I am trying to find a company that could fabricate a new floor for an old PVC Mariavia self bailing drop stitch floor raft. My old floor was ripped on a rock and repaired by Maravia several years ago. This past summer, the floor developed a bubble that is spreading up underneath the rower, and has made the area behind the rower mostly unusable. I will probably need to replace the floor. Maravia and Jacks Plastic Welding quoted me between $1800 and $2000 for a new floor. Does anyone know any companies that could fabricate a replacement floor a that might be less expensive?
Not sure if you still have this Mike's # or not, but if so---- i'm interested in converting my 2009 Star self bailer from an I beam floor to a drop stitch floor.
What size boat is it? I have retrofitted a couple old maravias with RMR floors. The floors run from about 650 to 900 and install is typically 3-400 hours depending on how well it fits and what needs to be done to get it in there.
I have a an RMR dropstitch floor that is used but in excellent condition. It came out of a 16' raft. I would be willing to sell it. It has maybe 10-12 days on it. Message me if interested.
You can paint the floor with system 6 PVC urethane. Put it on thick with a roller and you should get anther 5 years out of the floor for $300. I did this to an old Maravia floor and it work for me. As for new, I would suggest going with a maravia floor only. I would not mix and match. 2k seems reasonable for a floor. Then 20 bucks of webbing and lace that baby up. Its easy to lace in a Maravia floor.
Or, get a guide all drunk and swap floors, Haha hehe - no don't do that..
Tres, RMR will definitely sell floors separately. I assume the reason they said it wouldnt work in your older RMR boat is that the dimensions of the floor and the grommet hole patterns have changed significantly. It could probably be made to work but it wouldn't be an unlace the old floor, lace in the new floor event. It would involve significant retrofitting.
DBK, While urethane can work wonders, urethane is not going to solve his problem. He is having dropstitch failure not abraision or air holding issues. Its kind of like if you have all of your i beams fail. The interior of the boat will be filled up with floor.
DBK, While urethane can work wonders, urethane is not going to solve his problem. He is having dropstitch failure not abraision or air holding issues. Its kind of like if you have all of your i beams fail. The interior of the boat will be filled up with floor.
NRS has acquired Star since this post. Unlikely the same numbers are relevant. RMR is an option as well, probably in the same ballpark price wise. If you want to send me some measurements I can see if an RMR DS floor would work.
Well that's the thing. I don't have the raft yet. Trying to make up my mind if i'm going to purchase it. I know it's a 2009 13 ft Self Bailer Star. I called NRS yesterday to see if they could find an old user manual for me. They couldn't but they said they think this is the best comparison: STAR Select Eastern Star Self-Bailing Raft | NRS, but without the drop stitch floor.
Two things holding me back on this raft: 1- the guy at NRS seems to think its 1000 denier PVC on the tubes. 2. Max PSI for the floor is 2.5 PSI.
I'm going to be using it as a fly fishing guide on rivers with lots of shallow areas and a lot of my clients are older.
Previously, I had a Bris raft---- which was cheap, heavy, bulky, etc--- but it had 2000 denier PVC and a drop stitch floor that could get up to 10 PSI. It might have been ugly, but it was only $1200 brand new with free 2 day shipping. When the floor was inflated to 8PSI or better, it was extremely stable for anglers to stand on and got over a lot of rocks. and even if it got stuck, because the floor wasn't mushy..... it was pretty easy to wiggle off.
So basically, I see max floor pressure at 2.5 PSI and think 1. it isn't going to be solid to stand on and fish, 2. I might have to add standing platforms (extra money and weight), and 3. It's going to get stuck on every rock in the river. Which means, a lot of getting in/out of the boat and dragging.
I fully accept that I could be wrong and that because it is an i beam floor------ it doesn't NEED as much psi to be rigid. But does that also mean it is less buoyant?
Guy selling the STAR wants a thousand for it. The way I see it right now, I could give him a thousand for the 2009 star or i could spend a thousand on a brand new Bris.
Actually a squishy floor is easier to get unstuck and is less likely to get stuck. When its bony, I run a soft floor. DS floors are nice to fish off of but nothing beats a hard floor. Rigid floor over a squishy floor will get stuck less. Your sport will be on the rigid floor which will be supported by the tubes and not pushing the inflated floor down against rocks.
I wouldn't steer you towards either boat to guide out of so you'll have to make that decision yourself.
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