Shock Mitigation Flooring

[Courageous]

I have decked my whole boat out with this stuff:

Heavy Duty Rubber Mat Matting for Grass Horse / Stable on eBay (end time 30-Mar-11 11:54:59 BST)

It's soft rubber and 22mm thick. For me it was necessary protection against divers dumping tanks and reg sets on my deck. Only downside so far is it still stinks after 3 months hehe!

[martini]

Originally Posted by 250kts

Thanks for this, do you have any further info/contacts? Have had a quick search and the range of foams is extensive, so would like to narrow down which types are used by the RNLI

Steve

I'm interested to know more as well, I'm guessing the average sports mat is going to get waterlogged in no time.

[TomLinley]

With a Ribquest I was involved in, we sprayed the deck with the same stuff you get in Kids play parks. Something like this Surebond Surfaces - Wet Pour Rubber Play Surfaces It worked really well and gave a good shock mitigating floor.

[boristhebold]

Originally Posted by Paul Glatzel

Mark

Hi. Know exactly what you mean re boating wellies. I find after a few hours afloat with dubarries on as much as they are awesome boots they have no shock protection and I end up with sore feet and am generally more prone to a sore back etc.

As back issues were one of my key concerns pre round Britain last year we spent a while looking into it and came to the conclusion that the ultimate was shock matting combined with top of the range running shoes. They don’t look overly nautical but without doubt they did the job. Some days we were running 12+ hours and they were a godsend. Shock matting may have some ergonomic issues but nothing that cant be overcome – information on what we used etc in this thread

Great British RIB Rally - one story - Page 5 - RIBnet Forums

Hope this helps - Paul

Thanks Paul, all these posts are helping, I will take some time and consider all the options, I was going to order some mats from skydex in the USA but am having no luck as you cant even selct UK as a delivery option. Skydex sounds good but they are not interested in an individual boater or even small scale commercial interest, they seem focussed only on the military where they can make more money.

[Steve_B]

Mark

I am attending the Shock Mitigation conference at the RNLI College next week, I'll let you know what is discussed and hopefully have some products that you can acctually get hold of!
Steve