I cut the � X �� White Oak floors to fit individually and affixed them to the bottom using double-faced tape, so no measurements would need transfer to the bench.
Then I just fitted each � X 3� floorboard from outside in. Curves were scribed ala a kitchen cabinet against an unplumb wall, the drawn curves faired using a fairing batten on the bench, and taken straight from the bench to the bandsaw and block plane to the screwguns in the boat.
The floorboards were resawed out of a 7BF, 8/4 plank of Purpleheart I had on hand�.and I didn�t have quite enough�
�so instead of buying more, I filled in using some of the White Oak I had left out of the three short timbers I resawed to make the other framing parts of the boat.
This foam tape is powerful, so you don�t need much�work a thin prybar under the oak floors�not the thin floorboards�to pry your work loose.
Soaked in teak oil, these will serve for a long time and look OK in the dory.
