Basic question here and have spent the last hour searching for answer to no avail...
1) What are benefits to putting a floor in a raft (cockpit)?
2) are there reasons not to --- as in safety or durability risks?
3) How do folks attach them to NRS frame setup? My thought was drop rail down from cross bars at four locations and run crossbars between tubes above floor. Seems to make more sense to support long span with the tubes.
I agree with the pros about stability when walking around boat, especially at night, but can crushing on boat in my opinion is a negative. Just put em in the can bucket, captains bag, and any other zippered/lidded thing and smash em when you get to camp. People who crush cans on the boat (catarafts excluded) are sometimes the ones with patches in the floor or insides of tubes. Sorry, just my two cents on that "pro"
I've got a cockpit floor on my Recretec frame. It detaches easily with pins, but I've never done a trip without it.
Good:
can crushing
boat scouting
good place to do a happy dance after surviving big rapids
makes a great platform for strapping down a rocket box, water jug, or day cooler on either side (just cut a hole for strap through the floor)
Bad:
more weight
more expense
drains more slowly than rest of the boat, but it only holds a couple inches max
I find the positives outweigh the negatives. I can post pictures, but that won't help you with figuring out how to do it with an NRS frame.
I have Recretec frames on both of my boats. The newer floor, of the two, has a 5/8”ish hole drilled dead center to help drain. Seems to work. I used to row a friend’s boat with a 20+ year old Recretec frame with a wood floor that was much heavier. The new ones are all aluminum and only add a few pounds at the most.
I strap mine below an nrs footbar in with a pair of straps that run length worse under the floor the go up through slots to my dry box cross bars at the back of the captains bay. Way harder to explain than to do. I can get pics tonight if needed.
As far as peeps and cons +1 to above plus is more stable and dryer when accessing coolers late night. I just really like the solid feel when moving around in the boat.
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The main drawback is that when you hit something like a rock and it compresses the raft floor between the rock/log/etc and the hard floor, the raft floor always loses. I have fixed several rips from this scenario including a 16" gash that ripped across and through 3 I beams. That said, IMO the pros listed above, among others, far outweigh the cons. Hanging it on straps and letting it move up and down reduce this risk some but I like the feel and solidity of a hard piped floor. Mine is hard piped on the back and hangs from straps on the front side.
Solid floors kick ass, hang mine from my nrs frame with straps, it goes under cooler and dry box to support them.Very solid set up, with straps over cooler and dry box the floor can't move, i feel like it adds some rigidity to my boat to.
I solely have a floor to strap my rocket box/captain's boxes in. I suspend it from the crossbars and at a height that it does not interfere with the floor.
Could some of you post pictures of your floors? I am in the process of setting up my first raft (coming from a cat with plywood floor, loved it). Thanks!
My cat floors; 38" wide (+/-), 10" bleacher planks held together with clips and 1' angle that runs across the bottom about 1' from each end. I cam strap the angle to my bottom horizontal bar on the frame front & rear. IIRC about 60 lbs. Easy to remove (1 piece) if you want, 5 minutes. Really solid & stable.
Why would crushing can on a hard surface deck or floor impact boat materials? The hard surface is suspended right? Even if it wasn't, I don't see that happening.
III100 posted a great photo. You can use webbing, cam straps, and I have even see metal chains used to suspend the floor. A big pro I don't think has been mentioned is if suspended properly it can eliminate the chance of your foot going under a dry box or cooler that many people store on either side of their cockpit. It is also a great place to store any hard items such as ammo cans, groovers, or propane tanks that could wear through your floor if left moving around all day.
I like using a piece of ply wood cut to size and a few layers of spar varnish. Maybe toss some sand on the last coat or grip tape from the skate board shop to make it less slick the first couple of trips.
I think they work best on big boats like 18 footers, where the added weight isn't as much of a factor.
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