Indy
03-10-2003, 08:17 PM
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Indy
Good Lord, I post a thread and look what happens. I hadn't posted anything for several months until yesterday.
I'll try and remember the questions for ya.
1: Did you sand the floor down pretty smooth? If so so did you use anything to reseal it.
2: What did you use to glue the floor down with?
3: The front passenger side of the footrest area is very tight against the floor. Was yours that way? I loosened the screws on the inside of it but it wont budge. Any ideas?
I'm going to go with the Lonwav pearl white. Cig. and others use it. They have it with UV protection in stock.
Oh yea, was the diamond plate you used stainless or aluminum?
Thanks, Tim
I'll try and remember the questions for ya.
1: Did you sand the floor down pretty smooth? If so so did you use anything to reseal it.
2: What did you use to glue the floor down with?
3: The front passenger side of the footrest area is very tight against the floor. Was yours that way? I loosened the screws on the inside of it but it wont budge. Any ideas?
I'm going to go with the Lonwav pearl white. Cig. and others use it. They have it with UV protection in stock.
Oh yea, was the diamond plate you used stainless or aluminum?
Thanks, Tim
03-11-2003, 08:08 AM
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Hi Tim, here we go...
1) Once I removed the carpet, I used a couple of scrapers (I used a Sandvik carbide blade scraper) to remove the bulk of the glue. Then I sanded the floor with 80 grit for removal of the balance of the glue that had penetrated into the floor. I then sanded the fiberglass strips that are along the perimeter of the floor and along the seam. I did not want to remove a lot of material, just the ragged edges and high spots. Because flooring was going in instead of carpet, there is no room for differences of height between the floor and the fiberglass strips that bonded the floor to the structure. To address that issue, I feathered the edges with 3M Marine Premium filler, kind of like taping/compounding sheetrock if you've ever seen tapers at work. At that point, the floor is fully prepped.
2) The only option is to use the two part epoxy, it is impervious to moisture and temperature extremes (summer/winter). Just roll out the air pockets with some sort of roller after you install the floor.
3) How did you loosen the bolts on the inside of the footrest? Those seem impossible to get to. Anyway, look at the pics from my site: http://community.webshots.com/user/inders You will see how I made a template with 1/8" lauan plywood, it is easy to trim with a utility knife and tweak with a sanding block. I was not able to get all of the floor underneath the footrest either, so I made an exact fit from the template and ran a small bead of caulk for the final finish. You can use a hot glue gun to bond the template together, then transfer the template to the flooring and mark it and cut.
Oh...in regards to your sealing the floor question, I did not. When you spread the epoxy over the floor for the installation, it actually forms the best sealant you could ever use on the floor. There is also a grace period before it sets so you can move the floor around into the exact positon, unlike the contact cement that is the other option.
If you have any questions, PM me and I shoot you my phone number, it's easier to learn from my experience because you only get one shot at cutting and installing the floor. I'd be happy to talk to you about it.
The diamond plate is aluminum, 1/8" screwed down over the plywood base. You'll want to use some t-nuts for your screw jack since that is just screwed into the plywood and the screws loosened and pulled out on mine. Maybe I'd go stainless now that I have the aluminum since it requires polishing which is a pain in the butt. This is an ambitious project but well worth the effort, move your bolsters closer also, Nordic installs them too far away from the helm and the driving position is uncomfortable as it comes from the factory. They must spend too much time on that little lake out there and there is no need to lean forward and have you hand on the throttle at all times like I do in the rought stuff out here. Steve
1) Once I removed the carpet, I used a couple of scrapers (I used a Sandvik carbide blade scraper) to remove the bulk of the glue. Then I sanded the floor with 80 grit for removal of the balance of the glue that had penetrated into the floor. I then sanded the fiberglass strips that are along the perimeter of the floor and along the seam. I did not want to remove a lot of material, just the ragged edges and high spots. Because flooring was going in instead of carpet, there is no room for differences of height between the floor and the fiberglass strips that bonded the floor to the structure. To address that issue, I feathered the edges with 3M Marine Premium filler, kind of like taping/compounding sheetrock if you've ever seen tapers at work. At that point, the floor is fully prepped.
2) The only option is to use the two part epoxy, it is impervious to moisture and temperature extremes (summer/winter). Just roll out the air pockets with some sort of roller after you install the floor.
3) How did you loosen the bolts on the inside of the footrest? Those seem impossible to get to. Anyway, look at the pics from my site: http://community.webshots.com/user/inders You will see how I made a template with 1/8" lauan plywood, it is easy to trim with a utility knife and tweak with a sanding block. I was not able to get all of the floor underneath the footrest either, so I made an exact fit from the template and ran a small bead of caulk for the final finish. You can use a hot glue gun to bond the template together, then transfer the template to the flooring and mark it and cut.
Oh...in regards to your sealing the floor question, I did not. When you spread the epoxy over the floor for the installation, it actually forms the best sealant you could ever use on the floor. There is also a grace period before it sets so you can move the floor around into the exact positon, unlike the contact cement that is the other option.
If you have any questions, PM me and I shoot you my phone number, it's easier to learn from my experience because you only get one shot at cutting and installing the floor. I'd be happy to talk to you about it.
The diamond plate is aluminum, 1/8" screwed down over the plywood base. You'll want to use some t-nuts for your screw jack since that is just screwed into the plywood and the screws loosened and pulled out on mine. Maybe I'd go stainless now that I have the aluminum since it requires polishing which is a pain in the butt. This is an ambitious project but well worth the effort, move your bolsters closer also, Nordic installs them too far away from the helm and the driving position is uncomfortable as it comes from the factory. They must spend too much time on that little lake out there and there is no need to lean forward and have you hand on the throttle at all times like I do in the rought stuff out here. Steve
