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Hi Guys,
I’ve removed the deck boards (don’t know the correct name for them) please see picture. They’re quite rotten along the edges so I’ve decided to replace them. They’re made of 12mm ply with struts running across the width. I suppose they are to stop you feet getting wet?
Anyhow, they weigh a tonne and was wondering if there was a better solution than replacing them… I really don’t mind getting my feet wet but the raw deck looks pretty rough and grubby.
Thanks
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You must have at least some means of keeping your feet off the bottom of the boat, not least for structural reasons; this spreads the load, and the GRP is not designed for large localised loads.
Look up the Class Rules (on this site) for the floorboards; the original (for the early wooden boats) were wood slats, somewhere around three and a half inches wide, with spaces between, but by the time of your boat most builders had opted for plywood, which has a number of benefits. So far as I am aware all the early GRP boats used plywood floorboards, and later plastic ones used plastic mouldings.
Don’t worry about them weighing a ton; for cruising, weight in the bottom of the boat is a positive benefit, while for racing you will need to conform to Class Rules anyway – and amongst much else they specify floorboards and they also specify a minimum weight. Existing boards weighing more than they should because they are soaking wet are of course a different matter.
An erstwhile opposite number of mine – our terms overlapped as Commodores of our respective neighbouring clubs – once met Jack Holt at a Boat Show and asked him what he had done in designing the GP14 to make her such a superb sea boat. He got a one word answer: “displacement”!
Given that yours are starting to rot I would recommend replacing them. But you do have some options as to the detailed design. Have a look at the Class Rules; even if you don’t intend to race, they are an excellent guide to what works well on the boat, although there is no reason why a highly experienced owner who does not intend to race should not modify the boat a little. I had someone only the other day – in “another place”, to borrow a term – who has an Osprey mast on his GP14, complete with trapeze …
Oliver
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Series 1 boats like mine have the mahogany boards that Oliver referred to. If you do not mind the plywood, I would use your rotted boards as templates to make a new set. Properly epoxied, they would last a long time. I also agree with Oliver that weight is what makes the GP such a good boat. The weight down low is designed “ballast”
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