Front floor-board missing from Zodiac SIB - Can anyone help?

alt · 16 November 2009, 17:46

Hi all,
Friend has a Zodiac SIB with a front floor-board which went rotten and was eventually lost somewhere. At least if we had a rotten one we could make a new one from template, but obviously can't do that now.

Can anyone help with a part number? Or where we'd source one?
OR
I'd be happy to PayPal someone some beer money if they had the same boat and could measure the missing piece, so we could make one from template

Here's some pics of any ID we found on the boat:

And the boat itself:

And of the missing piece (or where it should be):

Alangaq · 16 November 2009, 19:47

Your friends Zodiac looks to be quite a bit newer than mine and does not have the two wooden cross beams that support my forward floor section…..
I guess I don’t really know what his is supposed to look like? My forward piece is a trapezoid shaped wooden affair with a hole cut in it to allow access to the keel valve. I will gladly provide pictures and dimensions however I don’t think they will be applicable to his application….

Locozodiac · 16 November 2009, 21:10

What lenght is that sib, transom plate reads 4.20 meter, correct ? That model must use a 2 wooden front bow floorboards, not a straight single one.

prairie tuber · 16 November 2009, 22:40

There is probably supposed to be a thrust board that is glued to the fabric and located between the aluminum floorboards and the trapezoid shaped bowboard that Alangag had mentioned. Glueing up the thrustboard properly is a major PITA.

If it were me, I'd go the bottlejack (turnbuckle) route that the RNLI guys use on their Avon IRBs.

alt · 17 November 2009, 16:37

Hi guys. From the serial number and ID plate it looks to be a 2001 and yes, is 4.2m long

I honestly don't know if the front section comes in 1 or 2 pieces. It belongs to our local rescue organisation (Civil Defence) - a volunteer organisation that is involved in mountain rescue aswell as water rescue/first aid etc. hence i'd really like to get the guys sorted if possible!

Thanks for all the input so far, anything else would be great.

I'll ask the chap tomorrow if the front piece came in 1 or 2 pieces

kelson · 17 November 2009, 22:43

Sure looks like a Zodiac MK2 Grand Raid and the specs are right for that. The forward floor is made up of two pieces. There is no wooden support glued in place on these newer zodiacs. Unfortunately the tubes are not the same as the ones on my Futura MK2 so I can't send you a template. Here are two links, one has a picture of a new GR with the floor in place. The other link is to a PDF that has a diagram and parts list (2 piece forward floor). You might consider posting a new thread specifically looking for MK2 Grand Raid owners who could trace their floor board. The parts are probably still available from Zodiac for huge bucks.
http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?...6620&id=613849

http://www.zodiacmilpro.com/tds/inflatables/MK2GR.pdf

There is a recent thread on another forum that was specifically related to the Grand Raid. You might try contacting one of the posting parties.
http://forums.iboats.com/showthread....=zodiac+mk2+GR

spartacus · 18 November 2009, 00:13

Definately a Grand Raid MK II. Uses the same HD aluminium floor system from the Tourism and Grand Tourism. The front 2-part bow section is made from laminated marine ply. Should be easy enough to make something up. However the key part is the interlocking aluminium gripper. Zodiac may be able to assist. With the floor in place, the whole base is held rigid with the aluminium stringers on either side. Note: The first bit of the bow floor that attaches to the aluminium floorboards has a circular section cut out of it so you can access the inflatable keel tube.

Locozodiac · 18 November 2009, 12:03

Even if you make both wooden floorboards locally, will need the aluminum middle rail that holds both pieces together, a must have piece, if original, the better.

Happy Sibbing

alt · 18 November 2009, 14:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Locozodiac

Even if you make both wooden floorboards locally, will need the aluminum middle rail that holds both pieces together, a must have piece, if original, the better.

Happy Sibbing

Thanks for that. I'm going to pass this info on and see what he thinks.

When the floorboards split in 2, did the metal piece go long ways, or accross ways? And was the metal piece to hold the 2 timber pieces together? If so, how would the timber piece beside the alum part of the floor hold in.. is there a little ledge there that it would slot into?

kelson · 18 November 2009, 16:04

Ah, Did you look at the picture or the diagram of the GR?

The floorboards are split across the boat. the rear floorboard has an aluminum connector that fits the leading rounded edge of the aluminum floor section. It is a smooth u shape on the aluminum floor side and a toothed clamping shape on the wood floor board side (the wood section fits in tightly and the aluminum joining piece stays fixed to the floorboard on removal). There is also an aluminum piece joining the two wooden floorboard sections together. I have attached images of the basic design as implemented on my Futura. It does not have the same shaped wood flooring sections as the Grand Raid. If you can contact the original owner or organization I would work them to look for these parts. Considering the condition of the boat i doubt that the floorboards were rotten. More likely they were misplaced. Worth a try to recover the originals if possible.

alt · 24 November 2009, 23:21

Thanks a lot for the pics.

It now turns out that we also need a 'strut', or I think that's what you call it. You know the metal piece that goes up along between the 3 alum floor-boards and the side of the tubes? Well, we need one of those too!

Any idea who should I contact to source these parts?