Flooring ?

[Jake202]

I think we have decided to just keep the pontoon unless something spectacular comes along. We are planning on pulling it out this fall and redoing the carpet/flooring. I know I'm gojbd to have to replace at least 2 pieces of plywood, so I think I'm just going to do it all while I have it out. Question is, do I replace with wood, or should I go for aluminum flooring like sun tracker boats have? Any comments/ suggestions are appreciated as I have never taken on a project like this. Thanks!

[fergusmj]

Wood will last a long time and is going to be quite a bit cheaper. Most boats still use wood.

Just make sure to go marine grade.

[HandymanHerb]

It will be cheaper with wood and mine was 25 years old with not bad spots in it, if we hadn't went crazy on our rebuild I would have left the deck on, we threw none of it away and have used most of it for something else, so good wood lasts a long time.

Order it from pontoonstuff and they will have it dropped off before you will need it, Took us longer to figure out what to order than it took to get here, I placed the order on a Friday and figured if it took a few weeks to get here it would still be here plenty early.


Within four days of placing the order I had everything I ordered, the wood made the last day, I did forget one or two little things, I called and had parts I forgot and a few I didn't know I needed in two days, you never find better service

[Jake202]

That's who I plan to order from. I requested samples from them for flooring and Bimini top and received it within a couple of days. I saw where they have the whole flooring kits including the wood. My next thing is I'm wanting to do the front(outside the fence) and the back area where you first get out of the water with the linoleum, and carpet in the middle. Anyone done this? How good is the linoleum? While it's out of the water I plan on upgrading the motor as well

[HandymanHerb]

We put their rubber floor on ours, their flooring kits covers it all right down to the screws, all you need is a floor roller rented from homo depot

[Bamaman]

Marine grade plywood is the only way to go. I have a 1985 model pontoon boat with perfectly solid marine grade plywood that's original. It's never been left outside in the weather since new.

Plywood is structurally more sound than the aluminum flooring. And much cheaper.

Most medium size and large size cities have specialized building material businesses selling marine grade plywood. I have such a business 2 miles from me in a city of 45,000 people. I assume they deal with furniture companies and upholstery shops, as well as home builders and other building supply businesses.

[lightpants]

In my opinion, with the way the government has clamped down it's changed what the manufactures of plywood, especially marine grade plywood produce. When I re-floored my first pontoon boat over 10 years ago, I replaced the front 2 sheets of plywood, it was a '95 so I figured 20 years, at the ocean (I bought it in Ocean City,MD) was a good life expectancy for the wood.
I had to replace the front sheet last year before I sold it. It had developed soft spots and was rotting away. The rest of the floor was still good after 30 years, so I have to blame it on the manufacturing process they are using now. \
Or, pontoon builders have access to better plywood then a end user does.

I would think pontoon stuff sells a good grade of wood, so I would go with them.
Jim