Some time ago I picked up a pile of vinyl lattice edging at the Repurposed Materials auction. I had in mind to use the single edge caps to frame the glass for the trombe wall. I’m still hoping they can be used for that.
At the same time I purchased a pile of marine plywood that had been used as home development advertising. They have a thin layer of plastic sign material attached to them. We have used this plywood for various projects around the place and it has come in very handy.
We went camping as a family to a local lake and because of Covid virus we didn’t know if the beach would be open. But the lake was open to boating and fishing. So I purchased an inflatable Intex 3 person boat. I also upgraded to a rechargeable Intex air pump. We found that the pump worked best if plugged into a 12 volt power source.
The Amazon reviews recommended installing a solid floor to make it easier to move around in the boat while in the water. The boat arrived very late the evening before the day we were leaving for the campground and that morning it was raining! My plan had been to cut a piece of plywood for the floor of the boat. But with the rain that seemed too difficult.The more expensive inflatable boats came with a slatted floor and right next to the plywood is the pile of vinyl lattice dividers and edges so I got the idea to build the floor with them.
I inflated the bottom of the boat and measured the pieces that would fit the width of the bottom. They varied slightly in a few places as the boat bottom got a bit wider in the center and much narrower at the front. I cut the pieces with a circular saw. I used about ten 8 foot pieces of trim.
I cut 10″ pieces of the edging to link the slats together to form two layers, a wider top layer and a narrow bottom layer in the middle.
I used woven vinyl hanger strap left over from the ERV project and stainless steel staples to connect the slats. I planned to also put the tape on each side of the top slats but it turned out they held together without the extra tape. The boat bottom rolls together enough that I could fit it in the RV shower for transport.
In order to keep the edges of the slats from damaging the PVC of the boat I wrapped the edges with pool noodles slit down one side. Luckily Dave was at the store when I texted him to bring me four noodles. I tried to staple them on but they easily popped off. I finally wrapped them on with more of the vinyl strapping.
When we put the floor in the inflated boat it was a little too long so two slats and spacers were removed from the bottom. The remaining floor worked well although it made the boat much heavier to haul to the water. The wrapped pool noodle edging did not hold so I have to think of another way to keep the pool noodles attached to the floor.
We had a great time with the boat. It took my son’s strength to get us across the open lake though. Maybe a little trolling motor is called for?
Now that I had this idea, I’m thinking of other projects for the edging. There might be enough double slatted edges to build a walkway for the green roof or to make some kind of deck tiles for around the pool. What a great discovery!