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wood floors

  • Thread starter Thread starter kjcampos
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kjcampos

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Oct 22, 2010
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198
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  1. OWNER - I own a Hatteras Yacht
Hatteras Model
56' MOTOR YACHT (1981 - 1984)
hi guys we want to remove all the rugs on our boat and replace with hard wood but don't know what is being used and how thick....we also would like to know where we can see some samples of the wood and color...we have seen lots of hard wood in 3/4" but we are a little worried about all that extra weight on the boat if we could get the wood in a thinner size like maybe 1/2"...need some help


1981 56' MY
Lake Gloria II
 
I haven't installed any hardwood flooring in my boat, but did it in my cottage. I used "engineered hardwood flooring". It is available in the 1/2" range and is much more stable in humid environments than solid wood. You can get it in any flavor.
 
These guys are right near me. They make a nice 3/8" hardwood flooring. I have it throughout my house but none on the boat. We used Amtico on the boat.

http://www.launstein.com/
 
ok let me re say what we mean....we want to do WOOD FLOORS.....does not have to be HARD or SOLID just don't know what is used on boat interior floors...need some help....


Joe
1981 56' MY
Lake Gloria II
 
OK, so you want real wood floors as opposed to what boat builders use nowadays?

In that case, use whatever wood flooring you like from the hardware store. OR, use real teak/holly which will, sadly, will be frightfully expensive.

If you have decided on real wood, that's fine and I respect anyone who would do that but I'd sure reconsider going with something that requires no maintenance. There are plenty of options for products that look like real wood without the cost/regular maintenance requirements. When I say they look like real wood, I mean that seriously. You can't tell, even by kneeling down on the floor and closely examining it.

And heck, your Hatteras originally came with genuine linoleum floors! :)
 
If it was my boat and I wanted to go for the wood look, I would not use solid hard wood. It has to be fastened and I would not want to put a bazillion fasteners and/or adhesives in there. Also, as you know the marine environment is rough. Vast temperature and humidity extremes. Solid wood moves, a lot.

So, I would go for an engineered product, snap together floating on a nice underlayment. Leave a gap around the edges with some trim attached to the wall only. There is a plethora of designs out there. If when you ever decide you want to change, it'll come out faster than it went in without leaving a mark.

If you must have the real thing do the teak and holly. It is gorgeous, but very, very expensive.
 
hi guys thanks for your replies ....my wife doesn't like the vinyl look or feel thats the reason for real wood ....we have looked at some of the engineered wood and did like them...my wife also likes the Bamboo wood too i don't no how that wood hold up on a boat...


Joe
1981 56' MY
Lake Gloria II
 
I understand your wife's view re the subject. But she might be surprised with some of the options.

I have had 3 different yacht brokers and several boat owners kneeling down on our floor and closely inspecting the Amtico "teak/holly" all saying they can't believe it isn't wood.

This thread, post number 60 has a pic of the Amtico flooring I installed in the salon last year. http://www.samsmarine.com/forums/showthread.php?24125-Adding-Amtico/page6&highlight=amtico

I installed the amtico in the heads, galley and passageway back in '05, installed it to the forward cabin a couple of years later, and installed it in the salon in '14.

Of course, if the Admiral doesn't like it...that's the end of the discussion! :)

Oh...each time I installed the Amtico, random cutting the "boards" for a more realistic look, I swore I'd never do it again! It's a LOT of work.
 
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Hi MIKE...thanks for the heads up on the AMTICO flooring i have shown it to the wife and she is open to getting some samples and looking at it.... she would like to see this product on a boat so she can get the full effect of the look and feel.....we live in southwest Fl. on the Suncoast if anybody knows where we can go see a boat with this product in our area please let us know...thanks


Joe
1981 56' MY
Lake Gloria II
 
If you want to see amtico or other vinyl products head on out to the boat shows or down to your local boat brokerage and look at anything recent / new boats. If your boating on ice this season - take a walk into a heated storage barn and look around with a broker friend. Galleys, heads, sometimes exterior decks are all likely candidates. Check out Viking, Sea Ray, Hatteras, Tiara - just about any boat built in the last 5-10 years will have it.
 
