Measham Outfitting – 29th. November 2007 – Fitting the Floor in a Narrowboat
I was too late to actually take any photographs of holes being drilled in the steel cross members.
Four holes were drilled in the strengthening cross members, one each on the outside, and two equidistant in the middle.
Matching holes are drilled in the wooden batten that is to be fitted to the cross member, and then the batten is secured to the steel with substantial self tapping screws that will cut their own thread in the steel.
Close up of batten now attached to the steel cross member.
Photographs taken from directly above one of the centre fixing screws, before and after laying the floor panel.
Note, the pink dust is a by-product of the boat being painted at the same time as the floor is being fitted.
The dust from the sanding down of the various layers drifting in to the hull through the still missing windows and open doors.
The boat currently under the poly tunnel until the painting is complete.
Heavy duty exterior grade “ply” flooring panels being dropped in to place.
The vertical panels in the background have been painted with “Cuprinol” preservative on the underneath and were left to dry before laying.
After laying is complete the floor surface will be also be painted with preservative and allowed to dry before interior work on the fitting out continues.
Just out of interest the faint circles on the photograph are caused by dust in the air from the sanding down of the first coat of undercoat.
The boat currently being under the “poly tunnel” being painted at the same time as the floor laying.
The flooring panels have been cut to size to fit exactly between the centre of the battens either side of two two sections of floor.
The floor panels are then screwed to the wooden battens to secure them.
Photograph looking to the rear of the boat showing the progress of the floor laying.
The “battening out” of the interior of the boat has already started with some roof battens already fixed.
There is little if any interior paneling fixed directly to the steel of the hull, it is all fixed to wooden battening that is in turn fixed to the steel.
The floor panel at the front of the boat will not be laid until some initial work has been done on the fixing of the water tank.