Jim,
It appears you have ignored my advice, but I will try again. Your boat and
you could be in very serious danger. So, again I will state "SURVEY THE
BOTTOM" before investing a single dime. It is very easy and inexpensive to
replace rusted plate. This is considered routine maintenance on steel boats.
Do it first. Then insulate the hull with sprayed polyurethane foam to
prevent condensation and more rust above the cabin sole only. Then think
about the cabin sole. The floors are those athwartship beams that tie the
frames together at the bottom. The cabin sole support lattice should tie to
the floors and the longitudinals along the side of the boat. This lattice
needs to be parallel to the design water line. It is generally acceptable to
do this on more than one level, if you should so desire for headroom and
other clearance purposes. Then the cabin sole should be made out of 1/2"
marine ply screwed to the support lattice, but you MUST layout freely
lifting panels in the cabin sole insuring 100% access to every inch of hull
plate below the cabin sole. This is a safety requirement, so that any
flooding that occurs can be readily stemmed, so think fast access. These
lifting panels typically latch in place, use no fasteners. Now, on top of
the plywood cabin sole you can glue and blind screw any dress wood strakes
or panelling of your choice. This dress layer should also be about 1/2"
thick. Now if you wish isulation against cold soak for your feet in the
winter months, you should obtain 1/2" or better, hard polyurethane sheet and
glue appropriately fitted panels to the underside of the cabin sole. You
must never use any insulation below the cabin sole, never obscure access to
the hull plate. Never use sheet plastic or any material that will sweat in a
boat. Never allow warm moist air to touch cold steel plate.
Steve

wrote in message
...
Hi all,
On the assumption that my boat stays above the waves long enough,
my next job is to put in floors. I've landed myself the job of
removing a library full of oak shelving which should do the job
nicely, but I;m not too sure what the best way of joining them
together or sticking them down would be - I've laid permeable
bubblewrap style insulation under the floor (over the ribs/joists, off
the bottom of the hull) and I could do with advice as to what to do
next - as I see it my options include:
- nail/screw the planks to the joists through the insulation
- nail/screw/glue the planks to crossways bits of wood lying on top of
the insulation (the whole floor would not be attached to the joists,
but this is a predominantly inland waterways boat, so it shouldnt get
too shaken up)
- biscuit joint the floor together into one big slab
- get the planks tongued and grooved and clip them together

My woodworking skills have not had a chance to develop yet, so nothing
too technical would be good.

thanks in advance,

Jim Potter