Finally finished the new swim platform!

C

chrissrv195

New Member
Nov 30, 2009
133
SW Iowa
Boat Info
1979 Sea Ray SRV 195
Engines
260 Mercruiser w/ Type 1 Mercruiser 260 Stern Drive
Hey everybody. Just completed constructing our new swim platform & thought I would share the results. Our '79 SRV195 originally came with a small teak platform & it just wasn't big enough & was looking pretty worn. For the longest time I tried thinking of a material to make a new platform out of (other than expensive teak) & couldn't come up with anything that wasn't cost prohibitive. Thanks to OLDSKOOL for giving me the inspiration & the idea of making a new full length platform out of the composite decking material! Home Depot carries the TREK brand of this material & it has pretty good customer reviews so we got some that was pretty close to being the same color as the rest of the teak on the boat. I had our local welding shop fab up the brackets underneath & reused the original ones near the ends. Stainless & aluminum hardware throughout. Got the new swim ladder from Windline.com. Looked at the ladders that mount underneath & decided to go with one that mounts above. I was going to make the deck in the same style as the original, but there's a teak ski compartment in the boat that is also made in this style so I though it would tie the two together. We tested it out on the water the other day & I couldn't be hapier with the looks & strength of it. I think it looks like original equipment. I left some scraps of the deck material in a bucket of water for two weeks to see what would hapen to it & water has NO effect on the color or strength. It doesn't even soak into it! So I'm confident it will last "forever" & retain it's color. Hope you like!
 
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Man what an improvement!!! You did a great job and I like the full width boards. We have been using ours and I could not be happier with the strength and color. I chose gray as that is the color scheme of the interior. Did the degree angle for the brackets I gave you work with the brackets?

If I can ask, How much did you invest?


Maybe we need to offer 2 sets of plans and start selling them:lol::lol:.
 
Hey Oldskool I was hoping you were out there! I just sent you a message the same time you posted! Yes, the angles were right on. Altogether I think it cost a little under $300. I know that sounds like a lot, but here's an extremely rough breakdown. (2) pieces of 16' decking material $70, fabrication of the 2 aluminum brackets $80 (that was high I thought), new stainless swim ladder $90, & misc. stainless steel hardware (deck screws, screws, bolts, nuts, washers, & lag bolts $25-35.00. I know it could have been done cheaper. I probably didn't have to use ALL stainless steel hardware or install the new ladder & you could probably drive a tank across the aluminum brackets I had made! I just figured it was worth doing right so it would last & look correct on the boat. Besides that the wife loves it so I got the OK to do whatever I wanted!:grin:
 
I think you're going to have an issue with it sagging between the supports down the road. Unless that material is different than other composites, they're limited to a span of 16" maximum. Any more than that, and the material will sag. Hope I'm wrong; but my experience tells me you'll be adding additional brackets.

Let us know how it holds up.
 
The manufacturer recomends anywhere from 16" to 20" support spacing depending on application. I'm not much over 16" so I don't think it'll sag at all. I was surprised at how strong this material is so I'm not worried about it.
 
Great job! It really fits well with the boat and the color makes it look OEM. Is the center section there to clear the drive when its up? I've thought about raising the whole deck to clear but didn't know if that would make it too far out of the water.
 
Thanks HARV72! Yes, center section is raised to clear the outdrive while up all the way. I kept this new deck at the same height as the original smaller teak deck. I wasn't planning on having to work around the outdrive, but I really like the look of the raised center section after it's all done. Besides that, I can take the raised section off to get at the top of the outdrive if I need to. At first we thought about raising it (the deck) to clear the outdrive, but by doing that it was going to put it way to far off the water. Check out OLDSKOOL's swimdeck he just made for his boat. I don't think he had the same issue as me (as far as clearing the outdrive) ,so it may just be the differences between outdrive positions on 195's & 200's.
 
Chris, I had no problem with the out drive. Your handles are mounted different than mine. It may be in the year of manufacture where the difference is. Nice adaption for the out drive access though.

I think you may have many more comments on the platform so I'll give my 2 cents where I can.
 
Looks great! You may need to apply stain later on. I used the same product and color for a small deck at our pool. This is the second year and there is some fading but it is holding up well. I am curious in how the original platform cleared the outdrive.
 
I like it. Do you have to make sure your outdrive is centered before raising it? It looks like it might get caught up on the platform if not centered.
 
Thanks everybody! I appreciate the positive comments & questions. To answer AT EASE's question, the original small teak platform didn't go all the way over to the outdrive, so there weren't any clearance issues. What kind of stain did you use on this material? I had heard about some fading from other people but didn't know how much it would fade or even if it would. Can I use regular wood stain if need be? To answer JV II's question, no the outdrive does not have to be centered to raise it all the way up. I took my time when doing this part because I wanted to be darn sure that the outdrive could be raised up in any position. I purposely kept the opening as close as I could to the outdrive to keep it small & neat, but still have enough room for it to move as far as it will (side to side & all the way up). Actually the last piece of material (farthest piece out from the boat) didn't nead to be cut in half like the first & second pieces. I was able to cut a round notch in it, about 2 " deep & 9" wide, to let the drive clear. By being able to do this I thought it would still be able to retain some of its strength. If anybody would like, I would be happy to take some more detailed pictures of the center piece taken apart so you can see how I made it. I could also try & make a detailed schematic of the deck, like OLDSKOOL was good enough to do for me, in case anybody would like to construct one for their boat. Just let me know & allow me some time & I'd be happy to do it!:thumbsup:
 
Chris, thanks for being willing to pass the info on. It makes my day to know that folks can use a little of what you and I have done to make their boating experience more enjoyable.
 
chrissrv195 said:
Thanks everybody! I appreciate the positive comments & questions. To answer AT EASE's question, the original small teak platform didn't go all the way over to the outdrive, so there weren't any clearance issues. What kind of stain did you use on this material? I had heard about some fading from other people but didn't know how much it would fade or even if it would. Can I use regular wood stain if need be? To answer JV II's question, no the outdrive does not have to be centered to raise it all the way up. I took my time when doing this part because I wanted to be darn sure that the outdrive could be raised up in any position. I purposely kept the opening as close as I could to the outdrive to keep it small & neat, but still have enough room for it to move as far as it will (side to side & all the way up). Actually the last piece of material (farthest piece out from the boat) didn't nead to be cut in half like the first & second pieces. I was able to cut a round notch in it, about 2 " deep & 9" wide, to let the drive clear. By being able to do this I thought it would still be able to retain some of its strength. If anybody would like, I would be happy to take some more detailed pictures of the center piece taken apart so you can see how I made it. I could also try & make a detailed schematic of the deck, like OLDSKOOL was good enough to do for me, in case anybody would like to construct one for their boat. Just let me know & allow me some time & I'd be happy to do it!:thumbsup:
Click to expand...


Chris, I pulled this from the Trex website.

http://www.trex.com/litcenter/Trex_painting.pdf
 
Great Job - looks really nice.
One note: be sure you have the brackets sealed very well, especially if it stays in the water. Our boat had a custom platform made by the previous owner that was not. It led to transom rot and my replacement project when we bought it.
 
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