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My homemade swimming platform

Jiggy2012

New member
I was looking to buy a swimming platform for the back of my Chapparal to make putting my wakeboard on easier as a freind of mine had fallen off her last time we were out. I didnt want to have a normal platform that stuck out from the back of the boat an additional 2 foot cause the marina would charge me extra to moor her. So i decided to extend the seat of the boat by 10" which would give me a nice area totalling about 2 foot but only actually extend the length of the boat by 10".
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Because i own a company that make wooden and wrought iron gates we have loads of Iroko timber off cuts, iroko is a type of Japanese teak so thought this would be perfect for the board.

1st: I got a large piece of cardboard and made a template of the back of the boat where the board will sit ( i allowed it to be about 10mm narrower as i did not want it to rub against the sides)
2: i cut 2 x lengths of 4" x 1" iroko the width of my template and then cut the tongue and groove cladding at 650mm enough to cvover the width
3 On a large bench ( i used a bench with a top made from 8ft x 4ft ply) tack the first cladding board down to the bench to hold it in place, then i pushed all the cladding up against it to make a solid board. Because all the cladding is the same size and i used the corner of the bench to start off from it kept the cladding all quite square.
4 I then placed the 2 bits of 4" x 1" over the cladding which had poly urathane glue on ( one being about 4" from the front the other being where i wanted to fix it to my seat) I used 30mm stainless steel screws to secure it in place.
5 Because i didnt want the seat to rock on the boat i put some smaller bearers either side of the 4" x 1"
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6 i then cut the board with a jigsaw to the shape i wanted. I left the front piece straight for a new ladder to fit and put a bit of a curve shape on the rest (just to make it look better)
7 The board was then routered and sanded down before applying 3 coats of Osmo oil on.
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8 Because i was going to fit an anti slip mat to the board i didnt want to oil all of the front as i wanted to get a good fixing with the glue. (you can see a flash of oil through the middle as i was wanted to have the anti slip mat down in two sections)
9 Now i had to fix it to the boat. This was quite easy and i used 4 x 100mm stainless steel bolts with penny washed. I drilled 4 x pilot holes through my board and then held it in place on the boat to mark the 4 holes on the boat. I took the board off then carefully drilled the holes through the seat of the boat.
10 Next bit took 2 people! I wanted the bolts to go through the boat and then through a piece of timber to act like a big clamp and spread the weight over the boat as not to pull through. I used a mate of mine who climbed into the back of the boat and held a piece of timber in place as i drilled through the 4 holes.
11 I then filled the holes with Sikaflex to create a good seal and we continued to bolt the board into place.
3.jpgNote we hade counter sunk the timber to allow the penny washed and the nut to be be flush with the top of the board
12 Once fitted i filled up the 4 holes with sikaflex to add extra protection and cleaned it all off.
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13 Once fitted this felt extremely secure on the boat even when i put weight on the overhang part of the board but for extra peace of mind i fitted 2 x 90 degree brackets from the transom to the board under neath. I dont actually think it is necessary but i wanted to be on the safe side
14 I bought some anti slip mat and placed it on the board roughly cut to size then used a 40mm L bracket to follow the shape of the board and mark it on the mat.
15 It was then cut with a sharp stanley knife and stuck to the board.
16 Once dry i bolted the new foldable ladder on
Now its ready to use, total cost was £98 for the anti slip mat and £60 for the ladder (the rest i had lying around but i wouldnt imagine the timber costing anymore than £100)
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