# I shall attempt to replace my raft floor. I definately need help.



## skibuminwyo (Nov 8, 2005)

So they aren't self bailers, so the floors aren't tied in? Above my experience level. Good luck.


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## kvrdave (Feb 22, 2008)

skibuminwyo said:


> So they aren't self bailers, so the floors aren't tied in? Above my experience level. Good luck.


The Maravia is, the Avon isn't.


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## upshitscreek (Oct 21, 2007)

For the avon bucket boat... i'd just redo any patches falling apart and live with a ugly floor. If you don't even know your avon is a hypalon boat and have patched it then good chance you didn't use the right materials and glue specific to hypalon. Here is a 101 guide to patching hypalon boats.

NRS - Hypalon Repair Instruction

For the maravia... Buy some of this urethane sealant and dump it in the inside of your floor and work it around to seal pinholes. Will it be great? should help some or allot if you do it right.

Raft Sealant Kit

you could also paint the floor with gacoflex to seal it. allot of work to prep properly. do it half assed or wrong and the stuff will peel off at some point and look like crap and be useless.

good luck and hope some of this helps.


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## raftus (Jul 20, 2005)

Most Avons are made of Hypalon - at least the ones I have ever seen. Maravia's are made of PVC and newer ones are coated with polyurethane. 

For the Avon - if the floor is considerably worn down you could consider a new layer of material. You have a few main choices - cut out the existing floor, get a big sheet of hypalon and glue in a new floor. This isn't actually that difficult of a project, but the cost of all that hypalon does add up, and it would take some skill. You could also just glue a big sheet of new hyplaon to the existing one - that wouldn't be my first choice. You would add a lot of weight to your boat, but you could do it.

The next main option is adding a layer of Glacoflex to your floor. This is the best option unless your floor is quite heavily damaged (more holes that hypalon). you can get it here:
Gacoflex Hypalon® Paint

For the pinhole leaks in your Maravia you can try:
Raft Sealant Kit

I haven't used the sealant or know anyone that has experience with it - so try at your own risk. But it is probably a quality product.

Final note - with bucket boats a lot of the holes in the floor are often caused when the floor gets pinched between some thing hard, like a rock, and something hard in the boat, like a dry box or cooler. So if you are carrying those things in your bucket boat, and you have a frame, you should consider suspending them from your frame.


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## ngeoym (Jun 13, 2007)

Check out this material, might make replacing un-necessary

Brush-On Wearpads


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## kvrdave (Feb 22, 2008)

Good stuff. Thanks. I'll do what I can.


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## kvrdave (Feb 22, 2008)

Well, I cleared out the shop and inflated both to get a good idea of what I was dealing with.

The Avon already has some second skin on the bottom. Looks like at some point they doubled up around the bottom of the tubes and across the thwarts (16', so 4 of them). Most of the patches looked good and clean, except for the middle of the trip patch I did last year, so I cut it out and will repair that first. Than I will go with the Brush-n Wearpads. See if it is any good. It could still make it now, so it will be interesting to see.

The Maravia isn't just the floor. I can see that I did a fair amount of Aqua-Seal pinhole patches on the bottom of the tubes as well. So I think I will sand down the patches, then try the Wearpads on the bottom of the floor and the bottom of the tubes. It also can make it fine, but has needed some daily air, where the Avon is an absolute machine holding air.

We'll see how it goes. If anyone wants an opinion of the Wearpad stuff, I can post results.


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## kvrdave (Feb 22, 2008)

Well, thanks to my bad eyes, I screwed up when reading the description of the brush on wear pads. Where I thought it did 78 square feet, it does 7 to 8 square feet. WHOOOPS! Working out the numbers....that's a lot of money to redo the boats.

I may get enough to cover some wear spots on the avon and leave it at that.

On the maravia, I am thinking about putting another layer of material around the tubes. Someone did that to the Avon before I bought it and it has done a good job. But it looks to me like it may be a serious bitch to glue down pieces that size. Anyone know of a good guide for doing the underside of the tubes?


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## raftus (Jul 20, 2005)

Patching large areas:
Get big brushes/applicators - so that you have uniform glue drying times
Get helpers - an extra layer of material for an entire tube could easily take 3 people to lay the material down in proper alignment and without bubbles.


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## kvrdave (Feb 22, 2008)

Egads, I hate getting helpers, but it sure makes sense. Are there any good online guieds that you know of? Also, any good large brushes, or any idea how much glue something like this will require?


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## raftus (Jul 20, 2005)

Here are the directions for the sta-bond. I don't know of any directions for gluing large pieces of PVC together.

NRS - Stabond Two Part Gluing Instructions


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## ngeoym (Jun 13, 2007)

Hey, let me know what you think of the brush on wear pads, I am thinking of doing some on my Avon as well.


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