Tennesseean Posted January 6, 2009 Posted January 6, 2009 I'm a newbie here and am searching for a little help. I am doing a jon boat conversion for a 14 ft v hull. My front casting deck is going to a marine plywood floor supported all by aluminum or light metal pieces. any ideas on places to buy aluminum in posts? thanks, Matt Quote
Super User BrianinMD Posted January 6, 2009 Super User Posted January 6, 2009 Welcome to the site, you will find a lot of great knowledgeable people on this site.... with that I don't have a good answer for this question, however there are a few posted threads on this topic and I am sure it won't take to long for you to get a couple good answers. Quote
Super User Catt Posted January 6, 2009 Super User Posted January 6, 2009 Lowe's or Home Depot should have aluminum angle in 4-8' lengths and up to 3/8 thick Quote
Tennesseean Posted January 7, 2009 Author Posted January 7, 2009 my friend and me were discussing building this framing and he brought up a suggestion i thought i would run by you guys since i have not seen it before. the front deck on my boat is going to be about 4 feet wide by 5 feet long. the first foot of the length is a bench and the last foot of length is a bench, so i am left with a 4 foot wide 3 feet long area to frame. he thought we could potentially use pvc pipe instead of aluminum to support the deck since the aluminum benches are there. my instinct tells me that it would all buckle but i figured i would ask anyways. Quote
bassboy1 Posted January 7, 2009 Posted January 7, 2009 Lowe's or Home Depot should have aluminum angle in 4-8' lengths and up to 3/8 thick And pay through the nose for it. Not worth it, period. Look in the yeller pages for a steelyard of some sorts. Many places will sell it to you by the foot. If not, google metals depot, metals supermarket, speedy metals, discount steel, and onlinemetals.com Quote
Super User Catt Posted January 7, 2009 Super User Posted January 7, 2009 Lowe's or Home Depot should have aluminum angle in 4-8' lengths and up to 3/8 thick And pay through the nose for it. Not worth it, period. Look in the yeller pages for a steelyard of some sorts. Many places will sell it to you by the foot. If not, google metals depot, metals supermarket, speedy metals, discount steel, and onlinemetals.com I don't know what planet y'all live on but our Lowe's & Home Depot's aint that high maybe it's cuss our construction industry is still booming. Quote
Super User Catt Posted January 7, 2009 Super User Posted January 7, 2009 Tennesseean take a piece of 1¼ angled aluminum & weld it flush with the seats dead center and mount your plywood. No bracing required Quote
bassboy1 Posted January 7, 2009 Posted January 7, 2009 Lowe's or Home Depot should have aluminum angle in 4-8' lengths and up to 3/8 thick And pay through the nose for it. Not worth it, period. Look in the yeller pages for a steelyard of some sorts. Many places will sell it to you by the foot. If not, google metals depot, metals supermarket, speedy metals, discount steel, and onlinemetals.com I don't know what planet y'all live on but our Lowe's & Home Depot's aint that high maybe it's cuss our construction industry is still booming. I can get 50 feet of 1.5 inch, .125 thickness angle within 3 or 4 bucks of 2 8 foot pieces of the same at Lowes. It is crazy. It is about 3 times as high as elsewhere. I don't think I can say that I would trust one rib right in the middle. In fact, I can blatantly say that I cannot trust that. IMHO, you need at least 3 on that span, one on each side, and one in the middle. 1 brace in a 3 by 4 foot section would be fine iffen the attachment point was on 4 sides, but since you only have two, you need to make the other two. Quote
Super User Catt Posted January 8, 2009 Super User Posted January 8, 2009 1 angle down the middle would equate to a width layout of every 2' and every 1 1/2' or 18 length wise. Assuming he is using 5/8 plywood one could dang near drive a truck across it. Remember the front and back will be supported by the boat seats length and width; as for the sides of the boat I would drop down to at least ¾ x ¾x 12 located dead center of the span. If you would like I can give you the load requirements of the 5/8 plywood, the 1 ¼ X 3/8 extruded bar, and the ¾ x ¾ extruded bar but I'm quite sure the requirements would more than quadruple Tennesseean weight. Quote
Wyattsdad13 Posted January 9, 2009 Posted January 9, 2009 Leave the home store to the rookies, just do a google on your area for sheet metal supplies, aluminum shapes or extrusions. these would also be the places to get your rivets and stainless fasteners for a fraction of what the hd or lowes will charge. We have a couple places in Maryland one is called Posners and the other is called Nb handy, they say they sell to trades/commercial only, but that is not true most of the time, if you take cash and act like ya have some sense. Please also note that these places usually deal with biz's that holds their money for 90 days or more, if you take cash and have a material list making it a quick and painless transaction the price should reflect. Tell the counter guy what you are doing, he might fish too! Bozo's will pay more. Somebody here recently posted that a scrap yard also sold to them, that is a cool idea too. I have a awning shop near the sheet metal shop I work for, the awning guy always has scrap tubing and angle he is cool about parting with. I am currently attaching the 3/4 tubing front to back perpendicular to the bottom ribs as someone else here did to keep the center of gravity low and allow somewhere to place the 3/4 board foam to replace that removed elsewhere, then covered this with alum sheet. This is my third boat, you know how life tends to take away toys. I will never use wood again, it eventually soaks up water and adds a ton of weight, aluminum worked great on the last one. biggest reason to save weight, was so i could better carry batteries in an all electric lake. Hide wires etc below and dont hesitate to lose the benches. braces should replce the benches, but angle framing can replace the benches where they suit you instead of the where the maker put them. The configurations are only limited to your imagination and needs. By the way metal prices are down right now, so get it while you can. Like any good job, a plan comes first, try these if they are close 2094 Woodbury Hwy Manchester, TN , 37355-3523 Phone: 931-728-8657 specialty metals and supply 2547 Scottish Pike Knoxville, TN (865) 609-1007 Quote
Tennesseean Posted January 10, 2009 Author Posted January 10, 2009 thanks for the help you guys Quote
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