Amtico is an excellent choice for marine flooring as it has dimensional stability that no wood product will. I used many vinyl products during my career as a flooring contractor and can vouch first hand for the quality of the Amtico products.

Bamboo which you mentioned, would be a very poor choice, in my experience, as it reacts the most to changes in moisture content. Unless you exercise total control over the environment, meaning keep relative humidity to minimal change, you will have a failure.

As for real wood, solid wood, as mentioned before, is normally mechanically fastened, i.e. nailed/stapled down. This would require a plywood subfloor of a minimum of 1/2 and preferable 3/4 inch. Depending on the sawing of the wood, you will see expansion and contraction across the width of the strips. Species vary considerably in coefficient of dimensional change as well.

It is possible to glue solid 3/4 inch wood down, but the protocol calls for short lengths only. Fine if you want a parquet or herringbone pattern but it doesn't look good in a straight laid job.
Engineered wood is more dimensionally stable but will still expand and contract up to .05%. Undetectable across the plank width, but can be problematic in the end/butts joints. I have seen some very visible butt joint gaps during my second career as a forensic flooring inspector.

Engineered can be installed by a floating method also mentioned before. The caveat for this would be that the substrate must be completely flat and nothing can penetrate the floor to pin it to the substrate. I have seen floors where the base shoe molding was nailed into the floor and caused a failure. Dips int the floor will cause hollow sounds. Crowns and dips can also cause the breaking of the joinery systems.

If you decide on wood, a couple of suggestions:
1. Make sure the floor is acclimated to the boat. Many engineered manufactures state this isn't necessary. I state that is BS. Wood is wood regardless of how the the floor is assembled.
2. Make sure expansion space is provided. The power of expanding wood is tremendous. I have seen wall footers moved by wood expansion.
3. If you use engineered, avoid HDF or MDF cored products like the plague. Use only 100% wood flooring.

I'd be happy to elaborate more if you would like. Send me a PM.
 
thanks Peter....we have reached out to the AMTICO rep in our area and have asked " which they are sending" for samples of their product and for some color choices so the wife can see what she likes can't wait to see the product and how it looks and feels....we are also going to go look at a few boats that have this as flooring to get a better feel for this product.....i hope the wife likes it cause we need to get this project done ....we would like to go to the Bahamas for few months this winter....


Joe
1981 56' MY
Lake Gloria II
 
My wife and I saw an Amtico installation on a '61 this past summer, and are going to do the boat this this spring. The product had an great look and feel.
 
Looked all over their website..... do they have a teak and holly pattern?
 
Yes, that's what we're going with. I though it looked great.
 
You started me on a mission. I know it's available
because I've seen the flooring on a boat, I also thought
I saw it on the Amtico website.
After wasting 45 or so minutes on Manning Mills/Amtico
website, I called Manning Mills. The procedure is to order the
teak and pick the color for the "Holly" strips and Amtico will cut
the them to size for your order.
I have the telephone number and contact info for the Amtico expert
at Manning if you need it. Left it in the office.
 
Actually Mannington. They have always been a good resilient company, went into carpet in the early 80's, wood in the mid 90's and bought Amtico (a British Company) in 2012.

What they do in essence, is cut the choice for the holly into what is called feature strip. You can order it in any width you specify.
We used to buy uncut blanks 36 inch nominal and have them cut by our own subcontractor. On of the funnest jobs I ever did was for the Chicago Children's Museum where we used Amtico cut to make a giant US map where each state was cut individually. The kids would assemble it on the floor. The best client we ever had as they always challenged us to make hands on projects.
 
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When I made this decision on my boat I originally thought "real" wood floors would be nice then I thought, with all the maintenance that ALREADY comes with the boat, do I really want to pour on more maintenance that would come with keeping up a real wood floor?

Then the choice became easy and I went with an engineered-type wood and had it professionally installed. It's thick, looks like wood, can't remember the actual product name but plenty out there to choose from. Very happy with the results.

Cheryl
Cinderella
1971 53 MY
 
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